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US President Donald Trump has issued a direct ultimatum to Iran: reopen the Strait of Hormuz by 8pm Eastern Time in the United States on Tuesday, April 7 (midnight GMT on April 8), or face the destruction of national power plants and bridges.

This echoes an earlier March 21 ultimatum in which he threatened to attack Iran’s power plants – “the biggest one first” – if the strait was not fully reopened within 48 hours.

President Trump has since extended that deadline several times, citing progress in negotiations he claims the US is having with Iran to end the ongoing war. Iran denies it is holding direct talks with the US.

While Trump has made grand statements such as “they’re going to lose every power plant and every other plant they have in the whole country”, he has not mentioned specific targets.

The US president has also threatened to destroy the country’s bridges. Over the weekend, a US-Israeli strike hit the B1 bridge in the city of Karaj, west of Tehran. The major highway link, described as the tallest bridge in the Middle East, had been scheduled to be inaugurated soon. It sustained significant damage in the strike.

Legal experts say that targeting civilian sites amounts to “collective punishment”, which is prohibited under the laws of war.

Where are Iran’s power plants?

Iran operates hundreds of power plants which, together, form one of the largest electricity systems in the Middle East, supplying energy to 92 million people.

Most of the country’s power plants are close to major population centres and industrial hubs. The majority of Iran’s population lives in the western half of the country, with Tehran, Mashhad and Isfahan the three largest cities.

Iran has a mixture of gas, coal, hydro, nuclear and oil-fired power plants, but most are gas-fired. In the north and centre of the country, clusters of gas-fired plants supply electricity to the country’s largest population centres, including Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan and Mashhad.

Another major concentration of power plants lies along the Gulf coast. These plants sit close to major gasfields and ports, allowing large thermal stations to run on abundant natural gas.

The coast is also home to the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Iran’s only nuclear power facility, which has a capacity of 1,000MW. The US and Israel have repeatedly hit this nuclear power plant, raising risks of radioactive contamination far beyond Iran’s borders, the state-run Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI) has warned.

Iran also operates a handful of hydropower dams concentrated along the Karun River, the country’s most important source of hydroelectric generation.

Electricity generated from all these plants is fed into a national transmission network operated by Iran Grid Management Company, which distributes power to cities, industries and homes across the country.

The map below shows all of Iran’s power stations with a capacity of 100MW or more.

A 100MW power plant can typically supply electricity to roughly 75,000 to 100,000 homes, depending on consumption patterns.

Iran’s largest power plant by capacity is the Damavand Power Plant located in the Pakdasht area, roughly 50km (31 miles) southeast of Tehran, with a capacity of some 2,900MW, enough to power more than two million homes.

Which are Iran’s most important power plants?

Iran’s largest power plants include:

• Damavand (Pakdasht) Power Plant – Near Tehran.
  Fuel: Natural gas (combined-cycle).
  Capacity: 2,868MW.
• Shahid Salimi Power Plant – Neka, along the Caspian Sea coast.
  Fuel: Natural gas.
  Capacity: 2,215MW.
• Shahid Rajaee Power Plant – Near Qazvin.
  Fuel: Natural gas.
  Capacity: 2,043MW.
• Karun-3 Dam – Khuzestan Province.
  Fuel: Hydropower.
  Capacity: 2,000MW.
• Kerman Power Plant – Kerman.
  Fuel: Natural gas.
  Capacity: 1,912MW.

Other smaller but strategically important power plants include:

• Ramin Power Plant – Ahvaz, Khuzestan.
  Fuel: Gas.
  Capacity: 1,903MW.
• Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant – On the Gulf.
  Fuel: Nuclear.
  Capacity: 1,000MW.
• Bandar Abbas Power Plant – Near the Strait of Hormuz.
  Fuel: Oil.
  Capacity: 1,330MW.

How does Iran generate its electricity?

Iran’s electricity system relies heavily on large thermal power plants fuelled by natural gas. The country has one of the world’s largest natural gas reserves, and this fuel forms the backbone of its power system.

In 2025, 86 percent of Iran’s electricity came from natural gas.

Oil-fired plants provide a smaller share, generating roughly seven percent of electricity. Some power stations switch to diesel or fuel oil when natural gas supplies are tight, especially during winter demand peaks.

Hydropower accounts for about five percent of electricity. Large dams on rivers such as the Karun River generate power by using flowing water to spin turbines.

Nuclear energy contributes around two percent of the country’s electricity, mainly from the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant, Iran’s only operational nuclear reactor.

Renewables such as solar and wind play a very small role, together accounting for less than one percent of electricity generation.

Overall, more than 90 percent of Iran’s electricity comes from fossil fuels, making it one of the most gas-dependent power systems in the world.

