Iran warns Gulf infrastructure at risk as US strikes continue
Tehran threatened wider regional attacks after new US warnings, while Washington said it remains open to talks if Iran is serious.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Iran warned it could expand attacks across the Gulf if US military strikes continue, raising the risk of further damage to energy routes and regional infrastructure. The warning followed new threats from US President Donald Trump to hit Iranian power plants and bridges in response to attacks on shipping, Al Jazeera reported.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, identified by Al Jazeera as Iran’s chief negotiator, said Wednesday on X that Tehran would not accept insecurity at home while oil and infrastructure elsewhere remained untouched. “In a region where we do not sell oil, no one will sell oil,” Ghalibaf said. “If our security is not ensured, no infrastructure will be safe.”
Al Jazeera reported that Ghalibaf’s remarks came after 11 consecutive nights of US attacks, including strikes that hit Iranian power plants and roads. The outlet said Iran’s Ministry of Health has reported 53 deaths, including three children, and 590 injuries since US attacks began late last month.
Iran has answered US strikes with repeated attacks this week on US allies Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, according to Al Jazeera. Those attacks included strikes on water and power facilities in Kuwait.
Al Jazeera reported that an Iranian strike on an air base in Jordan killed three US service members Friday. A fourth US soldier died Sunday in Erbil, Iraq, during a controlled detonation of an attack drone, bringing the number of US personnel killed in the war to 18, according to the US military.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran would respond to any future attack in kind. “Any aggression against Iran, including our infrastructure, will compel a powerful and decisive response,” Araghchi said, according to Al Jazeera.
Iran’s military said threats from Washington would only widen the conflict. Mehran Kamrava, a professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera that neither Tehran nor Washington wants to appear weak by stepping back, while adding that Iran has fewer regional targets it can strike without causing more lasting damage to its position in the region.
Strait of Hormuz remains a flashpoint
The fighting has put further pressure on an interim US-Iran peace agreement signed last month, which both sides now say they have set aside for the time being, Al Jazeera reported. One dispute centers on the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has insisted on control.
US Central Command said the waterway “remains open for transit” despite what it called threats and attacks by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The strait is a key route for oil shipments from the Gulf.
Al Jazeera also reported that the Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen threatened another major energy corridor, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, by declaring a blockade of Saudi ports. Five tankers changed course in the Red Sea after that declaration, according to the outlet.
Trump said Wednesday the United States would strike one Iranian power plant or bridge each time Iranian forces attack a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, Al Jazeera reported. Muhanad Seloom, an assistant professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told the outlet that Trump had “had enough of waiting on the Iranians” and that no mediator appeared to have enough credibility to bring Tehran back to negotiations.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Wednesday that Washington remains prepared to negotiate but does not see Iran as serious about diplomacy, according to Al Jazeera. “If they’re serious, we’re serious,” Rubio told reporters at a meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Manila. “If they’re not, then we will do what’s necessary to protect our interests, and also the interests of our allies.”
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.