The United States and Iran threatened to target critical infrastructure Sunday as the war in the Middle East, now in its fourth week, puts lives and livelihoods at risk throughout the region.Iran said the Strait of Hormuz, crucial to oil and other exports, would be “completely closed” immediately if the US follows up on President Donald Trump’s threat to attack its power plants. Trump late Saturday set a 48-hour deadline to open the strait.Energy. desalination plants are threatenedMarch 23, 2026 8:01 amArad (Israel): Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz that connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world, while claiming safe passage for vessels from countries other than its enemies. Roughly one-fifth of global oil supply passes through it, but attacks on ships have stopped nearly all tanker traffic. Trump said if Iran didn’t open the strait, the US would destroy its “various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” The US has argued that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard controls much of the country’s infrastructure and uses it to power the war effort. Under international law, power plants that benefit civilians can be targeted only if the military advantage outweighs the suffering it causes them, legal scholars say. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded on X that if Iran’s power plants and infrastructure are targeted, then vital infrastructure across the region — including energy and desalination facilities critical for drinking water in Gulf nations — would be considered legitimate targets and “irreversibly destroyed.” Qalibaf later added that “entities that finance the US military budget are legitimate targets.” Attacks on power plants would be “inherently indiscriminate and clearly disproportionate” and a war crime, Iran’s UN ambassador wrote to the Security Council, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. AP