Tuesday night will be the moment of truth. Either the ships can once again sail through the Strait of Hormuz with oil, gas and goods from the Middle East - or Iran's energy facilities will be bombed beyond recognition. At least if you are to believe US President Donald Trump.
On Sunday night, he gave Iran an ultimatum: If you do not open the important waters within two days, we will destroy your power plants.
- If Iran does not, without threats, fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours from this exact time, the United States will strike and destroy their various power plants, starting with the largest first, Trump said.
The warning was published on Trump's own social media, Truth Social, on Sunday night at 00.44 Danish time.
The threat did not go unnoticed in Iran, where both the military, the country's parliament speaker and the Revolutionary Guard responded. The military warned that Iran will attack "all energy, IT and desalination infrastructure belonging to the United States" in the Middle East if the "enemy" were to attack Iran's fuel and energy infrastructure.
Speaker of Iran's parliament issues warning
Speaker of Iran's parliament, Mohammed Baqer Qalibaf, warned of widespread attacks but did not directly mention the United States when he sent out his threats on Sunday afternoon via the social media X.
- Immediately after power plants and infrastructure in our country are attacked, critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure and oil facilities across the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed irreparably, and the price of oil will remain high for a long time, the parliament speaker wrote.
And the Revolutionary Guard, which has taken control of the Strait of Hormuz, said in a statement according to Reuters that the waters will remain completely closed if the United States were to take serious action its threats. At the same time, the Revolutionary Guards stated that if the US military directs its fire at Iranian energy infrastructure, energy facilities in the countries hosting US military bases will be legal targets.
The Strait of Hormuz is located between Oman and Iran and is approximately 60 kilometers wide at its narrowest point. The strait connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the rest of the world's oceans.
About a fifth of all crude oil and liquefied natural gas in the world normally sails through the Strait of Hormuz, and the closure has therefore sent oil and gas prices soaring. The attacks on oil refineries, gas fields and natural gas facilities around the Persian Gulf have also pushed up prices.
This happened on Wednesday, when Iran attacked Qatar's primary natural gas facility, Ras Laffan Industrial City, and sent missiles towards Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after an Israeli attack earlier in the day on the Iranian natural gas field South Pars.
The US attacks have so far primarily been aimed at military targets and high-ranking figures in the Iranian regime. However, according to Reuters, the US was also involved in an attack on a nuclear power plant at Natanz in Iran on Saturday.
The war has not only affected energy prices, but also stock prices, which have seen large falls during the currently three-week conflict.
/ritzau/
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
