By JON GAMBRELL and DAVID RISING
Dubai, March 30
US President Donald Trump openly mused about seizing Iran’s Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf and the United States and Israel kept up their attacks Monday on the Islamic Republic, even as there were signs of progress in nascent ceasefire talks. Tehran, meanwhile, attacked a key water and electrical plant in Kuwait, part of its campaign targeting the Gulf Arab states, and an oil refinery in northern Israel.
As a diplomatic effort being facilitated by Pakistan toward ending the war moved ahead, Trump said Iran had agreed to allow 20 oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday as “a sign of respect.” At the same time, with 2,500 US Marines now in the region and a similarly sized contingent on its way, he raised the idea of taking Iran’s Kharg Island.
“Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don’t,” he told the Financial Times in an interview published early Monday. “We have a lot of options.”
Iran launches attacks on Israel and hits more infrastructure targets in Gulf states . Sirens sounded at dawn near Israel’s main nuclear research centre, a part of the country that has been targeted repeatedly in recent days. Israel’s military also said it had taken out two drones launched from Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthis entered the war on Saturday with their first missile attack.
Later, a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the northern city of Haifa, one of only two in Israel, either from a missile strike or from debris falling from an interception. The blaze was quickly extinguished.
Iran kept up the pressure on its Gulf Arab neighbours, as Saudi Arabia intercepted five missiles targeting its oil-rich Eastern province, Bahrain sounded a missile alert, and a fireball erupted over Dubai as an incoming missile was taken out by defences.
In Kuwait, an Iranian attack hit a power and desalination plant, killing one worker and injuring 10 soldiers, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.
Desalination plants are crucial to water supplies in the Gulf Arab states, and an Iranian attack previously damaged a desalination plant in Bahrain during the war. The facilities are typically paired with power plants, because of the large amount of energy required to remove salt from the water to make it drinkable.
Israel’s military launched a new wave of attacks on Iran, saying it was striking “military infrastructure” across Tehran, and explosions were heard in the Iranian capital. Iranian state media reported a petrochemicals plant in Tabriz, in the north, sustained damage after an airstrike and firefighters had to put out a blaze.
In Lebanon, which Israel has invaded by ground, an Indonesian peacekeeper was killed, and three others were wounded when a projectile exploded near a village in the south.
Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military will widen its invasion, expanding the “existing security strip” in that country’s south as it targets the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group. Oil prices rise again as concerns of a global energy crisis grow.
