Dubai, Mar 30: US President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Iran’s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, including desalination plants, if a deal to end the war is not reached “shortly.”
Tehran meanwhile struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. Israel and the US launched a new wave of strikes on Iran, as the war raged with no end in sight.
Trump’s new threat in a social media post and earlier comments in an interview with the Financial Times that suggested American troops could seize Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub highlighted a frequent tactic. He has repeatedly claimed to be making diplomatic progress — though Tehran denies negotiating directly — while ramping up his threats and sending thousands more US troops to the Middle East.
It remains unclear where the diplomatic effort facilitated by Pakistan stands. Iran’s continuing attacks on its Gulf neighbours could further complicate any talks. The United Arab Emirates — which has long billed itself as a beacon of stability in a volatile region — has been hard hit in the war, and is signalling it wants Iran disarmed in any ceasefire. Iran’s theocracy likely won’t accept that.
Trump says diplomacy going well but threatens major escalation
In a social media post, Trump said “great progress is being made” in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he bristled that if a deal is not reached “shortly,” and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, the US would broaden its offensive by “completely obliterating” power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly even desalination plants that supply drinking water.
The strait is a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime.
The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure such as energy plants only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. It’s considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.
In the Financial Times interview, Trump said his preference would be to “take the oil in Iran” — a move that would require seizing Kharg Island — the terminal through which nearly all of Iran’s oil exports pass.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t,” he said.
Iran rejects US demands as excessive, unrealistic and irrational
The US already has targeted military positions on Kharg once. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and mine the Persian Gulf if US troops set foot on its territory.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei on Monday acknowledged Tehran had received a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration, but said there had been no direct negotiations with Washington. He said the US demands were “excessive, unrealistic and irrational.”
Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, dismissed the talks in Pakistan as a cover while more US troops are brought to the region. He said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,” according to state media.
Twice during Trump’s second term, the US has attacked Iran during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the February 28 strikes that started the current war.
Iran attacks Israel, Gulf infrastructure
Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel’s main nuclear research centre, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israel’s military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.
Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours. Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province; a fireball erupted over Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as a missile was intercepted; and in Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and wounding 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
An Emirati official signaled that the UAE wants more than just a ceasefire.
“An Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponises global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape,” Noura Al Kaabi, a minister of state at the UAE’s Foreign Ministry, wrote in a column published by the state-linked, English-language newspaper The National.
She added: “We want a guarantee that this will never happen again.”
Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking “military infrastructure” across Tehran. Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital and Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage in an airstrike.
Peacekeeper killed in Lebanon
In southern Lebanon, which Israel has invaded as it battles the Iran-backed Hezbollah, an Indonesian United Nations peacekeeper was killed and three others were wounded by an exploding projectile.
An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb killed one person and wounded 17, including four children, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry.
Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would widen its invasion, expanding the “existing security strip” in southern Lebanon.
In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.
Two dozen people have been killed In Gulf states and the occupied West Bank. In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than one million have been displaced.
Six Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while 13 US service members have been killed in the war.
Oil prices rise again as concerns of global energy crisis grow
Iran’s attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz have threatened global supplies of oil, natural gas and fertilizer. They have sent fuel prices skyrocketing and given rise to growing concerns about an energy crisis.
Trump has said that Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as “a sign of respect.” There wasn’t any information on whether those ships were actually moving.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, was trading around USD 115 Monday, up nearly 60 per cent from when the war started. (AP)
