WASHINGTON/TEHRAN/JERUSALEM – US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Iran has 48 hours to strike a deal on opening up the Strait of Hormuz or face “Hell.”
“Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Time is running out — 48 hours before all Hell will reign (sic) down on them,” Trump said.
On March 21, Trump threatened to “hit and obliterate” Iranian power plants if the country fails to fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. Two days later, however, he postponed strikes on power plants for five days after holding “productive conversations” with Tehran. He later again pushed the deadline back.
Iranian condemns strike near Bushehr plant
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Saturday condemned a US-Israeli strike near Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant earlier in the day and warned of its potential lethal consequences for the West Asia region.
Earlier, Tehran confirmed that a projectile hit near Iran’s only operating nuclear power plant on Saturday morning, killing one security worker and damaging a building on the site. It marked the fourth such attack since the US-Israel-Iran conflict began.
The development came amid heightened regional tensions following joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran starting on Feb 28, to which Iran and its regional allies responded with attacks on Israeli and US interests across the Middle East.
Iranian commander vows retaliations
A top Iranian commander warned that any US or Israeli strike on Iran’s infrastructure would be met with “devastating and continuous” attacks on all US military assets in West Asia and Israeli infrastructure, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Ali Abdollahi, chief commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, issued the warning Saturday as a 10-day deadline set by US President Donald Trump for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz is due to expire Monday.
“After having admitted successive defeats, the aggressive and warmongering president of the United States has, in a desperate, nervous, unbalanced and foolish move, threatened (to target) Iran’s infrastructure and national assets,” Abdollahi said.
He said the Iranian armed forces would not hesitate “for a moment” to defend the country’s rights and protect national assets and “will put the aggressors in their place.”
US fighter jet, attack planes hit
Iran’s main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said Saturday the country’s armed forces hit the previous day a US fighter jet, three drones, two stealth cruise missiles, two US A-10 attack planes and two American Black Hawk helicopters.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, the headquarters’ spokesman, said the aircraft were targeted by the air defense systems of the Ground Force of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps and army under the guidance of the country’s integrated air defense network, according to the official news agency IRNA.
Zolfaghari said that Iran’s homegrown air defense systems are being unveiled one by one in the battlefield.
2 cluster missile bombs hit in Tel Aviv
Two bombs from a cluster missile launched from Iran fell around Saturday noon near the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv, Israel’s state-owned Kan TV News and other media outlets reported.
The bombs hit a parking lot and a school near the base, causing damage but no injuries, according to the reports.
Iran launched two missile barrages at central Israel on Saturday, triggering air raid sirens across wide areas and sending millions to shelters.
As a result, four people were slightly injured and several cities in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area sustained heavy damage, according to Israel’s national emergency service Magen David Adom.