On Saturday night, Trump warned Iran in a Truth Social post that the United States will attack Iran's power reactors if the Strait of Hormuz stays blocked.
"The United States of America will hit and destroy their various power plants, starting with the biggest one first!" Trump warned in the post if Iran does not fully open the Strait of Hormuz without threat within 48 hours from now.
The Strait of Hormuz is an important trading route that carries around 20% of the world's oil. Oil prices have skyrocketed worldwide as a result of Iranian strikes on ships in the region, which has effectively cut off maritime activity in the area.
The Trump administration has made yet another effort to rein down soaring energy costs by easing restrictions on Iranian oil exports, as announced on Friday.
Retail gas prices have increased by 93 cents per gallon due to the war with Iran, while the price of U.S. crude oil has climbed by more than 70% since the beginning of the year. The government also abolished certain oil transport restrictions earlier this month by repealing the Jones Act. As a side effect, the measure temporarily removed restrictions on Russian oil.
On Friday, Trump reiterated his frequent calls for U.S. allies to help clear the Strait of Hormuz, telling reporters that NATO, Japan, and China should step in.
In the US, we don't utilize the strait at all. I don't think we need it," Trump stated. "Europe requires it. They will need to participate since there are a lot of people in Korea, Japan, and China.
As the Middle East conflict reached its fourth week, Trump made his tweet on Saturday. On Saturday, Iran attacked a U.K.-U.S. facility in the Indian Ocean and again hit its major nuclear enrichment complex.
Following the strike on the nuclear complex at Natanz, some 135 miles southeast of Tehran, the official news agency of the Iranian judiciary, Mizan, stated that no leakage had occurred.
Underneath the debris at its Isfahan site, the United Nations nuclear inspector has stated that Iran's estimated 970 pounds of enriched uranium is located, with a smaller quantity at Natanz. Following notification of the strike, the International Atomic Energy Agency stated on X that it is investigating the incident.
Israeli forces said they were "not aware" of an attack in the area. Regarding the attack, the Pentagon chose not to comment. According to Maria Zakharova, a representative of Russia's foreign ministry, these attacks create a "real risk of catastrophic disaster throughout the Middle East."
Iran said later Saturday that Israel's nuclear program was their objective. Dimona is home to Israel's primary nuclear research facility, and rescue workers treated 27 injured individuals there. While Israeli officials have been mum on the matter, rumors persist that their country is the sole Middle Eastern power with nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Magen David Adom, the main emergency service in Israel, said that a missile attack in Arad, a city in the south of the nation, sent at least 88 people rushing to hospitals. The report said that ten individuals were in a "serious" state of health. The identity of the strike's perpetrator remained unclear at the time.
Satellite photos showed that the Natanz plant took a strike during the first week of the battle, damaging many structures. During last June's 12-day conflict, it was also one of the targets.
American forces have "blown Iran off the map" and are "weeks ahead of schedule," according to Trump's latest Truth Social post from Saturday."Their leadership is no longer there, their navy and air force are no longer operational, they possess zero defensive capabilities, and they are eager to reach a compromise," Trump tweeted. "I disagree! NBC News Digital's politics team has Kyla Guilfoil as a breaking news correspondent.
According to the AP