Podcaster and former VP press secretary Katie Miller says the US plans to revoke up to 4,000 visas held by Iranian elites, citing Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s efforts to target individuals linked to the Islamic Republic.
"Why are so many elites from the Iranian regime are being given safety not only hear in the America but also in European countries for so long," she said on Fox News.
Iran’s petrochemical sector is now openly under threat, marking a significant escalation in the conflict and raising the prospect of far-reaching economic consequences for the country and potentially the wider region.
Israeli strikes in recent days have hit Iran’s two main petrochemical hubs, Mahshahr and Assaluyeh, while US President Donald Trump has warned that further attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure could follow if no deal is reached by Tuesday night.
Iranian authorities said Monday that industrial facilities in the Mahshahr petrochemical zone are being evacuated ahead of Trump’s deadline.
On Saturday, April 4, Israeli forces targeted at least eight major petrochemical complexes in the Mahshahr region, along with critical supporting infrastructure, including power plants that supply electricity to the industrial zone.
Two days later, similar strikes hit the vast petrochemical facilities in Assaluyeh, the center of Iran’s South Pars gas and petrochemical operations.
Although the full extent of the damage remains unclear, Iranian officials have acknowledged that operations in both regions have been halted.
Mahshahr accounts for approximately 28 percent of Iran’s petrochemical production, while Assaluyeh contributes more than 48 percent. Together, the two hubs represent roughly three-quarters of the country’s total petrochemical output.
Iran’s petrochemical industry is the second-largest source of export revenue after crude oil. The country has a nominal production capacity of about 95 million tons per year, although actual output is closer to 75 million tons due to persistent shortages of electricity and natural gas.
Around half of this production—valued at approximately $13 billion annually—is exported, accounting for more than one-fifth of Iran’s non-oil exports.
The shutdown of these facilities therefore represents more than a temporary industrial setback. It directly threatens one of Iran’s most important sources of foreign currency earnings.
If the damaged infrastructure cannot be restored in the medium term, the second-largest producer of petrochemicals in the Middle East could even face shortages.
Over the past decades, Iran has invested an estimated $70 billion in developing petrochemical infrastructure. In the event of severe damage, rebuilding these facilities would pose a major financial and technical challenge.
Given the constraints imposed by sanctions, limited access to international capital and broader economic pressures, Iran is unlikely to have the resources required for rapid reconstruction.
Even if external financing were secured, restoring production capacity would take years, and possibly more than a decade.
Petrochemical plants are highly complex systems that depend not only on physical infrastructure but also on stable energy supply, advanced technology and efficient logistics networks—all of which are currently under strain in Iran.
The strikes on petrochemical facilities come alongside recent attacks on major steel plants in Isfahan and Khuzestan, which together account for roughly half of Iran’s steel output. Taken together, the pattern suggests a broader strategy aimed at weakening Iran’s industrial backbone rather than targeting isolated sectors.
The timing of these strikes is particularly significant given Iran’s pre-existing structural weaknesses.
In recent years, the country has faced chronic shortages of natural gas, electricity and refined fuels, forcing many industries to operate well below capacity. These constraints have already reduced industrial output and increased production costs.
At the same time, Iran’s logistics sector suffers from deep inefficiencies. According to World Bank data, the country ranks near the bottom in regional logistics performance, second only to Afghanistan. This limits Iran’s ability to reroute supply chains, manage disruptions or quickly recover from large-scale damage to infrastructure.
The combined effect of these factors could push Iran into a deeper economic crisis. A sustained disruption in petrochemical exports would significantly reduce foreign currency inflows, putting additional pressure on the national currency and exacerbating inflation.
Ultimately, the burden of this crisis will fall disproportionately on ordinary Iranians who are already struggling with high inflation, energy shortages and rising unemployment.
If Trump follows through on his threat, the conflict could move further into the economic domain, reshaping the trajectory of Iran’s economy and potentially sending shockwaves through regional—and even global—energy markets.
The Times reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is unconscious and receiving treatment in the city of Qom, citing a US–Israeli intelligence memo shared with Arab allies.
According to the report, the memo states that Khamenei is currently unable to govern and is undergoing treatment in the religious center south of Tehran.
The newspaper said the information has been circulated among regional partners and may represent the first indication of Khamenei’s location since the war began.
Khamenei has not appeared publicly since the conflict between Iran, the United States and Israel erupted more than five weeks ago.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari said she is introducing articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and calling for the 25th Amendment to be considered against President Donald Trump over the war with Iran.
“Trump is escalating a devastating, illegal war, threatening massive war crimes and targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran,” Ansari wrote on social media. “In the last 48 hours alone, the rhetoric has crossed every line. Pete Hegseth is complicit.”
Ansari said she plans to introduce impeachment articles against Hegseth as the conflict intensifies and the United States threatens expanded strikes on Iranian infrastructure.
Ansari, whose parents are from Iran, has been among the most outspoken critics in Congress of the administration’s conduct of the war.
An adviser to Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said President Donald Trump has about “20 hours” to “submit to Iran” or face devastating consequences for US allies.
“Trump now has about 20 hours to either submit to Iran or his allies will return to the Stone Age,” Mahdi Mohammadi wrote on X.
“Iran has clearly won the war and will only accept an ending that stabilizes its achievements and creates a new security regime in the region,” he added. “We will not back down.”
The heaviest wave of attacks in more than a week struck Iran on Monday, killing at least 49 civilians and injuring 58 others as the war between Iran, rights group HRANA reported ahead of President Trump's Tuesday deadline to hit Iranian power plants.
The strikes were spread across 20 provinces, according to the Washington-based monitoring group Human Rights Activists News Agency, and represented the highest rate of attacks recorded in the past 10 days.
Among those killed were four children and two women, HRANA said, adding that the figures remain preliminary and could rise as more information emerges.
In total, the group documented at least 573 individual strikes across 215 separate incidents during the past day, a scale of bombardment that analysts say reflects a widening focus on strategic sectors of Iran’s economy.
Many of the attacks targeted infrastructure linked to the country’s core industries, including elements of Iran’s energy sector, HRANA reported.
The latest wave of strikes comes as President Trump has warned that the United States could launch sweeping new attacks on Iranian infrastructure if Tehran does not agree to negotiations by Tuesday evening.
In a statement Monday, the White House said Iran would be “sent back to the stone ages tomorrow night if they fail to engage in a serious way” with diplomatic efforts.
The war, now in its sixth week, has already inflicted heavy losses across the region.
Iranian authorities and monitoring groups estimate that more than 2,000 people have been killed inside Iran since the conflict began. Israeli officials say at least 26 people have been killed there, while missile and drone attacks launched by Iran have also caused dozens of casualties in the Persian Gulf countries.
With negotiations uncertain and attacks intensifying on both sides, Tuesday is shaping up as one of the most consequential moments in the conflict since it began more than five weeks ago.