Iran threatens Gulf energy and water systems after Trump ultimatum

Iran warned on Sunday (March 22) that it would retaliate against the energy and water systems of Gulf neighbours if US President Donald Trump carries out a threat made a day earlier to strike Iran’s electricity grid within 48 hours, raising the stakes in a war that has now stretched beyond three weeks.

Such an exchange targeting civilian infrastructure could jolt global markets when trading resumes on Monday and place millions of people at risk across the Gulf, where daily life depends heavily on electricity and, in some countries, almost entirely on desalination plants for water supplies.

According to Iranian state media, military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said that if the enemy attacks Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure, then all energy infrastructure, information technology systems and water desalination facilities linked to the US and what he described as “the regime in the region” would be struck in line with earlier warnings.

Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf reinforced that message in a post on X, saying key infrastructure and energy facilities across the Middle East could face irreversible destruction if Iranian power plants come under attack.

The Revolutionary Guards also said the Strait of Hormuz, the corridor along Iran’s southern coast through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes, would stay shut.

In a statement, the Guards said the waterway would remain completely closed until Iran’s destroyed power plants had been rebuilt.

Any attack on Iran’s electricity system would clearly hurt Tehran, but the consequences could be even more severe for Gulf states, which use about five times more power per person than Iran.

Electricity keeps their desert cities functioning, including by running desalination facilities that provide all of the water used in Bahrain and Qatar, more than 80% of drinking water in the United Arab Emirates, and half of Saudi Arabia’s water supply.

Trump issued his latest warning on Saturday evening, less than 24 hours after indicating the United States might be weighing a reduction in the conflict, even as US Marines and heavy landing craft were moving towards the region.

In a social media post published at around 7.45pm EDT (2345 GMT), Trump said that unless Iran fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours and did so without threats, the United States would strike Iranian power plants, beginning with the largest.

Iranian media, however, quoted the country’s representative to the International Maritime Organisation as saying the strait was still open to shipping, except for vessels associated with what Tehran views as its enemies.

Ali Mousavi said ships could still pass through if security and safety arrangements were coordinated with Iran.

Vessel-tracking data showed that a limited number of ships, including Indian-flagged vessels and a Pakistani oil tanker, had managed to secure passage, while most others had remained stuck inside the waterway.

The market fallout has already been severe.

Oil prices surged on Friday to their highest close in nearly four years.

The effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered what many see as the most serious oil shock since the 1970s, while Europe’s gas prices jumped by as much as 35% last week as the route neared closure.

Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG, said Trump’s ultimatum had created a 48-hour cloud of extreme uncertainty over financial markets and expected equities to fall when trading resumes on Monday.

On the battlefield, the US and Israel say three weeks of intensive air strikes have significantly weakened Iran’s ability to project force beyond its borders.

Officials have also said the bombardment has sharply reduced Iran’s missile capabilities.

Even so, Tehran has continued to show it can still launch attacks.

Overnight into Sunday, air raid sirens sounded in parts of northern and central Israel, including Tel Aviv and the occupied West Bank, warning of incoming Iranian missiles.

Earlier on Sunday, the Israeli military said it had completed a fresh round of attacks on Tehran, hitting a military base as well as facilities used for weapons production and storage.

On Friday, Iran fired what were described as its first known long-range ballistic missiles, with a range of 4,000 km (2,500 miles), at a US-British military base in the Indian Ocean, broadening the danger well beyond the Middle East.

Before dawn on Sunday, Iranian strikes on two towns in southern Israel wounded dozens of people in what one Israeli hospital called a major casualty event.

The towns are located near Israel’s secretive nuclear reactor and several military sites, including Nevatim Air Base, one of the country’s biggest air bases.

The conflict, launched by the US and Israel on February 28, has killed more than 2,000 people and sent shockwaves through financial markets, pushed up fuel costs, intensified fears of renewed global inflation and shaken the post-war Western alliance.

At the same time, Israel is also fighting on a second front involving Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group in Lebanon.

The Israeli military said on Sunday that its forces had raided several Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon.

Israeli military spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin told reporters that Israel was continuing to hit Iran without pause and expected “weeks more of fighting” against both Iran and Hezbollah.

Hezbollah said it had struck several areas along Israel’s northern border.

Israeli emergency services reported that one person had been killed in a kibbutz near the frontier, although Israel later said it was examining whether the fatality may have been caused by Israeli fire.

Since joining the regional war on March 2, Hezbollah has launched hundreds of rockets at Israel, prompting an Israeli offensive that has killed more than 1,000 people in Lebanon.

Israel also said it had ordered the military to speed up the demolition of homes in what it called frontline villages in southern Lebanon and to destroy all bridges across the Litani River, which it said were being used for terrorist activity.

Reuters