CAIRO (AP) — President Donald Trump warned that the United States will “obliterate” power plants in Iran if the Islamic Republic doesn’t fully open the strategic Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, and Iranian missiles struck two cities near Israel’s main nuclear research center, leaving dozens of people injured and shattered apartment buildings.
The developments signaled the war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week, was moving in a dangerous new direction.
On Sunday morning, sirens across Israel warned of a new incoming barrage from Iran as residents woke up to scenes of vast damage in the southern cities of Dimona and Arad.
Trump said on Saturday he would give Iran 48 hours to open the vital waterway or face a new round of attacks. He said the U.S. would destroy “various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”
He may have meant the Bushehr nuclear power plant, Iran’s biggest, which was already hit last week, or Damavand, a natural gas plant near Tehran, Iran’s capital.
In turn, Iran warned early Sunday that any strike on its energy facilities would prompt attacks on U.S. and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets — specifically information technology and desalination facilities — in the region, according to a statement citing an Iranian military spokesperson carried by state media and semiofficial outlets.
The Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the globe’s oceans, is a critical pathway for the world’s flow of oil. Attacks on commercial ships and threats of further strikes have stopped nearly all tankers from carrying oil, gas and other goods through the passage, leading to cuts in output from some of the world’s largest oil producers, because their crude has nowhere to go.
Seyed Ali Mousavi, Iran’s Permanent Representative to the International Maritime Organization, said in remarks carried by two Iranian news agencies that navigating the strait would be possible for “everyone except enemies” — indicating Tehran would determine which vessels are allowed passage. Iran has already approved the passage of ships through the waterway to China and elsewhere in Asia.
Iran strikes area near Israeli nuclear site
Israel’s military said it was not able to intercept missiles that hit Dimona and Arad, the largest near the Negev Desert nuclear center. It was the first time Iranian missiles penetrated Israel’s air defense systems in the area.
“If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected Dimona area, it is, operationally, a sign of entering a new phase of the battle,” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X.
Rescue workers said at least 64 people were taken to hospitals after the direct hit in Arad. Dimona is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the nuclear research center and Arad around 35 kilometers (22 miles) north.
Israel’s hard-line national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, visited the southern town of Arad on Sunday, saying that Israel is in a “historic battle” against Iran and that it must “continue until victory.”
