Israel launched a new wave of attacks early Monday against Tehran and a top American commander told Iranians to remain in shelters for the foreseeable future, while Iran renewed strikes on its Gulf neighbours and threatened to start hitting their power plants.
As Iran continues its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump gave a 48-hour deadline for Tehran to open the strategic waterway to all ships, saying that otherwise the US would “obliterate” Iran’s power plants. Trump posted the threat to social media early Sunday in Middle East time zones.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Monday that if the US did that, Iran would respond by hitting power plants in all areas that supply electricity to American bases, “as well as the economic, industrial and energy infrastructures in which Americans have shares”.
“Do not doubt that we will do this,” the Guard said in a statement read on Iranian state television.
As Israel hit the Iranian capital, the military said it had “begun a wide-scale wave of strikes” on infrastructure targets in Tehran without immediately elaborating.
US Central Command chief admiral Brad Cooper claimed in an interview aired Monday that Iran was launching missiles and drones from populated areas, and suggested those areas would be targeted.
“You need to stay inside for right now,” Cooper told Iranian civilians in the interview with the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International, aired early Monday.
“There will be a clear signal at some point, as the president has indicated, for you to be able to come out.”
Air defences in the United Arab Emirates intercepted a ballistic missile near the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, and one person on the ground was injured when hit with shrapnel.
Warning sirens sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait, while Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said it had intercepted a missile targeting Riyadh, and had destroyed drones over the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province.
Oil prices up more than 50% since start of the war
Oil prices remained stubbornly high in early trading, with the price of Brent crude, the international standard, at about $112 a barrel, up nearly 55% since Israel and the US started the war on February 28 by attacking Iran.
The war has also caused wild fluctuations in global stock markets as traders grow increasingly concerned about a world energy crisis and other issues.
In addition to targeting Israel and American bases, Iran has been hitting the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbours.
It also has a tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf toward the open ocean and through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, along with other important commodities.
A trickle of ships has been getting through the strait and Iran insists it remains open – just not to the US, Israel or their allies. On Sunday, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi blamed the US for the problem facing everyone, saying that the attack on Iran made insurance companies shut down shipping through the strait for fear of having to pay large claims if tankers were damaged or destroyed.
Iran has said it will completely close the critical waterway if Trump follows through with the threat to attack Iranian power plants.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf also said Iran would then consider vital infrastructure across the region – including energy and desalination facilities critical for drinking water in Gulf nations – legitimate targets.
US commander says campaign against Iran is ‘ahead or on plan’
In his first one-on-one interview since the war started, Cooper said the campaign against Iran is “ahead or on plan” and that the US and Israel are targeting infrastructure and manufacturing facilities to destroy Iran’s capabilities to rebuild its military.
“It’s not just about the threat today,” he said. “We’re eliminating the threat of the future, both in terms of the drones, the missiles, as well as the navy.”
He suggested Iran could bring a quick end to the war if it stopped firing back, though did not say whether that would prompt Israel and the US to relent before all infrastructure targets have been destroyed.
“They could stop this war right now, absolutely, if they chose to do so,” he said of Iran. “They need to stop putting the wonderful Iranian people at risk by firing missiles and drones from inside populated areas … They need to stop immediately attacking civilians throughout the Middle East region.”
Iran’s death toll in the war has surpassed 1,500, its health ministry has said. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states have been killed in strikes.
In Lebanon, authorities say Israeli strikes targeting Iran-linked militia Hezbollah have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.
Reporting by Jon Gambrell and David Rising, with Sally Abou AlJoud.
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Top image: Missiles launched from Iran streak across the sky over central Israel early on March 23. Picture: AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg.
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