U.S. President Donald Trump gave Iran a two-day deadline to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or have its power plants bombed, raising the stakes in a war that’s showing no sign of de-escalation into its fourth week.

Trump, in an indication of the pressure he’s under to bring down soaring oil prices, said Iran must “fully open, without threat,” the vital waterway for energy flows. He gave the country 48 hours “from this exact point in time,” in a Truth Social post sent at 11:44 p.m. U.K. time on Saturday.

The Iranian military countered that it will target “all energy, information technology, and desalination infrastructure belonging to the U.S. and the Israeli regime in the region” if Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure is attacked, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Iranian state TV had similar reports.

The rhetoric suggests neither side is willing to back down, with the war — which began with Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran on Feb. 28 — having already triggered an unprecedented oil and gas supply crisis. The latest threats follow a week of heavy hits on crucial energy infrastructure in the Middle East, deepening the prospect of longer-term impact on the global economy.

Oil and gas flows are likely to take time to return to normal levels even after the Strait of Hormuz reopens, with many production sites damaged. The blockages are also causing shortages of fertilizer and crop nutrients, raising the prospect of critical disruptions to food production.

The U.S. and Israel on Sunday continued to target sites in Iran, which itself is firing missiles and drones at Israel and Arab Gulf nations.

More than 4,000 people have been killed throughout the region, according to governments and non-government agencies, with more than three quarters of the fatalities in Iran. In Lebanon, where Israel has stepped up an offensive against Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, the toll is over 1,000. Dozens of people have been killed in Israel and Arab states.

Iran’s missile strikes against Israel have picked up in recent days. On Saturday, about 115 people were injured in the southern cities of Arad and Dimona, which lends its name to a nearby nuclear research facility. Iranian media said it was a retaliation against an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility.

“This is a very difficult evening in the fight for our future,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, adding that he was bolstering rescue teams in the affected areas.

Speaking on Sunday, he called on the leaders of other countries to join the war and said that some of them are beginning to show signs they might. “I’m happy to say that I can see some of them beginning to move in that direction,” he said.

Trump’s latest warning to Iran came a day after he said he was thinking about “winding down” military operations and that the responsibility for policing Hormuz would fall to other countries. That typified the mixed signals that have come from the president throughout the war, leaving governments and markets scrambling to keep up.

Traffic through Hormuz, through which one fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally flow, has effectively ground to a halt since the war started. Brent crude has surged to over $112 a barrel, its highest level in almost four years. Prices of U.S. gasoline, fertilizers and many metals that are shipped through Hormuz have also jumped.

Iranian officials are reluctant to even discuss reopening the strait as they focus on surviving the U.S.-Israeli onslaught, according to a person involved in direct, high-level contacts with Tehran.

Some countries, however, are finding ways to get cargoes through the corridor. The Iranian Navy has guided an Indian LNG tanker through the strait following diplomatic engagement by New Delhi. Iran has said the chokepoint is open to all but enemy-linked ships.

Until now, the U.S. and Israel have largely avoided targeting Iran’s power and water plants. Israel did strike fuel depots in Tehran two weeks ago, causing acid rain clouds and drawing veiled criticism from the U.S., which felt it was a strategic error that could turn Iranian civilians against the offensive.

Both Israel and the U.S. talked up regime change in the early days of the war, though they now emphasize more limited goals such as destroying Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities. The Iranian regime isn’t close to falling and officials are coalescing around the remaining leaders, according to Western intelligence assessments and people familiar with the matter.

Iran has around 100 operational natural gas power plants, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Among the largest are the Damavand plant near Tehran, the Ramin facility north of Ahvaz in the west, and the Kerman facility in Chatroud in the southeast.

The Middle East’s energy assets have increasingly come into focus as attacks widen. Israel struck the South Pars gas field last Wednesday, and Iran retaliated with its own volleys on the world’s largest LNG facility, in Qatar, alongside other Gulf energy assets.

Oil prices in London have jumped more than 50% since the war started, sparking concerns over global inflation. The price spikes — particularly gasoline — pose political risks for Trump at home, just eight months before midterm elections.

The U.S. is pumping record amounts of oil and gas domestically, but the likes of Europe, China and Japan are more reliant on Middle East resources.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Saturday that the joint campaign would intensify significantly, a day after Tehran launched ballistic missiles at the joint U.S.-U.K. military base in Diego Garcia — nearly 2,500 miles away from Iran.

The base suffered no damage, according to a person familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity, but the attack demonstrated a capability that goes beyond what Iran was known to have possessed.

Trump’s efforts to enlist U.S. allies in helping reopen the strait to widespread commercial ship traffic have largely been rebuffed. The American president, in turn, has lashed out at fellow NATO members, branding them “cowards” for not joining the efforts.

_____

(With assistance from Stanley James, Alisa Odenheimer and Dana Khraiche.)

_____

©2026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.