West Asia war: Iran signals complete lockdown of Strait of Hormuz in response to Trump's ultimatum

The United States and Iran threatened to target critical infrastructure Sunday as the war in the Middle East now in its fourth week puts lives and livelihoods at risk throughout the regionIran said the Strait of Hormuz crucial to oil and other exports would be completely closed immediately if the US follows up on President Donald Trumps threat to attack its power plants Trump late Saturday set a 48hour deadline to open the straitIsraeli leaders visited one of two southern communities near a secretive nuclear research site struck by Iranian missiles late Saturday with scores of people wounded Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a miracle no one was killedNetanyahu claimed Israel and the US were well on their way to achieving their war goals The aims have ranged from weakening Irans nuclear programme missile programme and support for armed proxies to enabling the Iranian people to overthrow the theocracyThere has been no sign of an uprising nor of an end to the fighting that has shaken the global economy sent oil prices surging and endangered some of the worlds busiest air corridors The war which the US and Israel launched February 28 has killed over 2000 peopleThe Iranianbacked Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an airstrike that killed a man in northern Israel while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called Israels new targeting of bridges in the south a prelude to a ground invasionMore weeks of fighting against Iran and Hezbollah are expected for us said Israeli military spokesperson Brig Gen Effie Defrin Meanwhile Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates said early Monday their air defenses were dealing with missile and drone attacks as air raid sirens sounded in BahrainEnergy and desalination plants are threatenedIran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz that connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world while claiming safe passage for vessels from countries other than its enemies Roughly onefifth of global oil supply passes through it but attacks on ships have stopped nearly all tanker trafficTrump said if Iran didnt open the strait the US would destroy its various POWER PLANTS STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRSTThe US has argued that Irans Revolutionary Guard controls much of the countrys infrastructure and uses it to power the war effort Under international law power plants that benefit civilians can be targeted only if the military advantage outweighs the suffering it causes them legal scholars sayIranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded on X that if Irans power plants and infrastructure are targeted then vital infrastructure across the region including energy and desalination facilities critical for drinking water in Gulf nations would be considered legitimate targets and irreversibly destroyedQalibaf later added that entities that finance the US military budget are legitimate targetsAttacks on power plants would be inherently indiscriminate and clearly disproportionate and a war crime Irans UN ambassador wrote to the Security Council according to the staterun IRNA news agencyStrikes in Israel and Iran bring new nuclear concernsIran said its strikes in the Negev Desert late Saturday were in retaliation for the latest attack on Irans main nuclear enrichment site in Natanz according to staterun mediaTehran praised its attack as a show of strength even as Israels military asserts that Iranian missile launches have decreased since the war beganSouthern Israels main hospital received at least 175 wounded from Arad and Dimona deputy director Roy Kessous told The Associated PressIsrael is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons though it doesnt confirm or deny their existenceIsrael denied responsibility for hitting Natanz on Saturday The Pentagon declined to comment on the strikeThe International Atomic Energy Agency has said the bulk of Irans estimated 441 kg of enriched uranium the issue at the heart of tensions is elsewhere beneath the rubble at its Isfahan facilityFighting intensifies in southern LebanonAn Israeli civilian was killed in his car in the northern town of Misgav Am in what Israels military originally said appeared to be a rocket attack It later was looking into the possibility that the death was caused by Israeli soldiers fireIsraeli authorities identified him as 61yearold farmer Ofer Poshko Moskovitz Two days ago he told a radio station that living near the Lebanese border was like Russian rouletteHezbollah launched strikes on Israel soon after the war began calling it retaliation for the killing of Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Israel then targeted Hezbollah with airstrikes and expanded its ground presence in southern LebanonIsrael on Sunday expanded its target list to include bridges over the Litani River that Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah is using to move fighters and weapons to the south Israel later struck the Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre giving an hours warning Destroying bridges further isolates residents from the rest of LebanonKatz also ordered the military to accelerate destruction of Lebanese homes near the border Lebanese authorities say Israels strikes have killed more than 1000 people and displaced more than 1 million Meanwhile Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into IsraelIrans 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 A Qatari military helicopter crash on Saturday blamed on a technical malfunction killed all seven aboard Qatari authorities saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever