Trump Issues Iran Threats as Mediators Reportedly Seek Ceasefire
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump issued increasingly aggressive threats to destroy Iran’s power plants starting Tuesday and bring “Hell” to the country following the rescue of a US airman more than a day after his fighter jet was shot down.
Iran rejected Trump’s latest ultimatum to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, saying it would only fully resume operations when war damage is compensated. Tehran continued striking energy targets in Gulf neighbors, including Kuwait’s oil headquarters.
Trump, in renewing his threats to target Iran’s civilian infrastructure, used an expletive in a social media post and told Axios he would be “blowing up everything over there” if Iran doesn’t make a deal. He said he plans a news conference at 1 p.m. on Monday and posted about a Tuesday 8 p.m. deadline, without offering details.
Axios reported that the US, Iran and regional mediators are discussing terms for a possible 45-day ceasefire that could lead to an end of fighting, citing four American, Israeli and regional sources with knowledge of the talks. The people, who were not named, said chances of reaching a deal over the next 48 hours are low.
On March 26, Trump also gave Iran a 10-day deadline to reopen Hormuz, which expires Monday evening. His threat to bomb civilian power plants could constitute a war crime under international law.
Late Saturday’s operation, which was hailed by Trump, involved dozens of US aircraft deployed to retrieve the injured crew member from a mountainous area in Iran, a day after a second person from the same F-15E was rescued.
The mission spanned two days and involved hundreds of special operations troops, with US aircraft dropping bombs and firing on Iranian convoys to keep them away from the aviator’s hiding area, the New York Times reported.
House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican, said on Fox News’ that the US sustained no casualties but destroyed “a couple” of aircraft on the ground in Iran to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
The downing of US aircraft pierced the aura of invincibility Trump has sought to project as the war with Iran enters a second month. Iran’s attacks have brought the Strait of Hormuz — through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas normally flows — close to a standstill, lifting energy prices and rattling global markets.
Fifteen ships have passed through the strait with Iran’s permission in the past 24 hours, the semi-official Fars news agency reported, adding that’s still about 90% lower than before the start of the conflict.
Oil prices rose after Trump’s latest threats with Brent up about 1.4% to trade above $110 a barrel. Japanese stocks advanced in early Monday trading on reports that some vessels had passed through the strait.
Prices have been roiled by the conflict and soaring costs for products such as jet fuel and diesel are threatening a renewed wave of inflation. OPEC+ members raised their production quotas for May in a symbolic move as the war constrains production and shipments from several of the alliance’s largest members.
In the US, average national retail gasoline prices have topped $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022. Crossing that critical psychological threshold brings political risk to the Trump administration and Republicans as consumers grow increasingly concerned over the cost of living ahead of November’s midterms.
But it won’t be easy for any side to end the conflict. Both the US and Iran have rejected each other’s demands, while Israel has made clear it wants to inflict further damage to Tehran’s military capabilities.
Israel assesses that Iran still has more than 1,000 missiles capable of reaching it, while Hezbollah’s arsenal in Lebanon includes as many as 10,000 shorter-range rockets, according to military briefings cited by Israeli media this weekend.
Israel said it struck a petrochemical complex in southwestern Iran, where Tehran said five people were killed and 170 others wounded.
Kuwait’s oil sector faced a fresh barrage Sunday, with drone strikes causing fires at refining and petrochemical facilities. The strikes came hours after Kuwait Petroleum Corp.’s headquarters, which also houses the country’s oil ministry, was set ablaze in a similar attack.
A separate strike on power and water desalination plants caused significant damage, putting two generation units out of service.
Borouge PLC suspended operations at a petrochemicals plant in Abu Dhabi after multiple fires broke out from falling debris following interceptions of Iranian attacks, the government media office said.
Israel said Sunday it struck more than 120 air defense and missile systems in central and western Iran over the past 24 hours. The country’s defense minister threatened further attacks on Iranian infrastructure.
An Iranian missile barrage targeted an industrial site in southern Israel, where shrapnel caused minor damage at a factory with no injuries reported, the country’s fire department said.
Oman’s Foreign Ministry said in a post on X on Sunday that it discussed with Iran possible options to ensure “smooth flow” through Hormuz.
Iran announced Saturday that Iraq would be exempt from its shipping restrictions in the strait, allowing for as much as 3 million barrels a day of Iraqi oil cargoes. An Iraqi official struck a cautious note, saying volumes would depend on whether shipping companies are willing to risk entering the strait.
The Suezmax Ocean Thunder, an oil tanker that loaded its cargo at Iraq’s Basrah terminal in early March, exited the strait en route to Malaysia, according to tanker-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. Such vessels can carry about 1 million barrels of crude.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in the conflict, almost three-quarters of them in Iran, according to government organizations and the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency. More than 1,460 people have been killed in Lebanon, where Israel is fighting a parallel war against Iran-allied Hezbollah.
(Updates with Axios report on ceasefire talks in paragraph four.)
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