United States President Donald Trump has issued an ultimatum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He has threatened to strike Iran’s power plants if the strait is not reopened within 48 hours. He stated on Truth Social that if Iran doesn’t comply with the request, ‘the United States of America will hit hard and obliterate their power plants, starting with their biggest one first.’ His warning came on Saturday night at around 23:44 GMT (01:14 IST). The threat comes after the blockage of the vital waterway led to a rise in oil prices around the world.
In response, Iran has issued further warnings. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran’s parliament speaker, has said that ‘the critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed in an irreversible manner if their energy infrastructure is targeted. Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi has also stated that the Strait of Hormuz is open to all countries except the US and its allies, and that he had been approached by several countries seeking safe passage for their vessels.
This comes at a critical time, as several key energy infrastructures have been hit across the Gulf region. The South Pars gas field in Iran, the largest in the world and vital to Iran’s energy supply, was hit on Wednesday by Israel. In response, Iran struck energy infrastructure targets across the Gulf region. This included the Samref Refinery in Saudi Arabia, Al Hosn in the UAE and the Ras Laffan LNG Hub in Qatar. Damage to these energy infrastructures, along with the continued blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, has led to what is being described as one of the biggest energy crises the world has ever seen. While Trump had initially stated that the attack on South Pars was ‘out of anger’ by Israel and would not be attacked again, this latest warning comes amid growing international pressure due to the blockade. He had also earlier said that the US was ‘getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great military efforts in the Middle East,’ though what these objectives are remains unclear.
Meanwhile, 20 countries, including the UAE, UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Romania, Bahrain, Lithuania, and Australia, have condemned the blockade of the Hormuz Strait and have expressed their readiness to support efforts to ensure safe passage.
