Hormuz ultimatum: Trump's targets and the shah's son's plea

2026-03-22 - 19:25

US President Donald Trump threatened on Saturday that if Iran does not allow free passage through the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, the US will attack its power infrastructure. "If Iran does not fully open, without any threat, the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours from this exact moment, the United States of America will hit and obliterate its various power stations, starting with the largest first," he wrote in a post on Truth Social. Iran's power grid – which already suffers from severe outages – has several key nodes that could serve as targets. Iran has more than 90 power stations. The largest is the Damavand plant, on the outskirts of Tehran Province, with a capacity of approximately 2,900 megawatts. It is followed by the Shahid Salimi Neka plant in Mazandaran Province in the north of the country (2,214 megawatts), and the Shahid Rajaei plant in Qazvin, in the country's northwest (2,042 megawatts). Most of Iran's electricity is generated by natural gas-fired stations. This means that striking gas infrastructure cripples the power grid even without directly targeting the power stations themselves – as Israel did the previous Wednesday against the processing facilities of the South Pars. Approximately 38% of the country's electricity is produced by combined-cycle gas plants, and a further 26% by other gas-fired stations. Renewable energy accounts for roughly 13% of output, and nuclear energy just a single-digit percentage, according to IRNA. The Damavand plant, on the outskirts of Tehran Province (Photo: Arab media) Iran has one active nuclear power plant – at Bushehr in the south of the country, with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts, built and operated with Russian assistance. Last Tuesday, a missile struck inside the compound's perimeter, hitting a structure approximately 350 meters (1,148 feet) from the reactor, according to the IAEA, which clarified that no casualties or damage to the reactor itself had been reported. In September 2025, Iran and Russia signed a $25 billion deal to build four additional nuclear plants in the south of the country, according to IRNA. Although Iran sits atop one of the world's largest natural gas reserves, it grapples with chronic electricity shortages – a consequence of aging infrastructure and international sanctions. In summer, when demand spikes during heat waves, the country is frequently forced to implement rolling blackouts. Five large stations supply the bulk of electricity to the Tehran area. Smaller stations operate within the capital itself, the largest of which is Parand. Even so, Iran's grid is highly decentralized. According to an analysis published Sunday by Iran International, "the complete destruction of Damavand would remove only 3.7% of Iran's total electricity generation capacity," adding that "a strike on one or several stations is not expected to cause a nationwide blackout." The crown prince's appeal to Israel Reza Pahlavi addressed Trump and Netanyahu on Sunday, urging them to continue striking the regime's repression apparatus while avoiding civilian infrastructure. "Iran is not the Islamic Republic," he wrote on X. "Iran's civilian infrastructure belongs to the Iranian people and to the future of a free Iran. The Islamic Republic's infrastructure is its machine of repression and terror. Iran must be protected. The regime must be dismantled." Targets Iran threatens to strike (Photo: Iranian media) The Revolutionary Guards warned Sunday that if the US carries out its threat, Iran will close the Strait of Hormuz entirely – including to the small number of vessels currently permitted to transit with Iranian approval. The Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters (the IRGC's unified military command) added that facilities belonging to American-controlled companies "will be completely destroyed," and threatened to bomb energy installations in neighboring countries while also targeting data centers and the critical desalination infrastructure on which Gulf states depend. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf published a post on X on Sunday, warning that immediately after any strike on power stations, "energy infrastructure and oil facilities throughout the region will be destroyed irreversibly, and the price of oil will remain high for a long time." Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote, "Threats and terror only strengthen our unity. The Strait of Hormuz is open to everyone, except those who violate our soil." Alongside the official statements, Iranian media circulated an image marking power stations and energy facilities in Gulf countries as potential targets – among them the UAE's Baraqa nuclear power plant and energy facilities in Qatar, Kuwait, and Dubai – under the headline "Say goodbye to electricity!" Also on Sunday, Dr. Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, published two posts on X. He said Iranian aggression toward Gulf states "carries profound geopolitical consequences," and that Iranian threats would deepen the security partnership with Washington. "This is the price of Iran's miscalculations," he concluded.