Iran has warned that it will strike electricity infrastructure across Israel, and throughout West Asia, should the US decide to make good on its threats, and target Tehran’s power plants.
Additionally, the Islamic Republic also signalled it will resort to mining the “entire Persian Gulf”, further intensifying hostilities.
Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency published a list of potential targets, citing military officials as saying “All power plants, energy infrastructure, and information and communications technology infrastructure of the Zionist regime will be widely targeted.”
The warning – issued just hours before US President Donald Trump’s 48-hour deadline for reopening the Strait of Hormuz expires – potentially risks not only power supplies in the region, but also threatens water systems across Gulf states, where desalination plants depend heavily on electricity.
Post the warning, the IDF said it had launched a “wide-scale” wave of airstrikes on Tehran, targeting government infrastructure. According Iranian outlets, including Mehr News Agency, explosions were reported across multiple districts of the capital, with plumes of black smoke still rising hours later.
The escalation quickly spread across the region, as air defence systems in the UAE intercepted a ballistic missile near the Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi, where one person was reportedly injured by shrapnel, while warning sirens were sounded all over Bahrain and Kuwait, while Saudi Arabia claimed to have intercepted a missile aimed at Riyadh and destroyed multiple drones over its Eastern Province.
Iran has continued targeting energy infrastructure across Gulf states, while using its tight control over the Strait of Hormuz to great effect in disrupting shipping. The route is a critical waterway that typically carries about 20% of global oil supply, thus exponentially raising crude prices, while leaving global supplies uncertain.
While some vessels have managed to transit through the route, Tehran has indicated stringent restrictions will remain in place for the US, Israel and their allies.
Trump warned over the weekend that failure to reopen the waterway would trigger US strikes on Iranian power plants, with the deadline set to expire late Monday Washington time.
In response, Iran’s theocratic paramilitary unit, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), issued a direct counter-warning, stating it would retaliate by targeting power facilities supplying US bases, as well as broader economic and energy infrastructure tied to American interests.
“If you hit electricity, we hit electricity,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on state television.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf warned that vital infrastructure across the region — including desalination plants critical for drinking water — would be considered legitimate targets.
The prospect of attacks on electricity networks has heightened alarm across the Gulf, where desalination is essential. Bahrain and Qatar rely almost entirely on desalinated water, while the UAE meets more than 80% of its needs this way and Saudi Arabia about half. In Israel, desalination provides roughly 70% of potable water.
