Iran military says to completely close Hormuz if US targets power plants

Iran’s military threatened on Sunday to completely shut down the strategic Strait of Hormuz if US President Donald Trump acts on threats to target the country’s power plants.

Trump has given Iran 48 hours to reopen the strait which has been effectively closed since the start of the war sparked on February 28 by US-Israeli bombardment of Iran.

The war has since spread across the Middle East, with Iran responding with drone and missile attacks on Israel and US interests in the region.

“If the United States’ threats regarding Iran’s power plants are carried out… the Strait of Hormuz will be completely closed, and it will not be reopened until our destroyed power plants are rebuilt,” the military’s operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by state TV.

The military said it would also strike Israel’s “power plants, energy, and information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure”, along with power plants in regional countries hosting US bases and companies with US shareholders.

It added that the measures will be taken “to defend our country and the interests of our nation”.

Traffic through the vital strait — through which 20 percent of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes — has been brought to a near-standstill since the start of the war.

A relatively small number of vessels have been able to transit it — around five percent of its pre-war volume, according to analytics firm Kpler.

Iranian forces have attacked multiple vessels, saying they failed to heed “warnings” against transiting the waterway.

In recent days, Iran has allowed some vessels from countries it considers friendly to pass, while warning it would block ships from countries it says have joined the “aggression” against it.

Iran’s parliament is mulling imposing tolls on shipping through the strait with Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf saying maritime traffic would “not return to its pre-war status”.