Trump gives Iran 48 hours to open Hormuz as Tehran strikes Israel

## Summary
Advertisement World Trump gives Iran 48 hours to open Hormuz as Tehran strikes Israel Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the war launched by the US and Israel. Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST FAST WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Saturday (Mar 21) gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure, as Tehran launched its most destructive attack yet on Israel. Related: US military says Iran threat to Hormuz 'degraded' Iran's president says immediate cessation of US-Israeli aggression needed to end war Trump's ultimatum Saturday landed hours after two Iranian missiles struck southern Israel, injuring more than 100 people in the most destructive attack since the war began. Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Iran after what he called a "very difficult evening" and hours later, the Israeli military said its forces launched a wave of strikes on Tehran.

## Article Content
Advertisement
World
Trump gives Iran 48 hours to open Hormuz as Tehran strikes Israel
Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the war launched by the US and Israel.
Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz on Dec 21, 2018. (File photo: Retuers/Hamad I Mohammed)
22 Mar 2026 08:38AM
(Updated: 22 Mar 2026 10:05AM)
Bookmark
Bookmark
Share
WhatsApp
Telegram
Facebook
Twitter
Email
LinkedIn
Set CNA as your preferred source on Google
Add CNA as a trusted source to help Google better understand and surface our content in search results.
Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST
Tap here to return to FAST
FAST
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Saturday (Mar 21) gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the
Strait of Hormuz
to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure, as Tehran launched its most destructive attack yet on Israel.
The ultimatum, made just a day after the US leader said he was
considering "winding down" military operations
after three weeks of war, came as the key oil passage remained effectively closed and thousands more American Marines headed to the Middle East.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that the US would "hit and obliterate" Iranian power plants - "starting with the biggest one first" - if Tehran did not fully reopen the strait within 48 hours, or 11.44pm GMT on Monday, according to the time of his post.
Since the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on Feb  28, Iran has effectively closed the Strait in
retaliation
.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran had imposed restrictions only on vessels from countries involved in attacks against Iran, and would assist others that stayed out of the conflict.
In response to Trump's threat, Iran's army said it will
target energy and desalination infrastructure
"belonging to the US and the regime in the region", according to the Fars news agency.
Related:
US military says Iran threat to Hormuz 'degraded'
Iran's president says immediate cessation of US-Israeli aggression needed to end war
Trump's ultimatum Saturday landed hours after two Iranian missiles struck southern Israel, injuring more than 100 people in the most destructive attack since the war began. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to retaliate "on all fronts".
The strikes, which slipped through Israel's missile defence systems, tore open the facades of residential buildings and carved craters into the ground.
First responders said 84 people were injured in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously. Hours earlier, 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona, where AFPTV footage showed a large hole gouged into the ground next to piles of rubble and twisted metal.
Dimona hosts a facility widely believed to be the site of the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, although Israel has never admitted to possessing nuclear weapons.
The Israeli army told AFP there had been a "direct missile hit on a building" in Dimona, with casualties reported at multiple sites, including a 10-year-old boy in serious condition with shrapnel wounds.
In Arad, emergency workers combed through the rubble of heavily damaged buildings.
Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Iran after what he called a "very difficult evening" and hours later, the Israeli military said its forces launched a wave of strikes on Tehran.
Iran said the targeting of Dimona was retaliation for Israeli strikes on its Natanz nuclear facility, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) saying forces also targeted other southern Israeli towns as well as military sites in Kuwait and the UAE.
Following the Natanz attack, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi reiterated his call for "military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident".
The Natanz facility hosts underground centrifuges used to enrich uranium for Iran's disputed nuclear programme and sustained damage in the June 2025 war.
The Israeli military denied it was behind the Natanz strike, but said it had struck a facility at a Tehran university that it claimed was being used to develop nuclear weapon components for Iran's ballistic missile programme.
An Israeli soldier uses a torch to inspect the damage after Iranian missile barrages struck Dimona, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in southern Israel on Mar 21, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Ilan Assayag)
HORMUZ BASE
The destruction in Israel capped three weeks of heavy US-Israeli bombardment that appeared to have done little to blunt Iran's ability to retaliate with missile and drone attacks across the region.
Iran also launched an unsuccessful ballistic-missile attack on the US-UK base at Diego Garcia, around 4,000km away, a UK official told AFP - which would have been the longest-range Iranian strike yet had it succeeded.
The United Arab Emirates said Saturday it faced aerial attacks after Iran warned it against allowing strikes from its territory on disputed islands near the Strait of Hormuz.
Ir

---

## Expert Analysis

### Merits
N/A

### Areas for Consideration
- In response to Trump's threat, Iran's army said it will target energy and desalination infrastructure "belonging to the US and the regime in the region", according to the Fars news agency.
- Related: US military says Iran threat to Hormuz 'degraded' Iran's president says immediate cessation of US-Israeli aggression needed to end war Trump's ultimatum Saturday landed hours after two Iranian missiles struck southern Israel, injuring more than 100 people in the most destructive attack since the war began.
- Netanyahu vowed to continue striking Iran after what he called a "very difficult evening" and hours later, the Israeli military said its forces launched a wave of strikes on Tehran.

### Implications
- In response to Trump's threat, Iran's army said it will target energy and desalination infrastructure "belonging to the US and the regime in the region", according to the Fars news agency.
- Related: CNA Explains: Why Israel attacked Iran's South Pars gas field and its implications Commentary: Why Iran is attacking Gulf energy infrastructure Commentary: Iran war is about to escalate with no exit in sight REMARKABLE ENDURANCE Analysts say Iran's government has survived the loss of its top leaders and that its strike capacity is proving more durable than expected. "They're showing a lot of resilience that we didn't perhaps expect, that the US didn't expect, when it took this on," Neil Quilliam of Chatham House told the think tank's podcast.
- But "the thought that some people could be dying right at the New Year dinner table was painful," he added.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers iran, israel, strait topics. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1238.