Trump Gives Iran 48 Hours to Reopen Hormuz or Lose Its Power Plants

President Donald Trump threatened late Saturday to attack Iran’s power plants unless Tehran fully reopens the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran entered its fourth week. In a Truth Social post, Trump wrote that the United States would “hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST,” according to Al Jazeera and Euronews. He did not say which plant he meant, Al Jazeera reported.

Iran’s military answered quickly. Al Jazeera reported that the Iranian army said it would target all U.S. energy infrastructure in the region if Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is attacked. Euronews, citing Iranian state media and a military spokesperson, reported that Iran threatened on Sunday to strike U.S. and Israeli energy infrastructure if its own energy facilities were hit.

On the strait itself, Iran says it is open to everyone except its enemies. Ali Mousavi, Iran’s representative to the International Maritime Organization, said passage is possible if ships coordinate security arrangements with Tehran, according to Euronews. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told CBS that the decision “up to our military to decide,” and said ships from “different countries” had been allowed through, without details, Al Jazeera reported.

The stakes for oil are large. About a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes through the strait in peacetime, Al Jazeera reported, and Euronews said about 20 percent of the world’s oil trade normally moves through it. Attacks on commercial ships and threats of more have halted nearly all tanker traffic, Euronews reported. Al Jazeera said the closure has pushed oil prices sharply higher and stock markets down.

Al Jazeera noted a shift in tone from the day before. On Friday, Trump had said the United States was “getting very close to meeting our objectives” and was considering winding down military efforts in the Middle East. Euronews reported that, even as he said so, the U.S. was sending more troops and warships to the region. Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapalo noted a gap between the White House’s apparent goals for the strait and what the military says it has already accomplished.

Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads U.S. Central Command, said Iran’s ability to attack ships in the strait had been “degraded,” Al Jazeera reported. Al Jazeera also reported that U.S. jets dropped 5,000-pound bombs on an underground Iranian coastal facility that stored anti-ship cruise missiles and mobile launchers.

The fighting continued on other fronts. Late Saturday, Iran attacked the southern Israeli towns of Dimona and Arad, near the Negev nuclear research center, which Tehran described as retaliation for an earlier strike on its Natanz nuclear facility, Euronews reported. Israel denies responsibility for the Natanz strike and Washington declined to comment, according to Euronews. Euronews said the U.N. nuclear watchdog reported no sign of radiation leakage but called for “military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident.”

Al Jazeera reported that the war began on Feb. 28, when the United States and Israel launched it.