The United States-Israeli war on Iran has hit critical liquified natural gas (LNG) supplies in the Gulf, triggering the most severe disruptions in recent years to the global energy market.

Shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for 27 percent of the world’s maritime oil trade and 20 percent of LNG, has been brought to a near standstill, with oil-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia rerouting oil through alternative pipelines and Qatar halting LNG production.

Natural gas makes up about a quarter of global energy consumption, raising concerns about how much the disruption to LNG will affect those most reliant on gas.

What is LNG?

Natural gas is formed over millions of years from decomposed organic matter subjected to intense heat and pressure beneath the Earth’s surface.

LNG is natural gas cooled to -162 degrees Celsius, known as cryogenic processing, shrinking it to a 600th of its gaseous volume.

In its liquid state, LNG is colourless, odourless and non-flammable, making it safe and efficient to transport across vast distances.

Composition and purification

Before liquefaction, the gas is purified through water-based solvents and molecular sieve beds to remove impurities including carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, water and mercury.

Heavier hydrocarbons are then separated from methane and ethane through fractionation, and stored, used or sold as byproducts. The result is a fuel typically composed of 85 to 95 percent methane, with small amounts of ethane, propane, butane and nitrogen.

Storage and transport

LNG is stored in large insulated tanks without the need for high-pressure infrastructure. It is then pumped onto double-hulled carriers and shipped to terminals around the world.

Regasification

At its destination, LNG is heated using seawater or a warm water bath until it vaporises, a process known as regasification, before being moved through pipelines for consumption. It is sometimes blended with nitrogen or propane to ensure compatibility with local gas networks.

What is it used for?

Once LNG is returned to a gaseous state at import terminals, it is dispersed through pipelines for use in homes, businesses and industries around the world.

Residential uses include cooking, heating and generating electricity. In many parts of the world, LNG also supports hot water systems in homes and heating for commercial buildings.

It is used for power generation broadly, offering a comparatively low-carbon alternative to coal and oil.

In industry, it is used for fertilisers, plastics, paints and medicines. It is also used in transport to fuel heavy-duty vehicles and ships.

Gulf nations export close to half the world’s traded urea – commonly used in fertilisers globally, leaving international agriculture deeply vulnerable to any interruption in the LNG shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz.

The disruption has already forced fertiliser producers across the region to suspend or reduce operations, since natural gas is both the primary feedstock and the fuel that powers the manufacturing process.

QatarEnergy’s decision to halt gas production following attacks on its LNG infrastructure brought the world’s single largest urea plant to a standstill. In addition, the Omani port of Salalah on the Arabian Sea has been closed, which holds an ammonia storage terminal. The port was hit in a drone attack on March 11.

What are the by-products?

While LNG is primarily valued as an energy source, the processing and liquefaction of natural gas yield a range of by-products with industrial and medical applications.

The most notable by-product is helium, which is extracted during cryogenic processing at LNG facilities using distillation to separate the concentrations of helium from the gas.

Global helium production is estimated to be about 180 million cubic metres annually. The disruption to LNG facilities in Qatar means some 5.2 million cubic metres of helium is taken out of the market each month, accounting for about a third of global monthly production.

Helium is used primarily as a cooling agent for superconducting magnets in MRI and CT scanners, with the average MRI machine needing about 1,700 litres of liquid helium, and some older MRIs needing replenishment every two to three years.

Helium is also critical to the data centre industry, where it is used to conduct heat away from silicon, preventing parts of semiconductors from being damaged.

The natural gas value chain generates petrochemical derivatives that also form feedstock for manufactured goods.

For example, ethane and propane are cracked to produce ethylene and propylene, which are materials used in plastics such as IV bags, syringes and other medical-grade plastics.

Which countries supply LNG?

According to the International Gas Union (IGU) 2025 World LNG Report, some 411.24 million tonnes (mt) of LNG were traded in 2024.

The largest exporter of LNG is the United States, which in 2024 exported a total of 88.4mt, followed by Australia (81mt), Qatar (77.2mt), Russia (33.5mt) and Malaysia (27.7mt).

Together, the top five countries account for more than three-quarters of global supply.

Which countries import it?

China was the largest importer of LNG with 78.6mt imported in 2024, followed by Japan (67.7mt), South Korea (47.1mt), India (26.1mt) and Taiwan (21.8mt). The top five importers accounted for nearly 59 percent of all global LNG imports in 2024.

South Asian nations such as Pakistan and Bangladesh are also at high risk from the current conflict.

Pakistan’s primary energy source is natural gas, which accounts for 28 percent of electricity generation for the country of more than 250 million people.

In Bangladesh, with a population of about 176 million, gas accounts for half of all electricity generation.

