US Issues 48 Hour Ultimatum to Iran to Open Strait of Hormuz, Iran Threatens to Target US Infrastructure in the Region

Rohit Kumar

NEW DELHI, Mar 22: Even as the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday urged global leaders to join the Israel and the United States’ war effort against Iran and the US President Donald Trump threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Iran responded with a threat to target all energy, technology, and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US in the region indicating further escalation in tension.

Mr Trump in a post on Truth Social, set a 48-hour deadline from “this exact point in time” for Tehran to “fully reopen” the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint that carries around a fifth of the world’s oil supply – for shipping traffic. Mr Trump posted the Truth at 5:14 am (IST), giving Tehran time till Tuesday morning.

“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” he said. Responding to Trump’s ultimatum, the Iranian military threatened to target all energy, technology, and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US in the region.

“Following previous warnings, if Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is violated by the enemy, all energy, information technology, and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region will be targeted,” the Iranian military’s operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said. The threats come as a dramatic escalation barely a day after Trump talked about “winding down” the war.

The Strait of Hormuz remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to “Iran’s enemies,” Iran’s ⁠representative to the UN maritime agency said on Sunday after the Trump ultimatum for 48 hours. Iranian missile strikes on two southern Israeli towns injured more than 100 people on Saturday, medics said, after Israeli air defense systems failed to intercept the projectiles.

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz for the majority of the shipping traffic, especially for those countries involved in attacks against Iran, since the US-Israel’s joint strikes on Tehran on February 28. Around a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas passes through the strait. The closure is forcing countries reliant on the shipping lane to scramble for alternative routes and tap reserves. It has also sent crude oil prices soaring, threatening governments with widespread inflation the longer the war continues.

Many countries, including the UK, France, Italy, Germany, South Korea, Australia, the UAE, and Bahrain, have condemned the “de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces.” Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf had earlier warned that “the Strait of Hormuz won’t return to its pre-war status.”

Citing recent attacks on Israeli territory as evidence of what he described as a growing global threat, Mr Netanyahu urged the global leaders to join the war against Iran and said the recent developments over the past 48 hours demonstrate that Iran posed a threat not only to Israel but also to the wider international community.

The Israeli PM stated that Iran has targeted civilian areas and key religious sites in Jerusalem, including the Western Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque. “If you want proof that Iran endangers the entire world, the last 48 hours have given it. In the last 48 hours, Iran targeted a civilian area. They’re doing that as a mass murder weapon. Luckily, no one was killed, but that’s due to luck, not their intention. Their intention is to murder civilians,” Mr Netanyahu said.

His appeal, however, met only with lukewarm response. The British Cabinet minister Steve Reed said on Sunday that there was no assessment that backed ⁠claims Iran was planning to strike Europe with ballistic missiles, or that it even has the capacity to do so. On Saturday the Israel Defense Forces posted on social media that Iran has missiles “that can reach London, Paris or Berlin.” “There is no assessment to substantiate what’s being said,” British Housing Secretary Reed said. “I’m not aware of any assessment at all that they are even trying to target Europe, let alone that they could if they tried.”

Iran’s critical water and energy infrastructure have suffered extensive damage due to US and Israeli strikes, the country’s energy minister said on Sunday. “The country’s vital water and electricity infrastructure has suffered heavy damage following terrorist and cyber attacks by the United States and the Zionist regime,” said energy minister Abbas Aliabadi. “The attacks targeted dozens of water transmission and treatment facilities and destroyed parts of critical water supply networks,” he noted, adding that efforts were underway to repair the damage.

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday that he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had instructed the military to accelerate the demolition of Lebanese homes in “frontline villages” to end threats to Israeli communities. The military was also told to immediately destroy all bridges over Lebanon’s Litani river which they said were used for “terrorist activity.”

“We’re going after the regime. We’re going after the IRGC, this criminal gang,” Netanyahu said, as he inspected the damage in the southern Israeli town of Arad. “We’re going after them personally, their leaders, their establishments, their economic assets. The second town struck by an Iranian missile on Saturday was Dimona, widely believed to house Israel’s undeclared nuclear arsenal.

Israel’s military said on Sunday that Iran had fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at Israel since the start of the West Asia war, with around 92% of them intercepted. The figures were announced a day after Iranian missiles struck two towns in southern Israel, leaving around 175 people needing medical treatment. “Iran has fired over 400 ballistic missiles. We have had great interception rates. We have approximately a 92% successful interception rate,” Israeli military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told journalists.

Iran’s reported launch of two intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward a US-UK base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean marks an escalation that takes the focus to range, signaling and strategic geography. Even though one missile failed and the other may have been intercepted, according to media reports, the attempt itself altered the risk map.

Diego Garcia lies roughly 4,000 km from Iran, and Tehran publicly maintains its ballistic missiles are capped at 2,000 km. But if Iran indeed tried a strike at double that publicly declared limit, it means Iran has undeclared capabilities that the world doesn’t know about.

Iran may have been testing systems closer to true IRBM, potentially reaching deeper into the Indian Ocean and even southern Europe. This also helps Tehran gain leverage by keeping its enemies unsure of its actual strike envelope. The doctrinal ambiguity complicates the US and the UK’s planning. Any perceived ballistic missile range extension will add pressure on Gulf states and Israel to reassess missile-defense layers.

Diego Garcia is also not a small asset, but a high-value node for US global power projection that serves as a critical logistics and strike platform. It is home to US’ heavy bombers and surveillance aircraft. Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency said targeting the base was a “significant step… that shows that the range of Iran’s missiles is beyond what the enemy previously imagined.”

By attempting to hit Diego Garcia, Iran has shifted the conflict theater from the West Asia to the Indian Ocean region and signaled that no US sanctuary is too distant. It may create hurdles for the US-UK as they need to divert missile-defense assets southwards.