{"id":367672,"date":"2026-03-31T14:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/367672\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:36:11","slug":"iran-attacks-gulf-israeli-infrastructure-and-trump-considers-a-big-strike-to-wipe-out-drinking-water-supplies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/367672\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran attacks Gulf, Israeli infrastructure and Trump considers a big strike to wipe out drinking water supplies"},"content":{"rendered":"

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Iran\u2019s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, potentially including desalination plants that supply drinking water, if a\u00a0deal to end the war<\/a>\u00a0is not reached \u201cshortly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iran, meanwhile, struck a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, and an oil refinery in Israel came under attack. A drone hit a Kuwaiti oil tanker in Dubai waters, causing a fire that authorities were working to control early Tuesday, the Dubai Media Office said.<\/p>\n

Israel and the U.S. launched a new\u00a0wave of strikes on Iran<\/a>, as the war raged with no end in sight.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s new threat came in a social media post. Earlier comments to the Financial Times suggested American troops could seize Iran\u2019s\u00a0Kharg Island oil export hub<\/a>. Trump has repeatedly claimed to be making diplomatic progress \u2014 though Tehran denies negotiating directly \u2014 while ramping up his threats and sending thousands more U.S. troops\u00a0to the Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump told the New York Post that the U.S. is negotiating with Iran\u2019s parliament speaker,\u00a0Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf<\/a>. The former Revolutionary Guard commander, who has taunted the U.S. on social media, dismissed the talks\u00a0facilitated by Pakistan<\/a>\u00a0as a cover for the latest American troop deployments.<\/p>\n

Trump says diplomacy is going well but threatens major escalation<\/p>\n

In a social media post, Trump said \u201cgreat progress is being made\u201d in talks with Iran to end military operations. But he said if a deal is not reached \u201cshortly,\u201d and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately reopened, the U.S. would broaden its offensive by \u201ccompletely obliterating\u201d power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island and possibly even\u00a0desalination plants<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The strait is a crucial waterway through which a fifth of the world\u2019s oil is shipped in peacetime.<\/p>\n

The laws of armed conflict allow attacks on civilian infrastructure such as energy plants only if the military advantage outweighs the civilian harm, legal scholars say. It\u2019s considered a high bar to clear, and causing excessive suffering to civilians can constitute a war crime.<\/p>\n

A 22-year-old resident of Karaj, near Tehran, said his area lost power for several hours overnight following nearby strikes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really scared. I thought that they\u2019d hit the power plants and that we are not going to have power anymore,\u201d he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of security fears.<\/p>\n

Iran says US demands are \u2018excessive, unrealistic and irrational\u2019<\/p>\n

The U.S. already has targeted military positions on Kharg. Iran has threatened to launch its own ground invasion of Gulf Arab countries and to mine the Persian Gulf if U.S. troops set foot on its territory.<\/p>\n

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said Tehran had received a 15-point proposal from the Trump administration containing \u201cexcessive, unrealistic and irrational\u201d demands, while denying there had been any direct talks.<\/p>\n

Qalibaf, the parliament speaker Trump says he is negotiating with, said Iranian forces were \u201cwaiting for the arrival of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional partners forever,\u201d according to state media.<\/p>\n

Twice during Trump\u2019s second term, the U.S. has attacked Iran during high-level diplomatic talks, including with the Feb. 28 strikes that started the current war.<\/p>\n

Iran attacks Israel and Gulf infrastructure<\/p>\n

Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel\u2019s main nuclear research center, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israel\u2019s military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iran-backed\u00a0Houthi rebels entered the war<\/a>\u00a0on Saturday with their first missile attack.<\/p>\n

Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbors: Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province; a fireball erupted over Dubai, United Arab Emirates, as a missile was intercepted; and in Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and wounding 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.<\/p>\n

An Emirati official signaled that the UAE wants more than just a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn Iranian regime that launches ballistic missiles at homes, weaponizes global trade and supports proxies is no longer an acceptable feature of the regional landscape,\u201d Noura Al Kaabi, a minister of state at the UAE\u2019s Foreign Ministry, wrote in a column published by the state-linked, English-language newspaper The National.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cWe want a guarantee that this will never happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n

NATO air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile over Turkey that was fired from Iran, Turkey\u2019s Defense Ministry said, in the fourth such incident since the start of the war. Iran has denied firing the previous missiles. Turkey is taking part in mediation efforts.<\/p>\n

Israel launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking \u201cmilitary infrastructure\u201d across Tehran. Explosions were heard in the Iranian capital, and Iranian state media reported that a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage in an airstrike.<\/p>\n

Peacekeepers killed in Lebanon, where Israel is battling Hezbollah<\/p>\n

The U.N. Security Council planned to convene an emergency session Tuesday after officials said three peacekeepers in southern Lebanon had been killed in less than 24 hours. The meeting was scheduled after a request from France.<\/p>\n

The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the region where\u00a0Israel is battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah<\/a>\u00a0did not say who was responsible for the deaths overnight and into Monday.<\/p>\n

Two of the peacekeepers were killed when an explosion of \u201cunknown origin\u201d destroyed their vehicle, and a third was killed earlier when a base for the peacekeeping mission, known as UNIFIL, was hit by a projectile. All three peacekeepers were from the Indonesian army, U.N. officials said.<\/p>\n

The Israeli army said it was reviewing the deaths to determine if they resulted from Hezbollah activity or Israeli fire, noting that they \u201coccurred in an active combat area.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Israeli airstrike on a Beirut suburb killed one person and wounded 17, including four children, according to Lebanon\u2019s Health Ministry.<\/p>\n

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military would widen its\u00a0invasion<\/a>, expanding the \u201cexisting security strip\u201d in southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

In Iran, authorities say more than 1,900 people have been killed, while 19 have been reported dead in Israel.<\/p>\n

Two dozen people have been killed in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank. In Lebanon, officials said more than 1,200 people have been\u00a0killed<\/a>, and more than 1 million have been displaced.<\/p>\n

Ten Israeli soldiers have died in Lebanon, while 13 U.S. service members\u00a0have been killed<\/a>\u00a0in the war.<\/p>\n

Oil prices rise again as concerns of global energy crisis grow<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s attacks on the energy infrastructure of the region and its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz have threatened\u00a0global supplies<\/a>\u00a0of oil, natural gas and\u00a0fertilizer<\/a>. They have sent fuel prices skyrocketing and given rise to\u00a0growing concerns<\/a>\u00a0about an\u00a0energy crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Trump has said that Iran agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as \u201ca sign of respect.\u201d There was no information on whether those ships were actually moving.<\/p>\n

Brent crude oil, the international standard, was trading around $115 Monday,\u00a0up nearly 60%<\/a>\u00a0from when the war started.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Boak reported from Washington and Corder from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok, Collin Binkley in Washington, Amir-Hussein Radjy in Cairo, Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday threatened widespread destruction of Iran\u2019s energy resources and other vital infrastructure, potentially…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367673,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,87,43,40,38,41,39,7421],"class_list":{"0":"post-367672","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-iran","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-top-news","12":"tag-top-stories","13":"tag-topnews","14":"tag-topstories","15":"tag-white-house"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}