The Iran War entered its 31st day on Monday as President Donald Trump threatened in a Truth Social post to “conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!).” Trump said he would carry out the threat unless a deal is reached to end the war “shortly” and if the Strait of Hormuz isn’t immediately opened.
On Monday morning, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Tehran has held no direct talks with Washington and dismissed as baseless Trump’s claims that it had accepted U.S. proposals.
Trump is considering a military operation, likely involving ground forces remaining in the country for several days at least, to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of enriched uranium from Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. The potential plan surfaced after Fox News host Mark Levin and political columnist Marc Thiessen, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush, floated the idea on Saturday evening. “Why would we need troops on the ground?” Levin said, in a segment Trump promoted on Truth Social. “We’ve got to get the uranium.”
Aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said that Iran had given the U.S. “as a tribute” and “out of a sign of respect, 20 boats of oil — big, big boats of oil — going through the Hormuz Strait,” starting Monday, calling it evidence that “we’re doing extremely well in that negotiation.” The traffic Trump references appears tied to a separate Iran–Pakistan transit arrangement — not a U.S. escorted convoy.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Monday that Trump has “a number of options,” to “prevent” Iran from controlling and exerting a tolling system in the Strait of Hormuz. He declined to comment on what those options are. “They are making threats about controlling the Strait of Hormuz in perpetuity, creating a tolling system and the like. That’s not going to be allowed to happen,” Rubio said. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Monday that “We’re seeing more and more ships go through on a daily basis,” but added that “over time, the U.S. is going to retain control of the straits, and there will be freedom of navigation, whether it is through U.S. escorts or a multinational escort.” Only seven ships were recorded transiting Hormuz on Sunday.
Several strikes targeted the U.S. logistics support camp at Victoria Base in Baghdad on Sunday. Videos circulating online show impacts, smoke, and explosions purportedly from the attack. The Iranian Army also said its drones targeted U.S. troop positions and radar facilities in the United Arab Emirates overnight.
Kuwait’s Ministry of Electricity, Water, and Renewable Energy said on Sunday night that a building in one of their power stations and water desalination plants had been damaged by an attack. Satellite imagery appeared to show burn and smoke damage at the Doha West complex, which produces about 40 percent of the country’s desalinated water. Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the attacks as “heinous Iranian aggressions.” Iran’s IRGC denied responsibility for the desalination plant strikes, blaming the attacks on “the depravity of the Zionist occupiers,” instead.
An oil refinery in Haifa, Israel was hit by Iranian missiles overnight, the second strike on the facility during the current war. Footage from the scene showed black smoke rising into the sky.
Iranian state media said Monday morning that the Tabriz Petrochemical Complex, one of Iran’s major petrochemical producers, was hit by airstrikes.
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