Tehran responded to Trump’s threat by saying that if Iran is attacked, all US energy infrastructure in the region will be targeted.
Published March 22, 2026
US President Donald Trump has threatened to attack Iranian power plants if freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz is not fully restored within 48 hours, continuing a dramatic escalation as the US and Israel’s war against Iran continues into its fourth week.
The statement on Saturday came as President Trump comes under increasing pressure to secure the vital waterway, which Iran has pledged to keep “enemy vessels” away from, leading to soaring oil prices and a plunge in the stock market.
“If Iran does not fully open the Strait of Hormuz without a threat within 48 hours from this point, the United States will attack and destroy various Iranian power plants, starting with the largest,” Trump, who is at home in Florida over the weekend, wrote on Truth Social at 23:44 GMT.
He did not specify which plant he was referring to as the largest.
Following President Trump’s threat, the Iranian military said it intends to target all U.S.-owned energy infrastructure in the region if Iranian fuel and energy infrastructure is attacked.
President Trump’s escalating comments came just one day after he spoke of “winding down” the war he began with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28, when the United States and Iran were in nuclear negotiations.
President Trump said in a social media post Friday that the United States is “considering a reduction in major military efforts in the Middle East and is very close to achieving that goal.”
major waterways
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes during peacetime, has been virtually halted since the early days of the war.
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is open to all countries except the United States and its allies, and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said last week that it had “received approaches from many countries” seeking safe passage for their ships.
“This is a decision for our military,” he told US television station CBS, adding that ships from “different countries” had been allowed to pass through, without giving details.
Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, claimed on Saturday that Iran’s ability to attack ships in the Straits has been “degraded” after U.S. jets earlier this week dropped 5,000 pounds (about 2,300 kilograms) of bombs on underground facilities off Iran’s coast that store anti-ship cruise missiles and mobile launchers.
Cooper said the attack also destroyed “information support facilities and missile radar repeaters” used to monitor ship movements.
Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapallo said in a report from Washington, D.C., that there appears to be “a gap between what the White House wants in the Strait of Hormuz and what the U.S. military says it has already accomplished.”
“It’s interesting to hear President Trump talk about major escalation, at least given the fact that we’ve been hearing all day long about how much damage the United States has allegedly done to Iran’s ability to target oil tankers and ships sailing through the Strait.”
