‘We will plunge region into darkness’: Tehran responds to threat to its power facilities

The Trump administration wishes to keep oil prices from spiraling, which would have profound economic consequences.

By JNS

If the United States targets Iran’s power plants, the Islamic Republic will promptly do the same to energy infrastructure throughout the region, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, warned on Sunday.

“Immediately after the power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, the critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed in an irreversible manner, and the price of oil will remain high for a long time,” he posted to X.

Also on Sunday, Iran’s semi-official Mehr New Agency said that if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on his threat, “the entire region will fall into darkness.”

“With the smallest attack” on the Islamic Republic’s power sources, the region can “say goodbye to electricity,” Mehr reported.

Ghalibaf spoke in response to Trump’s post to Truth Social late on Saturday evening Eastern time to the effect that “If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”

Some 20% of the world’s oil and gas flows routinely through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has closed to nearly all traffic.

It has also attacked oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf states, threatening to drive prices past $200 per barrel. Brent Crude currently hovers around $112.

The Trump administration wishes to keep oil prices from spiraling, which would have profound economic consequences.

On March 11, the president authorized the Department of Energy to release 172 million barrels from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

It was part of a coordinated release of 400 million barrels of oil and refined products from member states of the International Energy Agency.