TEL AVIV/WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD – United States President Donald Trump warned on Monday, March 30, that the US would obliterate Iran’s energy plants and oil wells if Tehran does not open the Strait of Hormuz, after Tehran described US peace proposals as “unrealistic” and fired waves of missiles at Israel.

Israel’s military said two drones from Yemen had also been intercepted on Monday, two days after the Iran-aligned Houthis entered the war by firing missiles at Israel, and that Lebanon’s Hezbollah had fired rockets at Israel.

Israeli forces carried out missile strikes on what they called military infrastructure in Tehran and infrastructure used by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Beirut, leaving black smoke hanging over the Lebanese capital.

Turkey’s defense ministry said a ballistic missile launched from Iran entered Turkish airspace before being shot down by NATO air and missile defenses deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, the fourth such incident since the start of the war.

Tehran remains defiant in the month-old war, which began with US-Israeli attacks on Iran on February 28 and has spread across the region, killing thousands, disrupting energy supplies and hitting the global economy.

The majority of those reported killed were in Iran and Lebanon, and many were civilians. Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway that normally carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

Troops deploy as talks continue

Thousands of soldiers from the US Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division have started arriving in the Middle East, two US officials told Reuters on Monday, part of a reinforcement that would expand Trump’s options to include the deployment of forces inside Iranian territory, even as he pursues talks with Tehran.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later said Trump wanted to reach a deal with Tehran before an April 6 deadline he set last week after extending an earlier deadline he had set for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. Leavitt said talks with Iran were progressing, adding that what Tehran says publicly differs from what it tells US officials in private.

Iran said earlier on Monday it had received US peace proposals via intermediaries, following talks on Sunday between the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said the proposals were “unrealistic, illogical and excessive.”

“Our position is clear. We are under military aggression. Therefore, all our efforts and strength are focused on defending ourselves,” he told a press conference.

Soon after Baghaei’s remarks, Trump said in a social media post that the US was in talks with a “more reasonable regime” to end the war in Iran, but he also issued a new warning over the Strait of Hormuz.

“Great progress has been made but, if for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately ‘Open for Business,’ we will conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island,” Trump wrote.

Trump also threatened to attack the desalination plants that supply clean water in Iran.

The national security committee in the Iranian parliament, meanwhile, approved a bill that bans ships from the US, Israel and countries that unilaterally sanction Iran from moving through the Hormuz Strait, according to state media. The bill must still be approved by the full parliament and it was not clear when or if such a vote would take place.

A Pakistani security official, whose country is trying to mediate in the war, said it appeared unlikely there would be direct US-Iran talks this week.

Baghaei also said Iran’s parliament was reviewing a possible exit from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which recognizes the right to develop, research, produce and use nuclear energy as long as nuclear weapons are not pursued.

Trump has cited the prevention of Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons as a reason for attacking the country on February 28. Tehran denies it is seeking a nuclear arsenal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with US media outlet Newsmax, declined to give a timeline for achieving his country’s objectives in the war. While he said that “it’s definitely beyond the halfway point,” he later clarified that he meant in terms of missions, not time.

Oil markets brace for turmoil

The White House said Trump was considering asking Arab nations to pay for the cost of the war. “It’s an idea that I know that he has and something that I think you’ll hear more from him on,” Leavitt said in response to a reporter’s question about the idea.

His administration requested an additional $200 billion in funding for the war, which faces stiff opposition in the US Congress, which must approve new spending.

Iran has fired on Arab Gulf states during the conflict and war has been reignited between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Three members of the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were killed in two separate incidents in southern Lebanon after a bloody weekend in which Lebanese journalists and medics were killed in Israeli strikes.

Benchmark oil prices extended gains on Monday, with Brent crude futures LCOc1 on course for a record monthly rise.

The Houthis’ attacks on Israel raised the prospect that they could target and block a second important shipping route, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The oil market has all but discounted the prospect of a negotiated end to the war and “is bracing for a sharp escalation in military hostilities,” said Vandana Hari of oil-market provider Vanda Insights.

The International Monetary Fund warned that war in the Middle East has caused serious disruption to the economies of frontline countries, and is dimming the outlook for many economies that had just started to recover from previous crises.

G7 finance leaders also said they were ready to take “all necessary measures” to safeguard energy market stability and limit broader economic spillovers from recent volatility. – Rappler.com