President Donald Trump’s deafening ultimatum to Iran looks like a failure.
On Saturday night, the 79-year-old commander-in-chief threatened to “destroy” Iran’s power plants if Iran did not end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
Trump threatened to “destroy” Iran’s power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz was reopened within 48 hours. / truth society
Tehran’s reply came earlier, but it was not the concession Trump had hoped for.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bakr Qalibaf warned on Sunday that Iran would “irreversibly” destroy its Middle Eastern neighbors’ critical infrastructure, including energy and oil facilities, if Trump follows through on his threat to attack the country’s power grid, Reuters reported.
Qalibaf said such attacks would keep oil prices high for a long time.
Trump is already struggling to contain the economic fallout from the war he launched more than three weeks ago. U.S. natural gas prices surged about 30% as Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital waterway that carries as much as a fifth of the world’s oil supplies.
Trump appeared to have issued an ultimatum to force Iran to withdraw from the strait, but this appeared to have the opposite effect.
Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has warned that it will block the strait if the United States targets its power infrastructure.
Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway for global energy supplies, has roiled oil markets and pushed up prices. /Stringer/Reuters
“The Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed and will not open until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt,” the Guard said in a statement, according to Reuters.
The possibility of tit-for-tat attacks on civilian infrastructure could further disrupt global markets and heighten concerns that U.S. allies in the Middle East will be drawn deeper into the conflict.
Trump claimed he had wiped Iran “off the map” and then threatened new military strikes just an hour later. / truth society
An attack on critical infrastructure would be devastating for Iran’s Gulf neighbors, which use far more electricity per capita than Iran and whose booming desert cities rely heavily on energy-intensive desalination plants for nearly all their drinking water.
Trump’s ultimatum was confusing from the start, coming just an hour after he claimed that the United States was “blowing Iran off the map” and that the country had “no defense” and wanted to “make a deal.” “I don’t!” he said.
The escalation also raised legal red flags, as attacks on civilian infrastructure such as power plants can be considered war crimes under international law.
The Geneva Conventions prohibit attacks on “objects indispensable to the survival of civilians.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the United States is “very close” to achieving his evolving war goals, even as thousands of troops are deployed to the region and attacks continue to escalate. The war has killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 1,000 Iranian civilians.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.