Donald Trump has given Iran 48 hours to reopen the strait of Hormuz to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure, as Tehran launched its most destructive attack yet on Israel.
The ultimatum, made just a day after the US president said he was considering “winding down” military operations after three weeks of war, came as the key oil passage remained effectively closed and thousands more US Marines headed to the Middle East.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US would “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants – “starting with the biggest one first” – if Tehran did not fully reopen the strait within 48 hours, or 23:44 GMT on Monday according to the time of his post.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran had imposed restrictions only on vessels from countries involved in attacks against Iran, and would assist others that stayed out of the conflict.
In response to Trump’s threat, Iran’s army said it will target energy and desalination infrastructure “belonging to the US and the regime in the region,” according to the Fars news agency.
Trump’s ultimatum came hours after two Iranian missiles struck southern Israel, injuring more than 100 people in the most destructive attack since the war began. The Israel prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, vowed to retaliate “on all fronts”.
The strikes, which slipped through Israel’s missile defence systems, tore open the facades of residential buildings and carved craters into the ground.
First responders said 84 people were injured in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously. Hours earlier, 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona, where AFPTV footage showed a large hole gouged into the ground next to piles of rubble and twisted metal.
Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to be the site of the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.
The Israeli army told Agence France-Presse there had been a “direct missile hit on a building” in Dimona, with casualties reported at multiple sites, including a 10-year-old boy in serious condition with shrapnel wounds.
Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Iran. Hours later, the Israeli military said its forces had launched a wave of strikes on Tehran.
Iran said the targeting of Dimona was retaliation for Israeli strikes on its Natanz nuclear facility, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) saying forces also targeted other southern Israeli towns as well as military sites in Kuwait and the UAE.
After the Natanz attack, the UN nuclear watchdog chief, Rafael Grossi, reiterated his call for “military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident”.
The Natanz facility hosts underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium for Iran’s disputed nuclear programme; it sustained damage in the June 2025 war.
The Israeli military denied it was behind the Natanz strike, but said it had struck a facility at a Tehran university that it claimed was being used to develop nuclear weapon components for Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
The United Arab Emirates said on Saturday it faced aerial attacks after Iran warned it against allowing strikes from its territory on disputed islands near the strait of Hormuz.
Iran has choked the vital waterway, which carries a fifth of global crude oil trade in peacetime.
The standoff has sent crude oil prices soaring, with North Sea Brent crude now trading above $105 a barrel, as long-term consequences for the global economy become an acute concern.
A joint statement from the leaders of several countries – including the UK, France, Italy, Germany, South Korea, Australia, the UAE and Bahrain – condemned the “de facto closure of the strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces”.
“We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait,” they said.
Trump has slammed Nato allies as “cowards” and urged them to secure the strait.
On Sunday, Japan said it could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the strait of Hormuz, if a ceasefire is reached.
The foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, said: “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up.
“This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider,” Motegi said on Japanese TV.
Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Japan to use its self-defence forces overseas if an attack, including on a close security partner, threatens Japan’s survival and no other means are available to address it.
Japan gets about 90% of its oil shipments via the strait, which Tehran has largely closed during the war, now in its fourth week
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse
