U.S. President Donald Trump issued an ultimatum to Iran on Saturday, threatening to attack the country’s power plants unless Tehran fully opens the Strait of Hormuz within the next 48 hours, escalating tensions as the Israeli-U.S. war against Iran nears the one-month mark.

“If Iran does not 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 its various power plants, starting with the largest,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

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The threat came shortly after the U.S. military announced it had degraded Iran’s ability to “threaten freedom of navigation” in the strategic waterway, following a strike this week on an underground weapons depot along the Iranian coast.

The Strait of Hormuz, the sole maritime passage between the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean, carries approximately 20 percent of global crude exports. Since the outbreak of hostilities, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has sought to block vessels whose cargo could benefit the U.S. and Israel, sharply reducing tanker traffic and driving up oil prices.

Trump has called on NATO allies and Asian partners including South Korea and Japan—nations heavily dependent on regional oil—to contribute military assets to secure navigation in the strait. However, no country has yet committed to sending naval forces to the area.

The conflict, which began on February 28 with the assassination of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is approaching one month of fighting.

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