Trump threatens Iran’s energy grid after recent strikes tied to nuclear sites – nationally
Iran and its ally, the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, stepped up their attacks on Israel on Sunday, launching strikes across the country after the United States and Iran threatened to escalate their targets in the Middle East war, now in its fourth week.
As Israel launched a renewed offensive, top Israeli leaders traveled to the southern city of Arad, one of two communities near a secret nuclear research site hit by Iranian missiles late Saturday, injuring scores of people.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the massacre in Aradi and said it was a “miracle” that no one was killed there. He said Israel and the US were on the way to achieving their war goals and called on the international community for more support.
Earlier, President Donald Trump warned the United States that he would destroy Iran’s energy plants if Tehran failed to fully open the Strait of Hormuz, setting a 48-hour deadline on Saturday. The speaker of Iran’s parliament said that if the US follows through on its threat, Tehran will retaliate against American and Israeli forces and extensive infrastructure in the region.
The events showed the war in Iran, the US and Israel launched in Feb. 28, was moving in a dangerous new direction, despite Trump saying last week that he was considering “terminating” the operation. It has killed hundreds of people, rocked the world economy and sent oil prices soaring.
Hezbollah claimed responsibility for Sunday’s airstrikes that killed a man in northern Israel while Gulf Arab states – including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – said they were blocking new strikes by Iran.
Iran responds to Trump’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz
Iran has almost closed the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint connecting the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world through which one-fifth of the world’s land passes. Attacks on ships and threats of further strikes have prevented almost all tankers from sailing through the port, forcing some of the world’s biggest oil producers to cut back on their pollution.
The blockade is the responsibility of the US and its allies in Europe and Asia, who rely heavily on the supply of the Persian Gulf to meet the demand for energy and the electrical, automobile and housing industries. The US lifted sanctions on Iranian oil at sea to ease pressure on energy prices.
Trump said that if Iran does not turn the tide, the US will destroy “THEIR FAILING POWER STRUCTURES, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONES!”
The speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, responded on Sunday on X that if Iran’s energy plants and infrastructure were targeted, then critical infrastructure across the region — including power plants and desalination — would be considered legitimate targets and “irreversibly destroyed.”
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Separately, Iranian officials on Sunday said they would continue to provide safe passage to ships from foreign countries without its adversaries.
Nuclear concerns as the war continues
Iran said its strikes in the Negev Desert were in retaliation for an earlier attack on Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, according to state media.
Tehran hailed the attack as a show of strength, as Israel’s military said Iran’s missile launches had gradually decreased since the start of the war.
“If the state of Israel cannot stop the missiles from the heavily defended area of Dimona, that is a sign of entering a new phase of the war,” said Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament.
Dimona is 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the nuclear research facility, and Aradi is 35 kilometers (22 miles) to the north.
Soroka Medical Center, a major hospital in southern Israel, received at least 175 wounded in Arad and Dimona, the hospital’s deputy director Roy Kessous told The Associated Press.
Israel is widely believed to have nuclear weapons, although it has neither confirmed nor denied they have them. The UN nuclear watchdog said on X that it had not received reports of damage to the Israeli facility or abnormal radiation levels.
Israel denied responsibility for hitting Natanz on Saturday and Iran’s official Mizan news agency said there had been no leaks. The Pentagon declined to comment on the strike in Natanz, which was also hit in the first week of the ongoing war and the 12-day war last June.
The UN watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency – said the bulk of Iran’s estimated 972 kilograms (441 pounds) of enriched uranium is elsewhere, under rubble at its Isfahan compound.
Iran says the strikes also hit the hospital
Iran said that, in addition to Natanz, the strikes also hit Andimeshk hospital. The Ministry of Health reported that patients and doctors were moved to another city.
The death toll in Iran in the war exceeded 1,500 on Saturday, state media reported, citing the ministry. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. More than ten civilians from the West Bank and Gulf Arab States have been killed in the strikes.
The war has also seen non-combat-related accidents, including the crash of a US refueling plane in Iraq that killed six US service members and the crash of a Qatari military jet on Saturday blamed on a technical malfunction. All seven people on board died, Qatari authorities said on Sunday.
Hezbollah strike in northern Israel claims first death there
The Israeli citizen was killed in the northern town of Misgav Am in what the Israeli military said “appeared to be” a rocket attack. Israeli doctors said they found the man in his car and released a video showing two cars engulfed in flames.
Hezbollah, which is allied with Iran, launched an attack on Israel shortly after the outbreak of war, saying it was in revenge for the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel struck back, invading Lebanon and targeting Hezbollah with deadly drone strikes, expanding its presence in southern Lebanon and massing more troops near the border.
Fighting in southern Lebanon’s cities has intensified in recent days as Israel continues its ground operations. Israel on Sunday expanded its target list to include all bridges over the Litani River, which Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah is using to transport fighters to southern Lebanon. It later crashed into the Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre.
Katz also ordered the military to accelerate the destruction of Lebanese homes near Israel’s northern border as part of a strategy he described as complementary to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
After Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on March 2, the Israeli army launched an offensive against Lebanese authorities that killed more than 1,000 people and left more than 1 million displaced. Hezbollah fired hundreds of rockets at Israel.
Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee issued a warning an hour before the Qasmiyeh bridge near the coastal city of Tire was hit.
Lebanese authorities say Israeli strikes have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than a million.
–Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Koral Saeed in Abu Snan, Israel, and Isabel Debre in Beirut contributed to this report.
