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In a significant development, US President Donald Trump has decided to extend his deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz by an additional five days. This decision comes as both nations report progress in ongoing bilateral talks.
Initially, President Trump had set a 48-hour ultimatum. However, as the clock ticked down to the final 12 hours on Monday night (AEDT), he announced that the discussions between the US and Iran had been “very good and productive,” with a focus on resolving hostilities in the Middle East. These talks, which spanned over the past two days, seem to have provided a glimmer of hope for diplomacy.
In a statement shared via a Truth Social post, Trump expressed optimism about the talks. He stated, “Based on the tenor and tone of these in-depth, detailed, and constructive conversations, which will continue throughout the week, I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions.”
Despite this announcement, Iran’s Fars news agency offered a different perspective. It reported that there had been no direct communication with the US, nor any through intermediaries. Citing an unnamed source, Fars claimed that Trump’s decision to delay was prompted by the possibility of Iran retaliating by targeting power plants across the region.
Citing an unnamed source, Fars said Trump had retreated after hearing that Iran would respond by attacking all power plants in the region.
Trump’s post immediately sent oil prices tumbling and spiked markets that were trading at the time.
The benchmark Brent crude oil index fell back towards $US100 ($142) for the first time in almost a week after peaking earlier in the day above $US113.
Wall Street futures jumped more than 2 per cent before the market opened while London’s FTSE, and Europe’s STOXX 600 and precious metals also climbed.
The Monday warning by Tehran put at risk both electrical supplies and water in the Gulf Arab states, particularly as the desert nations commingle their power stations with desalination plants crucial for supplying drinking water.
Tehran says it will mine Persian Gulf if invaded
As concerns grow in Tehran about the potential arrival of US Marines in the region, Iran’s Defence Council warned against the idea of an invasion.
“Any attempt by the enemy to target Iran’s coasts or islands will, naturally and in accordance with established military practice, lead to the mining of all access routes … in the Persian Gulf and along the coasts,” it said in a statement.
The US has been trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, to energy shipments. The Marines could come ashore to seize either islands or territory in Iran to support that mission. Israel also has suggested a ground operation could take part in the war.
Trump had said the US would attack Iran’s power stations unless the country releases its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz. His self-declared 48-hour deadline was set to expire on Tuesday morning (AEDT) before he extended it late on Monday.
Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said on Monday that if the US did that, Iran would respond by hitting power plants in all areas that supply electricity to American bases, “as well as the economic, industrial and energy infrastructures in which Americans have shares”.
“Do not doubt that we will do this,” the Guard said in a statement read on Iranian state television.
The Fars news agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guard, published a list of such sites in what appeared to be a veiled threat, including desalination plants as well as the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant, which has four reactors out in the western deserts of the country near its border with Saudi Arabia. The judiciary’s Mizan news agency also published the list.
Iran has also said it will completely close the strait if Trump follows through with the threat to attack Iranian power plants.
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf also said Iran would then consider vital infrastructure across the region — including energy and desalination facilities critical for drinking water in Gulf nations — legitimate targets.
‘No country will be immune’: IEA boss speaks in Australia
The threats further raise the stakes of the ongoing war with Iran that has disrupted global energy supplies, sending natural gas and petrol prices soaring.
“No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction,” said Fatih Birol, the head of the Paris-based International Energy Agency.
He told Australia’s National Press Club in Canberra on Monday that the crisis in the Middle East has had a worse impact on energy markets than the two oil shocks of the 1970s and the Russia-Ukraine war combined.
Jorge Moreira da Silva, a senior United Nations official, said the world has already seen a ripple effect, including “exponential price hikes in oil, fuel and gas”, having a far-reaching impact on millions, primarily in Asian and African developing countries.
“There is no military solution,” he said.
Israel launched new attacks on Monday on the Iranian capital, saying it had “begun a wide-scale wave of strikes” on infrastructure targets in Tehran without immediately elaborating.
United States Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper claimed Iran was launching missiles and drones from populated areas, and suggested those areas would be targeted.
“You need to stay inside for right now,” Cooper told Iranian civilians in the interview with the Farsi-language satellite network Iran International aired early on Monday.
“There will be a clear signal at some point, as the president has indicated, for you to be able to come out.”
Air defences in the United Arab Emirates intercepted a ballistic missile near the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, and one person on the ground was injured when hit with shrapnel.
Warning sirens sounded in Bahrain and Kuwait, while Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry said it had intercepted a missile targeting Riyadh, and had destroyed drones over the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province.
Oil prices up more than 50 per cent since start of the war
Before Trump’s extension, oil prices had remained stubbornly high in early trading, with the price of Brent crude, the international standard at around $US112 ($161) a barrel, up nearly 55 per cent since Israel and the US started the war on February 28 by attacking Iran.
The war has also caused wild fluctuations in global stock markets as traders grow increasingly concerned about a world energy crisis and other issues.
In addition to targeting Israel and American bases, Iran has been hitting the energy infrastructure of its Gulf Arab neighbours.
It also has a tight grip on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf toward the open ocean and through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped, along with other important commodities.
A trickle of ships has been getting through the strait and Iran insists it remains open — just not to the US, Israel or their allies such as Australia.
US commander says campaign against Iran is “ahead or on plan”
In his first one-on-one interview since the war started, Admiral Cooper said the campaign against Iran is “ahead or on plan” and that the US and Israel were targeting infrastructure and manufacturing facilities to destroy Iran’s capabilities to rebuild its military.
“It’s not just about the threat today,” he said. “We’re eliminating the threat of the future, both in terms of the drones, the missiles as well as the navy.”
He suggested Iran could bring a quick end to the war if it stopped firing back, though did not say whether that would prompt Israel and the US to relent before all infrastructure targets have been destroyed.
“They could stop this war right now, absolutely, if they chose to do so,” he said of Iran. “They need to stop putting the wonderful Iranian people at risk by firing missiles and drones from inside populated areas. … They need to stop immediately attacking civilians throughout the Middle East region.”
Iran’s death toll in the war has surpassed 1500, its health ministry has said. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states have been killed in strikes.
In Lebanon, authorities say Israeli strikes targeting Iran-linked militia Hezbollah have killed more than 1000 people and displaced more than 1 million. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.
– Reported with Associated Press and Reuters.
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