By Alexander Cornwell, Trevor Hunnicutt and Asif Shahzad
TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD, March 30 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump warned on Monday that Iran’s energy plants and oil wells would be obliterated if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran described U.S. peace proposals as “unrealistic” and fired waves of missiles at Israel.
Israel’s military said two drones from Yemen had also been intercepted on Monday, two days after the Iran-aligned Houthis entered the war by firing missiles at Israel, and that Lebanon’s Hezbollah had fired rockets at Israel.
Israeli forces carried out missile strikes on what they called military infrastructure in Tehran and infrastructure used by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Beirut, leaving black smoke hanging over the Lebanese capital.
IRAN DEFIANT
Tehran remained defiant in the month-old war, which began with U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28 and has spread across the region, killing thousands, disrupting energy supplies and hitting the global economy. The majority of those reported killed were in Iran and Lebanon, and many were civilians.
Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway which normally carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
Iran said on Monday it had received U.S. peace proposals via intermediaries, following talks on Sunday between the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the proposals were “unrealistic, illogical and excessive”.
“Our position is clear. We are under military aggression. Therefore, all our efforts and strength are focused on defending ourselves,” he told a press conference.
Soon after Baghaei’s remarks, Trump said in a social media post that the United States was in talks with a “more reasonable regime” to end the war in Iran, but he also issued a new warning over the Strait of Hormuz.
“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island,” Trump wrote.
Trump also threatened to attack the desalination plants that supply clean water in Iran. He said last week he would pause attacks on Iran’s energy plants for 10 days, which would be until April 6, U.S. time.
A Pakistani security official, whose country is trying to mediate in the war, said that at this stage it appeared unlikely there would be direct U.S.-Iran talks this week.
“We are trying our best to make it happen as early as possible,” the official said.
Baghaei also said Iran’s parliament was reviewing a possible exit from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which recognises the right to develop, research, produce and use nuclear energy as long as nuclear weapons are not pursued.
Trump has cited preventing Iran obtaining nuclear weapons as one of the reasons for attacking Iran on February 28. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear arsenal.
On Sunday, Trump said the U.S. and Iran had been meeting “directly and indirectly”. But he has also been sending more U.S. troops to the region and Iran has remained defiant, maintaining its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
FEARS OF ESCALATION
Iran has fired on Arab Gulf states during the conflict and war has been reignited between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, where a U.N. peacekeeper from Indonesia was killed when a projectile exploded at one of its positions in southern Lebanon on Sunday. Another peacekeeper was critically injured.
Brent crude futures rose 66 cents or 0.6% to $113.23 a barrel at 1431 GMT after settling 4.2% higher on Friday, and were on course for a record monthly rise.
The Houthis’ attacks on Israel raised the prospect that they could target and block a second important shipping route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The oil market has all but discounted the prospect of a negotiated end to the war and “is bracing for a sharp escalation in military hostilities,” said Vandana Hari of oil-market provider Vanda Insights.
The Financial Times quoted Trump on Sunday as saying in an interview that the U.S. could seize Kharg Island, from where Iran exports much of its oil.
Taking control of Kharg would require ground troops. The U.S. Department of Defense is dispatching thousands of troops to the Middle East, giving Trump the option of launching a ground offensive, but he has not approved any of those plans, according to multiple news outlets.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Monday the global oil market was well supplied.
“Over time, the U.S. is going to retake control of the Straits and there will be freedom of navigation, whether it is through U.S. escorts or a multinational escort,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox News.
Iran confirmed on Monday the death of Revolutionary Guards Navy Commander Alireza Tangsiri, the latest of its leaders killed including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been replaced by his son Mojtaba Khamenei.
But the killings and weeks of bombardment have failed to silence Iran’s missile and drone batteries.
Kuwait said on Monday an Indian national was killed in an Iranian attack on a power and desalination plant in the country. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards later denied involvement.
An industrial building and a fuel storage tank near the main base of Israel’s navy in the northern city of Haifa were hit by debris from an intercepted missile, Israel’s fire service said.
Hezbollah later said it had targeted the naval base.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Michael Perry, Stephen Coates and Timothy Heritage; Editing by Gareth Jones and Keith Weir)
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