US President Donald Trump has renewed threats against Iran, saying on his Truth Social platform that Washington would “blow up and completely obliterate all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)” if a deal is not reached soon and the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.
Trump also claimed the US was “in serious discussions with A NEW, AND MORE REASONABLE, REGIME to end our Military Operations in Iran,” and said “Great progress has been made.” He has previously warned of strikes on Iranian power infrastructure if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed; an earlier deadline for action was pushed back to April 6. The president told reporters he was considering a military operation to seize Kharg Island and told the Financial Times he would “take the oil in Iran,” adding that “maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t. We have a lot of options.”
Trump has described the US-Israel campaign as having triggered “regime change” in Iran, saying the deaths of senior Iranian figures mean Washington is “dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before,” and expressed confidence a deal could be reached soon.
Tehran has denied direct talks with Washington. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the claims of negotiations were false, noting only that the US had made a request via third parties and calling US demands “excessive and irrational.” Iran says it is under military aggression and is focused on defending itself.
The threats come amid ongoing hostilities. Iran and the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah fired rockets toward the northern Israeli city of Haifa, where Israel’s largest oil refinery caught fire; two people were lightly injured and the blaze was extinguished. Israel said it had struck roughly 40 facilities in Tehran over two days that it identified as linked to weapons manufacture, research and development.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has confirmed the death of naval commander Alireza Tangsiri, who had overseen operations that helped close the Strait of Hormuz. Israeli officials had earlier announced he was killed in a precise operation.
The conflict has seen the deaths of several leading Iranian figures, according to reporting in the conflict’s coverage, and has prompted regional and international responses, including airspace restrictions and diplomatic protests. The situation remains volatile, with threats to critical infrastructure — including power plants, oil facilities, Kharg Island and possibly desalination plants — raising concerns about wider humanitarian and economic consequences.
