Trump gives Iran till Monday night to open Strait of Hormuz

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday night gave Iran 48 hours to open the vital trade route connecting the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. If Iran does not open the Strait, U.S. forces will destroy Iranian power plants, starting with its largest one, the president said.  It has been over three weeks since the United States and Israel began large-scale, coordinated attacks on Iran.

Trump had written the day before that he was considering winding down U.S. military operations in the Middle East. The Strait of Hormuz could be guarded and policed by other countries, but the United States was willing to help, he said.  In 2024, the equivalent of about 20% of the world’s consumption petroleum products were transported through the Strait of Hormuz. 

Twenty-two countries have signed a joint statement calling for the Strait to reopen, indicating they are ready to help with “appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait.” But the same statement also called for an immediate and comprehensive halt to all attacks on civilian infrastructure. The U.K. and many European countries have signed the statement, in addition to the United Arab Emirates, Japan, and South Korea. 

What’s happening in the war in the meantime? More than 80 people in southern Israel were injured when an Iranian ballistic missile hit a building, The Jerusalem Post reported Saturday night. Ten of those injured were in critical condition. 

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War wrote that combined U.S. and Israeli forces on Saturday continued to strike Iranian defense industrial sites. Iran attempted to fire two ballistic missiles at a U.S.-U.K. naval support station in the Indian Ocean, but one malfunctioned and the other was intercepted, according to the institute.

Dig Deeper: Listen to Mary Reichard interview military strategist Mark Montgomery about the threats still lurking in the Strait of Hormuz—from mines to drones.