With roughly 36 hours left on his latest self-imposed deadline to force Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump saw no public indication from Tehran that it intended to comply. On Sunday, Trump promised that Tuesday would become "the day of power stations and bridges" if the strait remained closed.
"Open the f***ing Strait, you crazy bastards, or you will live in hell," he wrote on Truth Social. In a separate post, he spelled out the deadline explicitly, "Tuesday, 8:00 p.m. Eastern time" – meaning the early hours of Wednesday morning, Israel time.
Trump had first issued an ultimatum to Iran on March 21, demanding that the Strait of Hormuz be opened within 48 hours, or its power stations would come under attack. That deadline was extended twice – first by five days, then by another ten, reportedly at Iran's request. On Sunday, Trump expanded his list of targets and set Tuesday as the new cutoff.
Power stations are the central focus of Trump's threats, with the president pledging to begin "with the largest one first." That would be the Damavand plant (a major gas-fired facility) on the outskirts of Tehran province, with a capacity of approximately 2,900 megawatts. It is followed by the Shahid Salimi Neka plant in the northern province of Mazandaran (2,214 megawatts) and the Shahid Rajaee plant in Qazvin (2,042 megawatts). Five major stations – Damavand, Rajaee, Montazir Qaem, Rudshur, and Moftah – together supply the bulk of electricity to the Tehran region.
Most of Iran's electricity is generated by natural gas-fired stations. That means damage to gas infrastructure could cripple the power grid even without directly striking the plants themselves – precisely the approach Israel took in March, when it struck processing facilities at the South Pars gas field.
Bridges are also on the target list. On April 2, the US struck the B1 bridge connecting Tehran to the western city of Karaj. Washington stated the bridge had served as a logistical corridor for the transfer of missiles and drones.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump's senior advisers presented him in recent days with the rationale for striking power stations and bridges, arguing that destroying them could paralyze Tehran's missile and nuclear programs. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth advised that roads and bridges were legitimate military targets, since the Iranian military could use them to transport missiles and raw materials for drone production.
A White House official added that power stations were legitimate military targets because destroying them could trigger the kind of civil unrest that would hamper Tehran's progress toward a nuclear weapon. Even so, according to the report, senior military figures – both current and former – warned that striking civilian infrastructure as a negotiating lever is illegal.
Iranian Energy Minister Abbas Ali-Abadi said Monday that "right now there is not a single point in the country experiencing a power outage, and we have a surplus of 10,000 megawatts of production capacity. The public has absolutely nothing to worry about." He argued that, unlike Gulf states – where electricity generation is centralized and therefore vulnerable – Iran has more than 1,000 power generation points spread across the country and can repair damage quickly.
That said, Iran has long suffered from a chronic electricity shortage – the product of aging infrastructure and international sanctions. In summer, as heat waves drive up demand, the country is sometimes forced to impose rationing. An analysis published by the opposition broadcaster Iran International concluded that "blacking out" the country would not be achievable by striking a limited number of power stations, given how widely dispersed they are.
Iran has responded with threats of its own. Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf wrote to Trump on X, "Your reckless actions are dragging the United States into a living hell for every family, and the entire region is about to go up in flames because you insist on following Netanyahu's orders."
Since the war began, Iran has struck oil and gas infrastructure in Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates. Ras Laffan was hit, and QatarEnergy announced that the damage had reduced its export capacity by approximately 17% for three to five years.
But the most acutely felt threat is to desalination plants. Hundreds of such plants line the Gulf coastline and supply water to approximately 100 million people, according to CNN. The Gulf states are among the most dependent on desalinated water of any countries on earth: Qatar relies on it for 100% of its drinking water; Bahrain has been entirely dependent since 2016; the UAE derives more than 80% of its water from desalination; Kuwait and Oman approximately 90%; and Saudi Arabia around 50%, according to Reuters. On Sunday, a central desalination plant in Kuwait was struck, knocking it out of operation, according to Kuwait's Ministry of Electricity.
