Israel launches new wave of attacks on Tehran; Iran threatens to start hitting Gulf power plants
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Israel launched a new wave of attacks early Monday against Tehran and the top US commander told Iranians to stay in shelters for the foreseeable future, while Iran renewed strikes on its Gulf neighbors and threatened to begin hitting their power plants.
As Iran continues to strangle the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump has given a 48-hour deadline for Tehran to open the strategic channel to all shipping, saying that otherwise the United States will “destroy” Iran’s energy industries. Trump posted the threat on social media early Sunday in the Middle East time zones.
Iran’s Paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said on Monday that if the US did that, Iran would respond by striking power plants in all areas that supply electricity to US bases, “as well as economic, industrial and energy infrastructure in which the American people have shares.”
“Don’t doubt that we will do this,” the guard said in a statement read on Iranian state television.
When Israel attacked the Iranian capital, the military said it had “started a wave of strikes” on infrastructure targets in Tehran without immediately elaborating.
The head of the United States Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper in an interview that aired on Monday that Iran was firing missiles and drones at populated areas, and suggested that those areas would be targeted.
“You have to stay inside for now,” Cooper told Iranian citizens in an interview with the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International that aired early Monday.
US President Donald Trump has given Iran an ultimatum: fully open the Strait of Hormuz or the US will strike Iranian energy plants. Iran has responded by threatening to keep the oil pipeline permanently closed if Trump follows suit.
“There will be a clear sign at some point, as the president has indicated, so you can get out.”
The air defense of the United Arab Emirates intercepted a missile near the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, and one person on the ground was injured when it was hit by explosives.
Warning sirens sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia’s Defense Ministry said it intercepted a missile aimed at Riyadh, and destroyed drones in the oil-rich Eastern Province.
Oil prices have risen more than 50% since the start of the war
Oil prices remained stubbornly high in early trading, with the price of Brent crude, the international standard around $112 a barrel, up about 55 percent since Israel and the US started war in Feb. 28 for attacking Iran.
The war also caused wild volatility in global stock markets as traders grew increasingly concerned about the world energy crisis and other issues.
In addition to targeting Israeli and American bases, Iran has been hitting the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbors.
It also has the capacity to transport ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open sea and where a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, as well as other important commodities.
Many ships have been passing through the crisis and Iran insists it remains open – not just to the US, Israel or its allies. On Sunday, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, blamed the US for the problem facing everyone, saying that Iran’s attack has caused insurance companies to close the ship for fear of paying huge claims if tanks are damaged or destroyed.
Iran has said it will completely block the vital waterway if Trump follows through on threats to attack Iranian energy plants.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf also said that Iran would consider key infrastructure across the region – including energy and desalination facilities in key Gulf states – legitimate targets.
US commander says war on Iran ‘is ahead or in the pipeline’
In his first one-on-one interview since the war began, Adm. Cooper said a campaign against Iran was “already ahead or in the pipeline” and that the US and Israel were targeting infrastructure and manufacturing facilities to destroy Iran’s ability to rebuild its military.
“It’s not just about being threatened today,” he said. “We are eliminating the threat of the future, both in terms of drones, missiles and naval forces.”
He suggested that Iran could quickly end the war if it stopped retaliating, though he did not say that would prompt Israel and the US to withdraw before all infrastructure targets were destroyed.
“They can stop this war right now, if they choose to,” he said of Iran. “They need to stop putting the wonderful Iranian people at risk by firing missiles and drones into populated areas. … They need to immediately stop attacking civilians in the entire Middle East region.”
The number of dead in Iran in the war has exceeded 1,500, said the Ministry of Health. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. More than ten civilians from the West Bank and Gulf Arab States have been killed in the strikes.
In Lebanon, authorities say Israeli strikes targeting the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than a million. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.
