Iran says to completely close Strait of Hormuz if US targets power plants

FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows map showing the Strait of Hormuz and Iran

• Iran may fully shut Hormuz Strait if US strikes facilities
• Trump warns Iran to reopen Strait or face power plant strikes
• Iran vows to target US and Gulf energy facilities if attacked

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

"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 television.

In their Sunday statement Iran's Revolutionary Guards also said companies with US shares will be 'completely destroyed', if Iranian energy facilities were targeted by Washington and energy facilities in countries that host U.S. bases will be 'lawful' targets.

Iran has already all but choked off the vital waterway, but 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.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump and Iran have threatened to escalate their ongoing conflict by targeting energy facilities in the Gulf, raising fears of a wider regional crisis and fresh concerns in global markets.

Air raid sirens sounded across Israel from the early hours of Sunday morning, warning of incoming missiles from Iran, after scores of people were hurt overnight in two separate attacks in the southern Israeli towns of Arad and Dimona.

The Israeli military said hours later that it was striking Tehran in response.

Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, suggesting a significant escalation barely a day after he talked about "winding down" the war, now in its fourth week.

Iran said on Sunday it would attack U.S. infrastructure, including energy facilities in the Gulf, if Trump carried out his threat, which he made as U.S. Marines and heavy landing craft continued to head to the region.

Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf wrote on X that critical infrastructure and energy facilities in the Middle East could be "irreversibly destroyed" should Iranian power plants be attacked.