LIVE: Trump threatens to ‘obliterate’ Iran’s power plants

Donald Trump has threatened to blow up Iran’s oil wells and desalination plants unless a deal can be reached to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, the President said the US is in ‘serious discussions’ with a ‘more reasonable regime’ to end the war but said he will take action unless an agreement is made

‘Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately “Open for Business,” we will conclude our lovely “stay” in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet “touched,”’ Trump penned.

Here are the latest developments as the US-Israel war with Iran enters its fifth week:

• Donald Trump has threatened to blow up Iran’s power plants, oil wells, desalination plants and Kharg Island unless the Strait of Hormuz is reopened
• His latest remarks come hours after he told The Financial Times he could ‘take Iran’s oil’ and added Kharg Island could be overtaken ‘very easily’
• A power station worker in Kuwait was killed following a missile strike which caused significant damage at the energy site
• An Israeli oil refinery has caught fire after a missile strike
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards confirm the death of navy commander Alireza Tangsiri after he was targeted in an Israeli airstrike last week
• Iran has restored electricity across Tehran and nearby areas after strikes damaged power grids and briefly disrupted supply, the deputy energy minister said
• Indonesia has confirmed that one of its peacekeepers was killed in Lebanon where Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah
• Attacks are continuing on Gulf states as Saudi Arabia intercepts five ballistic missiles while air defences have also been operating in Dubai
• Pakistan has said it is ready to broker and host ‘meaningful talks’ between the US and and Iran to bring an end to the war
• A teenager has become the sixth Israeli soldier killed in southern Lebanon since fighting broke out with Hezbollah on March 2

Stick with us as we bring you the latest developments throughout the day.

An ex-US military chief has warned Donald Trump he could be accused of carrying out a ‘war crime’ if he follows through on his threat to bomb Iran’s power plants.

Retired US Army General and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Wesley Clark, said during an interview last week that Trump should not bomb Iran’s civilian infrastructure.

‘A lot of people will say it’s a war crime because mostly these power plants are probably there for the civilian population,’ said Clark in a NewsNation interview.

‘You cannot destroy civilian assets in an effort to put harm on the population.’

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has signalled the US will secure the Strait of Hormuz to help ensure it remains open for shipping.

Bessent added the global oil market is well supplied, with more boats traveling through Hormuz.

‘Over time, the US is going to retake control of the Straits and there will be freedom of navigation, whether it is through US escorts or a multinational escort,’ Bessent said in an interview with Fox News.

Oil prices are on track for a record monthly rise as investors assess conflicting developments in the Middle East.

Brent crude rose 2 per cent to $114.85 a barrel, on course for a 59 per cent gain in March that would exceed the monthly jump that followed Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990.

It comes as Donald Trump issued another warning to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or risk US attacks on its oil wells and power plants.

While Pakistan said it was preparing to host ‘meaningful talks’ to end the conflict in coming days, even though Tehran accused Washington of preparing a land assault as it builds up forces in the region.

‘The longer the Strait remains closed, the sharper the drawdown in buffer supplies that could spark dramatic increases in the price of crude oil, natural gas and other commodities,’ warned Bruce Kasman, global head of economics at JPMorgan.

‘A scenario in which the Strait remains closed for an additional month would be consistent with oil prices rising towards $150 a barrel and constraints on industrial consumers of energy supply.’

Israel’s military says it has struck a university in Tehran run by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, claiming the institution was used for advanced weapons research.

‘In recent days, one of the IRGC’s central military infrastructure sites was recently struck, located within the compound of Imam Hossein University – the IRGC’s primary military academic institution, which also serves as an emergency asset for the regime’s military bodies,’ a military spokesperson said.

Senior Iranian officials, including former supreme leader Ali Khamenei, had previously visited the university.

‘During the operation, the IDF struck military infrastructure within the university multiple times in order to inflict significant damage to the regime’s weapons production and development capabilities,’ the military added.

Firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire at an oil refinery in Haifa

Israel’s fire and rescue service said its crews were working to extinguish a large blaze at the Haifa oil refinery after it was hit by debris from a missile interception.

Television channels showed thick black smoke billowing into the sky from the site, while the fire service shared photos of a tank on fire.

‘The incident involves a fire at a tank containing 3,000 cubic metres of gasoline,’ the service said, adding that the gasoline was being pumped out of the tank.