Qatar and the United Arab Emirates supply about 99 percent of Pakistan’s LNG imports and 72 percent of Bangladesh’s, according to trade intelligence firm Kpler.

Earlier in the month, Pakistan introduced emergency measures to tackle the energy shock, including moving to a four-day workweek for government employees and announcing spring holidays for schools from March 16 to the end of the month.

As a precautionary measure, the Bangladeshi government has also reduced gas supplies. Bangladesh is seeking nearly $2bn in loans from international lenders in a bid to fund energy inputs and keep prices stable.

Some petroleum gas tankers heading to India have managed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz despite the conflict — at least one Pakistani tanker has crossed the strait, too. In India, where 5 percent of electricity generation comes from gas, they are now relying more on coal as LNG disruptions continue. India gets about half of its LNG from the Gulf.

On March 9, an Indian government order redirected natural gas and regasified LNG to priority sectors, with curtailments affecting consumers and the petrochemical industry, according to S&P Global.

The war launched by the United States and Israel has killed more than 1,500 people in Iran.

This number is considered conservative, as actual calculations are yet to be released by the authorities.

But the devastation from the war has also triggered mass displacement in the country: the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that 3.2 million people – more than 3 percent of the population – have already been displaced within Iran since US-Israeli strikes began on February 28.

Twenty-seven days into the conflict, aid agencies and countries bordering Iran are bracing themselves for a potential refugee crisis as civilians begin to flee the violence.

Cross-border flows have been limited and largely economic or short-term. In Afghanistan, most arrivals are Afghan returnees from Iran, citing insecurity or forced returns. Pakistan reports only authorised entries by citizens or traders, with no refugee inflows.

Turkiye, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan report stable borders, limited authorised crossings, and occasional evacuations of third-country nationals.

Iraq has seen small-scale returns and 325 Iranian nationals crossing the border, citing the crisis. Within Iran, people have been forced from the ruins of their homes, and several hospitals, nuclear facilities, refineries and desalination plants have been hit.

However, pressure on the ground in Iran is mounting as more than 85,176 civilian sites have been damaged since the war began, including 282 healthcare facilities, 600 schools and 64,583 homes. In Tehran alone, the city administration said to local media that nearly 14,000 residential units in the capital have been damaged and at least 6,000 people have been accommodated in municipal hotels.

The growing risks of disruption to essential services are driving complex mobility patterns.

More than one million displaced in Lebanon

But Iran is not the only country where the rapidly expanding war has led to a displacement crisis.

The Israeli army has expanded its forced displacement orders for residents of southern Lebanon – from the Litani River to north of the Zahrani River, about 40km (25 miles) north of the Israeli border.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, Israel’s sweeping evacuation orders now cover more than 1,470sq km (568sq miles), or about 14 percent of the country’s territory.

The map below shows more than 100 towns and villages across the country that are under forced evacuation orders from the Israeli military.

Israel’s ground troops are also now increasingly expanding their de facto occupation of parts of southern Lebanon, with Israeli authorities claiming that they want to create what they describe as a “buffer zone”.

Nearly one in five people in Lebanon – or 18 percent of the population – have been displaced over the past two weeks.

According to the International Organization for Migration, the total number of registered displaced people has reached 1,049,328, and the number of displaced people residing in collective shelters is 132,742.

The pace of displacement has outstripped the country’s shelter capacity. Many families have been unable to secure accommodation and are spending nights in streets, vehicles or public spaces as collective shelters fill up. For many of them, this is not the first time.

More than 250,000 people have left Lebanon over the past two weeks, a 40 percent increase compared with the last two weeks of February.

Much of the outward movement has been towards neighbouring Syria. As of March 17, more than 125,000 people had crossed the border. Nearly half are children. Most are Syrian nationals, with about 7,000 Lebanese among those crossing.

Southern Lebanon’s bridges attacked

Israel has struck several bridges in southern Lebanon, connecting the country through the Litani River.

Israeli forces have attacked:

• Qasmiyeh Bridge.
• Coastal Highway Bridge.
• al-Qantara Bridge.
• Khardali Bridge.
• al-Dalafa Bridge.
• Zaraiya-Tirseflay Bridge.

Footage and photos of the locations, verified by Al Jazeera, show each bridge specifically bombed, making them impossible to use. These were key crossings linking Lebanon’s south.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz had last week ordered the military to destroy all crossings over the Litani River and homes close to the border between the two countries.

The areas in Lebanon near the Israeli border to the Litani River are the same locations where at least a million people have been pushed out.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has said the attacks on the bridges are “an attempt to sever the geographical connection between the southern Litani region and the rest of Lebanese territory”.

He said they fell “within suspicious schemes to establish a buffer zone along the Israeli border, solidify the reality of the occupation and seek Israeli expansion within Lebanese territory”.