Israel hits Iranian petrochemical plant in massive gas field as mediators float ceasefire proposal

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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel struck a key petrochemical plant at Iran’s massive South Pars natural gas field and killed two paramilitary Revolutionary Guard commanders on Monday, putting into question a new 45-day ceasefire proposal for Tehran and the United States.

Israel said the attack on the gas field was aimed at eliminating a major source of revenue for Iran. The field is critical to Iran’s electricity production, but the strike appeared to be separate from U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats to target power plants and bridges if Tehran doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz to all traffic.

Iran’s grip on the strait has caused oil prices to surge and shaken the world economy.

Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz confirmed what he called “a powerful strike on the largest petrochemical facility in Iran." The gas field shared with Qatar is the world’s largest and sits under the Persian Gulf.

The White House did not immediately comment. After Israel’s attack on the field in March, Trump said Israel would not attack it again but warned that if Iran continued striking Qatar’s energy infrastructure, the United States would “massively blow up" the field.

Trump’s deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is set for Monday night Washington time.

Egyptian, Pakistani and Turkish mediators have sent Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff a proposal calling for a 45-day ceasefire and the reopening of the strait, two Mideast officials told The Associated Press.

Iran and the U.S. have not responded to the proposal sent late Sunday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.

In Islamabad, two senior officials said Pakistan’s efforts for a ceasefire are at an advanced stage but “several spoilers and detractors” are trying to sow confusion through disinformation. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly about the talks.

Meanwhile, explosions boomed in Tehran and low-flying jets could be heard for hours.

Among those killed was the head of intelligence for Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Maj. Gen. Majid Khademi, according to Iranian state media and Israel’s defense minister.

Israel’s military said it also killed the leader of the Revolutionary Guard’s undercover unit in its expeditionary Quds Force, Asghar Bakeri.

Israel’s defense minister vowed to keep targeting top-ranking officials. “Iran’s leaders live with a sense of being targeted,” Katz said. “We will continue to hunt them down one by one.”

Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia activated air defenses to intercept Iranian missiles and drones as Tehran kept up the pressure on Gulf neighbors. In Israel, Iranian missiles hit the northern city of Haifa, where four people from one family were found dead in the rubble of a residential building.

Iran’s attacks on regional energy infrastructure and its grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil is shipped in peacetime, have sent global energy prices soaring.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose to $109 in Monday spot trading, about 50% higher than when the war started.

Under pressure at home as consumers worry, Trump has warned Iran that if no deal is reached to reopen the strait, the U.S. would hit power plants and other infrastructure and set the country “back to the stone ages.”

“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one,” he threatened Sunday.

Trump has given multiple deadlines to Iran, and later Sunday he posted a single line saying “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!” It was not clear whether he had extended his deadline.

Former Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayatir urged Arab countries to discourage Trump from striking power plants, warning on social media that the entire region would go “dark” if that happens.

Following Trump’s expletive-laced post Sunday, Iran’s parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf called threats of targeting Iran’s infrastructure “reckless.”

Iran has let some vessels through the strait since the war began with U.S. and Israeli attacks on Feb. 28, but none belong to those countries or ones perceived as helping them. Some have paid Iran for passage but the flow of traffic is down more than 90% over the same period last year.

Thick smoke rose near Tehran’s Azadi Square after an airstrike hit the grounds of the Sharif University of Technology. Multiple countries have sanctioned the university for its work with the military, particularly on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Araghchi called university “the MIT of Iran,” posting on social media that “Aggressors will see our might.”

Iranian media reported damage to buildings and a natural gas distribution site next to campus. The university is empty as the war has forced all schools into online classes.

A strike near Eslamshar, southwest of Tehran, killed at least 15 people, authorities said. Five were killed in a residential area in Qom, and six were killed in strikes on other cities, the state-run IRAN daily newspaper reported. Three people were killed at a home in Tehran, state television reported.

In Lebanon, where Israel has launched air attacks and a ground invasion that it says target the Iran-linked Hezbollah militia, an airstrike hit an apartment in Ain Saadeh town east of Beirut. It killed an official in the Lebanese Forces, a Christian political party strongly opposed to Hezbollah, his wife and another woman.

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began, but the government has not updated the toll for days.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in Lebanon and more than 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died there.

In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

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Rising reported from Bangkok and Magdy from Cairo. Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Isabel DeBre in Ain Saadeh, Lebanon, contributed to this story.