Iran has threatened to hit energy sites in the Middle East after US President Donald Trump threatened to attack the country’s power plants if Tehran does not open the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
Critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the region could be “irreversibly destroyed” should Iranian power plants be targeted, Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf posted on X on Sunday.
“Immediately after power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, vital infrastructure as well as energy and oil infrastructure across the entire region will be considered legitimate targets and will be irreversibly destroyed,” Ghalibaf wrote.
Ghalibaf said that regional infrastructure would become “legitimate targets” should Iran’s facilities be hit, and that Tehran’s retaliation would increase the price of oil “for a long time”.
His comments came after Trump on Saturday said the US would “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
Iran, which has effectively blockaded the Strait of Hormuz since the US and Israel attacked the country on February 28, maintains that the key waterway is already open – except to the US and its allies.
The effective closure of the strait, a narrow choke point through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies normally transit, has caused the worst oil crisis since the 1970s.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said later on Sunday that the waterway was “open to all except those who violate our soil”.
“The illusion of erasing Iran from the map shows desperation against the will of a history-making nation. Threats and terror only strengthen our unity,” he said in a post on X.
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi also insisted that the waterway was “not closed”, indicating in comments on X that the US and Israel were responsible for the recent disruption.
“Ships hesitate because insurers fear the war of choice you initiated – not Iran,” he said. “No insurer – and no Iranian – will be swayed by more threats.”
Earlier, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that it would completely shut the Strait of Hormuz if Trump executes his threats to attack Iranian energy facilities.
In a statement, the IRGC said that companies with US shares will be “completely destroyed” if Washington targets Iranian energy facilities, and that energy facilities in countries that host US bases will be “lawful” targets for Iran.
Iran has also retaliated with drone and missile strikes against Israel, along with Jordan, Iraq, and several Gulf countries – attacks that Tehran says are targeting “US military assets” – causing casualties and damage to infrastructure while disrupting global markets and aviation.
The latest developments signal that the war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week, could be moving in a dangerous new direction, barely a day after Trump talked about “winding down” the conflict.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on world leaders to join the US-Israel war on Iran.
Speaking from the site of an Iranian attack in the southern Israeli city of Arad, he claimed that some countries were already moving in that direction, and urged broader international involvement.
Netanyahu accused Iran of targeting civilians and claimed it had the capability to strike long-range targets deep into Europe.
Meanwhile, a Turkish diplomatic source told the Reuters news agency that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan held separate calls with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, and US officials to discuss steps to end the war.