{"id":555253,"date":"2026-03-23T12:21:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/555253\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T12:21:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T12:21:23","slug":"threats-of-expansion-to-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/555253\/","title":{"rendered":"Threats of expansion to power plants"},"content":{"rendered":"

ARAD, Israel \u2014 The United States and Iran threatened to target critical infrastructure Sunday as the war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week, puts lives and livelihoods at risk throughout the region.<\/p>\n

Iran said the Strait of Hormuz, crucial to oil and other exports, would be \u201ccompletely closed\u201d immediately if the U.S. follows up on President Donald Trump \u2018s threat to attack its power plants. Trump late Saturday set a 48-hour deadline to open the strait.<\/p>\n

Israeli leaders visited one of two southern communities near a secretive nuclear research site struck by Iranian missiles late Saturday, with scores of people wounded. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was a \u201cmiracle\u201d no one was killed. Israel detected more Iranian missiles fired toward the area Sunday evening.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu claimed Israel and the U.S. were well on their way to achieving their war goals. The aims have ranged from weakening Iran\u2019s nuclear program, missile program and support for armed proxies to enabling the Iranian people to overthrow the theocracy.<\/p>\n

\"\"Smoke and debris rise from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Qasmiyeh Bridge near the coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mohammad Zaatari) Smoke and debris rise from an Israeli airstrike that hit the Qasmiyeh Bridge near the coastal city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, March 22, 2026. (AP Photo\/Mohammad Zaatari) <\/p>\n

There has been no sign of an uprising, nor of an end to the fighting that has shaken the global economy, sent oil prices surging and endangered some of the world\u2019s busiest air corridors. The war, which the U.S. and Israel launched Feb. 28, has killed over 2,000 people.<\/p>\n

The Iranian-backed Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an airstrike that killed a man in northern Israel, while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun called Israel\u2019s targeting of bridges in the south \u201ca prelude to a ground invasion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore weeks of fighting against Iran and Hezbollah are expected for us,\u201d said Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates said early Monday their air defenses were dealing with missile and drone attacks as air raid sirens sounded in Bahrain.<\/p>\n

Energy and desalination plants are threatened<\/p>\n

Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz that connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world, while claiming safe passage for vessels from countries other than its enemies. Roughly one-fifth of global oil supply passes through it, but attacks on ships have stopped nearly all tanker traffic.<\/p>\n

Trump said if Iran didn\u2019t open the strait, the U.S. would destroy its \u201cvarious POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. has argued that Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guard controls much of the country\u2019s infrastructure and uses it to power the war effort. Under international law, power plants that benefit civilians can be targeted only if the military advantage outweighs the suffering it causes them, legal scholars say.<\/p>\n

\"\"Israel Iran Mideast Wars Israeli soldiers atop an APC in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariel Schalit) <\/p>\n

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded on X that if Iran\u2019s power plants and infrastructure are targeted, then vital infrastructure across the region — including energy and desalination facilities critical for drinking water in Gulf nations — would be considered legitimate targets and \u201cirreversibly destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Qalibaf later added that \u201centities that finance the US military budget are legitimate targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attacks on power plants would be \u201cinherently indiscriminate and clearly disproportionate,\u201d Iran\u2019s U.N. ambassador wrote to the Security Council, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.<\/p>\n

Strikes in Israel and Iran bring new nuclear concerns<\/p>\n

Iran said its strikes in the Negev Desert late Saturday were in retaliation for an earlier attack on Iran\u2019s main nuclear enrichment site in Natanz, according to state-run media.<\/p>\n

Tehran praised the attack as a show of strength, even as Israel\u2019s military asserts that Iranian missile launches have gradually decreased in frequency since the war began.<\/p>\n

Southern Israel\u2019s main hospital received at least 175 wounded from Arad and Dimona, its deputy director Roy Kessous told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though it doesn\u2019t confirm or deny their existence. <\/p>\n

The IAEA has been informed by Iran that the Natanz nuclear site was attacked today. No increase in off-site radiation levels reported. IAEA is looking into the report.
IAEA Director General @rafaelmgrossi<\/a> reiterates call for military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/jDCWYbOwao<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency \u269b\ufe0f (@iaeaorg) March 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Israel denied responsibility for hitting Natanz on Saturday, while the Iranian judiciary\u2019s official news agency, Mizan, said there was no leakage. The Pentagon declined to comment on the strike.<\/p>\n

The International Atomic Energy Agency has said the bulk of Iran\u2019s estimated 972 pounds (441 kilograms) of enriched uranium — the issue at the heart of tensions — is elsewhere, beneath the rubble at its Isfahan facility.<\/p>\n

\"\"Israel Iran Mideast Wars An Israeli soldier jumps from a tank in northern Israel near the border with Lebanon, Saturday, March 21, 2026. (AP Photo\/Ariel Schalit) Fighting intensifies in southern Lebanon<\/p>\n

An Israeli civilian was killed in his car in the northern town of Misgav Am in what Israel\u2019s military originally said appeared to be a rocket attack. It later said it was looking into the possibility that the death was caused by Israeli soldiers\u2019 fire.<\/p>\n

Israeli authorities identified him as 61-year-old farmer Ofer \u201cPoshko\u201d Moskovitz. Two days ago, Moskovitz told a radio station that living near the Lebanese border was like \u201cRussian roulette.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hezbollah launched strikes on Israel soon after the war began, calling it retaliation for the killing of Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel then targeted Hezbollah in deadly airstrikes and expanded its ground presence in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

\"\"Israel US Iran Israeli security forces and rescue teams work at the site struck by an Iranian missile in Arad, southern Israel, Sunday, March 22, 2026. <\/p>\n

Israel on Sunday expanded its target list to include bridges over the Litani River that Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah is using to move fighters and weapons into the south. Israel later struck the Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre, giving an hour\u2019s warning. Destroying bridges further isolates residents from the rest of Lebanon.<\/p>\n

Katz also ordered the military to accelerate its destruction of Lebanese homes near the border.<\/p>\n

Lebanese authorities say Israel\u2019s strikes have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million. Meanwhile, Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s death toll in the war has surpassed 1,500, its health ministry has said. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states have been killed in strikes. A Qatari military helicopter crash on Saturday, blamed on a technical malfunction, killed all seven aboard, Qatari authorities said.<\/p>\n

By Alon Bernstein, Sam Metz And Samy Magdy.<\/p>\n

Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel; Koral Saeed in Abu Snan, Israel; and Isabel Debre in Beirut contributed.<\/p>\n