U.S. asks Israel to halt strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure

The Trump administration asked Israel on Monday not to carry out further strikes on energy facilities in Iran, particularly oil infrastructure, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The Trump administration cited three reasons for its request, according to a source with knowledge of the matter: Such strikes harm the Iranian public, a large portion of which opposes the regime. Trump aims to cooperate with Iran’s oil sector after the war — similar to the approach he has taken with Venezuela. Finally, the strikes could trigger massive Iranian retaliatory attacks on energy infrastructure across Gulf states. The U.S. request marks the first time the Trump administration has reined in Israel since the two countries launched their joint operation against Iran ten days ago. The Israeli military took responsibility for the strikes on Iran’s energy sector, saying on X that it targeted “several fuel storage complexes belonging to the [Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC)] in Tehran” that it claimed were used to “distribute fuel to multiple military entities in Iran.” Since the strikes, Tehran and other population centers have been subjected to thick, toxic smoke from the fires and oil-tainted black rainfall staining everything around them. Iran’s Red Crescent Society warned residents of Tehran and the surrounding region that the rainfall after the strikes could be “highly dangerous and acidic,” and could cause “chemical burns of the skin and serious damage to the lungs.” The attacks constitute the most significant attack on Iran’s civilian industrial infrastructure of the war so far, a little over a week into the U.S.-Israeli attack that has killed more than 1,000 civilians.