Israel hits Iran gas complex after Trump threat
Iran has all but blocked Hormuz, a vital energy chokepoint, sending oil and gas prices soaring and pushing countries around the world to enact measures to contain the fallout.
In a stark, expletive-laden social media post on Sunday, Trump demanded: “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell.”
On Monday, Israel said it had struck Iran’s largest petrochemical facility in Assaluyeh on Iran’s Gulf coast, where local media reported multiple explosions.
The site accounted for about 50 percent of the country’s petrochemical production worth “tens of billions of dollars”, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
Ahead of the latest strikes, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said Hormuz “will never return to its former status, especially for the US and Israel”.
The Guards posted on Telegram Monday that their intelligence chief Majid Khademi had been killed at dawn in US-Israeli strikes.
“We will reach anyone who seeks to harm us,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, after Katz confirmed the country’s military was behind the strike.
Israel’s defence ministry also said it would ramp up production of Arrow missile interceptors, part of the country’s multi-layered air defences.
– A deal? –
While the violence continued to spiral, reports surfaced of a potential push to halt the fighting.
Citing US, Israeli and regional sources, US news website Axios said a deal mediated by Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey for a 45-day ceasefire to allow for negotiations on a more permanent peace was under discussion.
Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had on Sunday confirmed he was engaging in talks with governments across the region, as well as US envoy Steve Witkoff and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.
“Views and proposals were exchanged on ways to deescalate the military situation in the region given the delicate juncture it is currently facing,” a statement from his ministry said.
Trump told Fox News that Iran was “close” to making a deal, but Tehran has repeatedly denied it is engaged in any negotiations with the US or Israel.
European Council chief Antonio Costa, one of the EU’s top officials, called in an X post for a “diplomatic solution”.
“Any targeting of civilian infrastructure, namely energy facilities, is illegal and unacceptable,” Costa said.
– Oil squeeze –
The war, which erupted on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran that killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has engulfed the Middle East and roiled the global economy.
A worldwide oil squeeze has hit aviation, with Indonesia on Monday saying it would increase a jet fuel surcharge and low-cost carrier Air Asia X announcing ticket price hikes of up to 40 percent.
South Korea will send ships to fetch oil from Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, avoiding Hormuz altogether, a ruling party MP said, while Taiwan’s government said it too would take the Red Sea route.
