The US President Donald Trump has threatened to destroy Iranʼs power plants if it does not open the Strait of Hormuz in the next two days.
He wrote about this on his social network Truth Social.
“If Iran DOES NOT FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREATS, the Strait of Hormuz within 48 HOURS from now, the United States of America will strike and destroy their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE LARGEST,” he wrote.
Iran has vowed to attack all energy and IT infrastructure, as well as desalination plants linked to the US and Israel in the Middle East, in response.
War in the Middle East
After the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, Iran responded by shelling US bases in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE and by launching missile strikes on Israel. Some Iranian drones and missiles have hit infrastructure and residential areas in Arab countries.
This has brought tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow sea corridor between Iran and Oman that connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean, to a near standstill. About a fifth of the worldʼs oil exports pass through it, tens of millions of barrels a day. Markets reacted immediately, with oil, gas and precious metals rising in price.
In particular, on March 9, world oil prices exceeded $100 per barrel for the first time in almost four years.
To keep prices down, the International Energy Agency has decided to release 400 million barrels of oil, and the US plans to release 172 million barrels of oil from its strategic reserve. On March 12, the US lifted sanctions on the purchase of Russian oil that was stuck at sea for 30 days, and a week later it gave permission for Iranian oil.
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