President Donald Trump warned the U.S. will “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it doesn’t fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, prompting Tehran to say it would respond to any such strike with attacks on U.S. and Israeli energy and infrastructure assets.
Iranian missiles, meanwhile, struck two communities in southern Israel late Saturday, leaving buildings shattered and dozens injured in dual attacks not far from Israel’s main nuclear research
center.
The developments signaled the war was moving in a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week.
Trump — who is facing increasing pressure at home to secure the strait as oil prices soar — issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home.
The death toll from the war has risen to more than 1,500 people in Iran, more than 1,000 people in Lebanon, 15 in Israel and 13 U.S. military members, as well as a number of civilians on land and sea in the Gulf region. Millions of people in Lebanon and Iran have been displaced.
Here is the latest:
Air defenses early Sunday tracked the launch of three ballistic missiles toward Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, intercepting one, while the other two fell in an uninhabited area, according to the Defense Ministry.
The ministry also said it downed six drones headed toward the kingdom’s eastern region, one of its least densely populated areas near Iran and home to major oil installations.
No casualties or damage were immediately reported.
A projectile struck close to a bulk carrier off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, causing an explosion, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said early Sunday.
The attack occurred about 15 nautical miles north of Sharjah in the UAE.
The UKMTO said the ship’s crew was safe.
