US President Donald Trump said on Monday that he has ordered the Department of Defense, which his administration refers to as the “Department of the Army,” to halt attacks on Iran’s power infrastructure for five days.
The US president’s order came a day after he gave Iran a 48-hour ultimatum to reopen the vital shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz or risk a US attack on its power plants. In response, Iran announced that it would attack Israel and its power plants in the Gulf.
President Trump’s ultimatum on Hormuz Island was scheduled to expire at 23:44 Japan time on Monday.
But President Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social on Monday that the U.S. and Iranian governments had “a very good and productive dialogue regarding a complete and complete resolution of hostilities in the Middle East.”
However, Iranian officials denied this. Following President Trump’s ultimatum over the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported, citing Iranian officials, that the Strait of Hormuz has not returned to pre-war conditions and energy markets remain volatile, adding that negotiations with the United States were not progressing.
However, the Iranian government is conducting regional dialogue.
Three weeks into the US-Israel war against Iran, we take a look at what President Trump has threatened and how the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has threatened to respond.
What did Trump predict?
At 23:44 GMT on Saturday, President Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social: “If Iran does not fully open the Strait of Hormuz without threat within 48 hours from this point, the United States will attack and destroy various power plants, starting with the largest.”
President Trump did not specify which factory he was calling the “largest.” However, Iran’s largest power plant is the Damavand combined cycle power plant on the outskirts of Tehran province. Also known as Pakdasht Power Plant, its power generation capacity is approximately 2,900 megawatts. This is enough to meet the electricity needs of several major cities combined.
Other large-scale power plants in Iran include the Kerman power plant in southeastern Iran (with a capacity of approximately 1,910 MW) and the Ramin power plant in Khuzestan province (with a capacity of approximately 1,890 MW). This roughly corresponds to the electricity needs of a medium-sized state or large city.
On March 2, Ebrahim Jabari, senior advisor to the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), announced that the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world’s oil and gas is shipped from Gulf producing countries, has been “closed.” This is one of the reasons for the recent surge in oil prices, which have now exceeded $100 per barrel, compared to the international standard pre-war Brent crude price of about $65.
How did Iran react to President Trump’s ultimatum?
The Revolutionary Guards threatened to retaliate, saying that targeting Iranian power plants would hurt not only Israeli power plants but also power supplies to military bases in the region that house U.S. troops and assets.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Berger Ghalibaf also posted on X on Sunday: “Along with military bases, the financial institutions that finance the US military budget are legitimate targets. US debt is steeped in Iranian blood. If you buy it, you are buying a strike on your headquarters and assets. We are monitoring your portfolio. This is your ultimatum.”
A statement from the Revolutionary Guards shared by state media on Monday said: “The lying… President of the United States has claimed that the Revolutionary Guards intend to attack desalination plants and cause hardship to the peoples of regional countries.”
The statement added: “We are determined to respond to any threat with the same level of deterrence it creates…If you strike a bullet, we strike a bullet.”
“The Strait of Hormuz is completely closed and will not be opened until the destroyed power plant is rebuilt,” the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement.
At the same time, Iranian leaders insist that the strait is closed only to the United States and Israel.
“We have not closed the strait. In our opinion, the strait is open. It is closed only to ships of our enemies, countries that attack us. Ships of other countries can pass through the strait,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragushi told Japan’s Kyodo News late Friday.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Sunday that the strait is “open to everyone except those who violate our territory.”
“The fantasy of erasing Iran from the map shows a desperation that goes against the will of a history-making nation. Threats and terrorism only strengthen our unity,” he said in a post on X.
Countries are scrambling to reach an agreement with Iran for safe passage through the strait. So far, several ships, mainly flagged by India, Pakistan, Turkey and China, have been allowed passage in the past week.
Which locations might Iran target?
Iran has not specified specific targets, but has generally said it would seek to attack Israeli power plants and infrastructure in response to attacks on its own.
Ghalibaf posted on X on Sunday: “Shortly after our nation’s power plants and infrastructure are targeted, critical infrastructure and energy and oil infrastructure across the region will be considered legitimate targets and irreversibly destroyed.”
Iran said it would also target “financial institutions” that finance U.S. military assets. In addition to Ghalibaf’s X post on Sunday threatening such organizations, Iran’s Unified Forces Command Khatam al-Anbiya said on Wednesday, March 11, that “the enemy has opened our hand to targeting economic centers and banks belonging to the United States and the Zionist regime in the region.”
power plant
Israel has more than 200 power plants, the largest of which include the Orot Rabin power plant north of Tel Aviv (with a capacity of about 3,900 megawatts) and the Rutenberg power plant in Ashkelon (with a capacity of about 2,250 megawatts).
While an attack on Iran’s energy infrastructure would harm Iran, the consequences of an attack on the energy of Gulf states could be more devastating, as they consume about five times as much electricity per capita.
energy infrastructure
During the war, energy infrastructure in the Gulf region has come under repeated attack.
Qatar Energy, Qatar’s state-owned energy company and the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer, announced on March 2 that it had halted LNG production following Iranian attacks on its operating facilities in Ras Laffan and Mesaieed, Qatar.
Saudi Arabia has suspended operations at the Ras Tanura plant, the country’s largest oil refinery operated by Saudi Aramco, after authorities said the fire was caused by debris from intercepting two Iranian drones.
Iranian authorities have publicly denied targeting Qatar Energy and Aramco.
Last week, Iranian state media reported that a natural gas facility associated with the South Pars gas field had been attacked.
Hours later, Iranian missiles struck an LNG facility in northern Qatar in the Ras Laffan industrial city, which processes about 20 percent of the world’s LNG supplies.
The attack caused three fires that wiped out about 17 percent of Qatar’s LNG export capacity and cost it an estimated $20 billion in annual revenue, Qatar Energy CEO Saad Sherida al-Kaabi told Reuters.
He said the repairs would halt LNG production of 12.8 million tons per year for three to five years.
Iranian media also quoted Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfakari as saying, “If Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is attacked by the enemy, all energy infrastructure, information technology… and water desalination facilities owned by the United States and regional regimes will be targeted, in line with previous warnings.”
Financial institutions and corporations
Ghalibaf’s Sunday X post did not specify which “financial institutions” Iran would consider legitimate targets if the U.S. attacked Iranian power plants or other infrastructure. He made it clear that any company that buys U.S. Treasuries will be considered hostile.
Although he did not mention the names of potential targets, one large organization reportedly holding $360 billion in U.S. Treasury bills, about 6 percent of the total, is Berkshire Hathaway, an American multinational conglomerate run by Warren Buffett, one of its major investors. The company has invested in industrial, service and real estate assets in Israel and the wider region.
Major US “stablecoin” issuers such as Tether and Circle are also some of the largest holders of US Treasuries. Tether is reportedly expanding in the Middle East, issuing stablecoins and funding energy trading. Last year, Fortune magazine reported that Tether held about $100 billion in U.S. Treasuries. Circle has received regulatory approval from the Abu Dhabi Global Market to operate as a financial services provider.
On March 11, the Revolutionary Guards-affiliated Tasnim news agency published a list of offices and infrastructure operated by American companies with ties to Israel, saying their technology was used for military purposes and that these were also “new Iranian targets.”
The list included Google, Microsoft, Palantir, IBM, Nvidia, and Oracle, as well as listed offices and infrastructure for cloud-based services in multiple Israeli cities and some Gulf states.
Other critical infrastructure
Iran’s foreign minister last week accused the United States of attacking a desalination plant on Qeshm Island off the coast of Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. The strike reportedly cut off water supply to 30 villages.
The next day, Bahrain announced that Iranian drones had caused significant damage to one of its desalination plants near Muharraq.
Six Gulf countries have no permanent rivers, making them the most water-scarce countries in the world. As a result, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates rely on desalination to meet the needs of their combined populations of more than 62 million people.
100% of the water consumed in Bahrain and Qatar is produced in desalination plants. It supplies more than 80 percent of the UAE’s drinking water supply and Saudi Arabia’s 50 percent.
