Tehran signalled on Sunday that it would not back down after President Donald Trump threatened to strike Iran’s electricity grid within 48 hours, warning that it would retaliate by targeting regional infrastructure if such an attack takes place.
The exchange of threats marks a sharp escalation in the three-week-old war and raises the prospect of tit-for-tat strikes on civilian infrastructure across the region.
“If Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is attacked by the enemy, all energy infrastructure, as well as information technology and water desalination facilities belonging to the United States and the regime in the region will be targeted,” Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said, according to state media.
Much of the region depends heavily on energy-intensive desalination plants for drinking water, including systems that supply all potable water in Bahrain and Qatar and the majority of water used in the United Arab Emirates.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf warned on X that attacks on Iranian power plants could lead to the “irreversible destruction” of energy facilities across the Middle East.
Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi struck a softer tone, saying that Tehran had not yet moved to choke off global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Strait of Hormuz is not closed,” he wrote on X. "hips hesitate because insurers fear the war of choice you initiated—not Iran."
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards also warned that the Strait of Hormuz — the route through which roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes — would remain shut until Iranian power plants damaged in the conflict are rebuilt.
The escalating rhetoric comes as fighting between Iran and Israel continued overnight.
Dozens were reported injured in Iranian missile strikes on the southern towns of Arad and Dimona on Sunday night.
The rising threats have prompted diplomatic intervention.
In a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, France’s President Emmanuel Macron urged all sides to halt attacks on energy and civilian infrastructure and called on Iran to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
“It is more essential than ever that all parties agree to establish a moratorium on energy and civilian infrastructure,” Macron said in a post on X.
More than 2,000 people have been killed since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, a conflict that has rattled global markets, pushed up fuel prices and raised fears of a broader regional war.
