Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran on Saturday to reach an agreement or reopen the strategic Strait of Hormuz. An emblematic Iranian nuclear power plant was targeted.
On the 36th day of the war triggered by an Israeli-American offensive against Iran, the country’s authorities and the American army continued their search for a missing American aviator after the crash of a combat aircraft the day before in the southwest of the country.
“Do you remember when I gave Iran 10 days to REACH AN AGREEMENT or REOPEN THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ. Time is running out – 48 hours before unleashing hell on them,” wrote the President of the United States on his Truth Social platform.
On March 26, Mr. Trump issued a 10-day ultimatum to Tehran to reopen this crucial maritime route for the global economy, which had been blocked by Iran since the start of the war. Failure to comply, Mr. Trump threatened to destroy power plants in Iran, with the deadline set for “Monday, April 6 at 8:00 p.m. Washington time.”
Meanwhile, Iran announced on Saturday that Iraqi ships, a “fraternal country,” were not subject to navigation restrictions through the strait, which only apply to “enemies.”
Earlier, the Bushehr nuclear power plant, built with Russia’s assistance, was targeted by a strike. The only operational civilian nuclear facility in Iran, it has been targeted four times since the start of the war on February 28.
According to the Irna news agency, a projectile hit “an area near the plant,” where a guard was killed. No damage was reported to the installations, the same source reported.
Russia announced that nearly 200 employees of the nuclear giant Rosatom had begun evacuating the plant.
Missing Aviator
Meanwhile, Tehran and Washington are actively searching for one of the two occupants of the first American plane to crash in Iran since the start of the war.
The Iranian military claimed to have shot down on Friday an F-15E fighter bomber. One of the two aviators ejected and was rescued by special forces, while the fate of the second remains unknown, according to American media reports.
The White House simply stated that Mr. Trump had been “informed” of the loss of an aircraft in the southwest of Iran.
In an NBC interview, he reassured that this development would not change the possibility of negotiations with Tehran to resolve the conflict, which is affecting the global economy.
Since the beginning of the war, no American soldier has been killed or captured on Iranian soil, but 13 have died in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
Targeted Infrastructures
An authenticated video by AFP shows Iranian police firing at American helicopters flying over the Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad region in the southwest.
Military personnel and members of local tribes are participating in the search efforts and “shot last night (Friday) at enemy helicopters to prevent them from landing,” said deputy governor of the province, Fattah Mohammadi.
Extending to several countries in the region, hostilities have caused thousands of deaths, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, and have damaged or destroyed numerous military and civilian infrastructures.
In Iran, a commercial terminal was targeted on Saturday at a border crossing with Iraq, killing one Iraqi citizen. A petrochemical installation was hit in Mahshahr (southwest), causing five injuries, as well as a cement plant in Bandar Khamir (south), with no casualties, according to Iranian media.
More than 30 universities have also been targeted since February 28, according to the Iranian Minister of Sciences.
Anti-War Protests
Iran says it is targeting Gulf countries that host American interests in retaliation for strikes on its territory.
It also targeted Israel where five people were injured on Saturday in Tel Aviv and the center of Israel after several missile salvos causing material damage, according to rescue teams.
On Saturday evening, the Israeli army reported another missile fired from Yemen towards Israel. This is the fifth attack of this kind from Yemen, where Houthi rebels allied with Tehran entered the conflict last week.
In Lebanon, where the Israeli army is fighting the pro-Iranian Hezbollah movement, two girls were killed and 40 people were injured in Israeli airstrikes on Saturday in the southern part of the country, according to the Ministry of Health.
Israel announced the death of one of its soldiers “in combat” on Saturday in southern Lebanon, bringing the number of Israeli soldiers killed since March 2 in this operation to 11.
In southern Lebanon, the city of Tyre was bombed on Saturday, damaging a hospital.
In the Strait of Hormuz, the Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, said they drone-targeted a ship “linked” to Israel, which caught fire in a port in Bahrain.
Navigation is trickling through this crucial strait for global oil and gas supplies: a second ship owned by a Turkish company passed through, as well as a ship flying the Indian flag loaded with LPG.
Two anti-war protests took place on Saturday in the Middle East: in Tel Aviv, over a thousand people gathered before being dispersed by police who only allowed 150 people for security reasons.
In Baghdad and across Iraq, tens of thousands of supporters of the influential Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr gathered to condemn Israel and the United States, and called for an end to the conflict.
This article was automatically generated. Sources: ats / afp