Firefighters were operating at the scene ‘where debris from an interception was identified following the latest barrage’, the service said, adding there were no casualties.

The incident occurred shortly after the Israeli military said it had detected new incoming missiles from Iran.

It was not immediately clear whether the refinery had been hit by debris from a missile from Iran or Lebanon or from an intercepting Israeli projectile.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has told Good Morning America that Iran will not be allowed to create a toll on the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking about Iran, Rubio said: ‘Now they are making threats about controlling the Strait of Hormuz and creating a tolling system. That’s not going to be allowed to happen.

‘The President has a number of options available to him to prevent that happening.’

Israel has renewed its bombardment of Beirut while continuing strikes on southern Lebanon, one of which hit an army checkpoint and killed a soldier.

Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East conflict when Tehran-backed armed group Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel on March 2 in revenge for the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, the opening salvo in the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.

Israel has responded with large-scale air strikes across Lebanon and a ground offensive in the south. Lebanese authorities say more than 1,200 people have been killed since the hostilities broke out.

In south Lebanon, where state media reported a series of Israeli air strikes, the Lebanese army said one of its soldiers was killed and others wounded in an attack on one of its checkpoints in the Tyre region.

A military source told AFP that the strike was the first direct targeting of a Lebanese army checkpoint since the start of the war.

Two Chinese-owned commercial ships passed the Strait of Hormuz earlier today after initial attempts were blocked on Friday, The New York Times is reporting.

The container vessels transited the waterway at around 9am UK time and are now said to be heading towards Malaysia.

According to the ship-tracking website Marine Traffic, the ships mark the ‘first confirmed crossing by a major container carrier since the start of the conflict’ and could signal a ‘potential shift in conditions’ for commercial shipping.

On Friday it was reported the Chinese vessels were forced to retreat from Hormuz by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards despite the positive relationship between China and Iran.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed on the first day of airstrikes

Donald Trump last night declared ‘regime change’ has been achieved in Iran and claimed today the new leadership is ‘more reasonable’.

Several high-ranking military and political officials have been killed since Operation Epic Fury was launched on February 28, most notably the former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

But with his son Mojtaba Khamenei taking the reins and other senior officials remaining in place, is the previous regime still in tact?

Let’s take a look at some of those who have been killed since the month-long war began:

• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Khamenei, Iran’s number one since 1989, was killed in the first hour of the war on February 28 in a strike on a meeting of senior officials in Tehran that also left his daughter-in-law, daughter and at least one grandchild dead, according to reports. His low-profile son Mojtaba survived and took over as supreme leader, though has yet to make a public appearance.

• Security chief Ali Larijani

The killing of Larijani, who despite not being a cleric was a pillar of the system for decades, was likely the biggest loss to the Islamic republic after the death of Ali Khamenei. Larijani was killed on March 17 in an Israeli strike, reportedly in the Tehran region and which also killed family members. The previous week, he had defiantly walked in public in Tehran at a pro-government rally.

• Revolutionary Guards chief Mohammad Pakpour

Pakpour, previously head of the Guards’ ground forces, took over as commander-in-chief in June 2025 after his predecessor Hossein Salami was killed in Israel’s 12-day war against Iran. He was killed on the first day of the war and has been replaced by former interior and defence minister Ahmad Vahidi.

• Guards naval chief Alireza Tangsiri

A veteran of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war, Tangsiri was one of the longest-serving senior figures in the Revolutionary Guards as the head of its navy since 2018 and one of its highest-profile faces within the Islamic republic. Israel’s defence minister described him as the ‘man directly responsible for the terrorist operation of mining and blocking the Strait of Hormuz’.

• Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib

A cleric, Khatib was killed by an Israeli strike in Tehran early on March 18. As Iran’s intelligence minister since 2021, he was accused by rights groups of playing a key role in the suppression of protests.

Donald Trump has said that he could ‘take the oil in Iran’ and boasted that he can invade Kharg Island ‘easily’.

It comes as the number of US troops in the Middle East swelled to 50,000, roughly 10,000 more than usual.

The President has also suggested he could ‘obliterate’ Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil exports hub in his latest remarks on Truth Social.

The Daily Mail’s Sophia Stanford answers today’s big question – can Trump take Iran’s oil: