Stocks tick lower after Trump vows to hit Iran ‘extremely hard’ in coming weeks

(NEW YORK) — A threat of U.S. attacks on power plants in Iran continues to loom over the Middle East conflict, even after Trump pushed back a self-imposed deadline for the second time.

In a post on social media on Thursday, Trump said he was “pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction” until April 6.

In the event of such an attack, Iran has said it would carry out tit-for-tat strikes against energy infrastructure in neighboring countries, according to Iran’s Fars News Agency state media.

The threatened escalation risks a humanitarian crisis for tens of millions of people in the region, potentially restricting their access to basic essentials such as electricity, food, water and health care, some analysts told ABC News.

Distress could spread to countries beyond the Gulf if dire conditions prompt residents to flee across borders and infrastructure damage worsens a global oil shock, analysts said.

“This will be bad for everybody,” Mushfiq Mobarak, a professor of economics at Yale University, told ABC News. “The most damaging effects — the largest welfare costs — will be on Iranian civilians.”

On March 21, Trump vowed to “obliterate” power plants in Iran within 48 hours unless the country eases its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Before the deadline arrived on Monday night in Washington, D.C., Trump posted on social media that he was postponing the ultimatum for five days, claiming “productive conversations” had been held between the U.S. and Iran.

On Thursday — one day before the new deadline was set to arrive — Trump said he would postpone the deadline for an additional 10 days.

Negotiations between the U.S. and Iran are “ongoing,” Trump claimed. Iranian officials have denied that the country is in talks with the U.S.

Meanwhile, Iran has pledged to retaliate against civilian infrastructure in nearby countries in response to an attack on its energy sites.

“Immediately after the power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, the critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets,” Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said in a post on X on Sunday.

Natural gas supplies roughly 79% of electricity used in Iran, according to the International Energy Administration, a global energy policy group based in Paris, France.

The majority of the nation’s natural gas is supplied by South Pars, the largest natural gas field in the world. An Israeli attack on South Pars last week threatened severe impact in Iran and neighboring Gulf states, analysts previously told ABC News.

Potential U.S. attacks on energy infrastructure could cut off electricity access for many of the 92 million people in Iran, while at the same time discontinuing power for critical institutions like hospitals, Mobarak said.

“If hospitals lose power, that’s very dangerous,” Mobarak said.

The health care impact would come as some hospitals in the region face perilous conditions, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Health care facilities faced a total of 13 attacks as of March 5, the WHO said, voicing concern about “health systems and lives at risk in the region.”

Attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran could also worsen food shortages and price increases, Michael Werz, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told ABC News. Annual food inflation in Iran stood at 72% in December, before the war began, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Any further deterioration of food access, Werz said, could have a “massive impact.”

Potential Iranian retaliation against civilian sites threatens desperate conditions for millions of people in nearby countries Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iraq and Israel, some analysts said.

Those countries depend in large part on water desalination plants for drinking water due to arid conditions in the region, making those facilities a major potential vulnerability, Ginger Matchett, assistant director with the GeoStrategy Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, said in a blog post.

Desalinated drinking water accounts for at least 90% of the supply in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar, while Israel and Oman each depend on such plants for 80% of their drinking water, Matchett said.

“If Iran successfully destroyed the Gulf’s desalination infrastructure, then the consequences could be devastating,” Matchett added.

In early March, desalination plants in Iran and Bahrain were targeted in the fighting, and missile-related damage has also been reported at sites in Kuwait and the UAE.

Potential retaliatory attacks on oil and gas sites in the region also threaten to deepen and prolong a global oil crisis, driving up fuel costs and raising prices for essential goods worldwide, some analysts said.

Global oil prices skyrocketed in recent weeks after the war prompted closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for global oil and natural gas delivery. Consumers have held out hope for a reopening of the strait and a relatively speedy recovery, but facility repairs could stretch on for months and choke off fuel supply in the meantime.

Qatari authorities said last week that Iranian ballistic missile attacks caused fires and “extensive damage” at the Ras Laffan terminal, which carries about one-fifth of the global supply of liquid natural gas. An Iranian missile attack struck oil refineries last week in Haifa, Israel, where fire brigades extinguished a fire that broke out at the site, Israel Fire and Rescue said.

The Philippines has declared a national energy emergency in response to the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, while South Korea has called on residents to ride bicycles for short trips and reduce the length of showers. Thailand and Vietnam have also asked citizens to take steps to curtail energy use.

Roughly 80% of the oil that typically passes through the strait is bound for Asian markets, according to the IEA. Still, the oil shock will raise gas prices worldwide, since energy is sold on a global market, Mobarak said.

“This will have effects for gas consumers across the world,” he added.

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(NEW YORK) — Live Nation illegally monopolized the market for tickets, protecting its position through pressure and leverage, jurors in Manhattan federal court found Wednesday.

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(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump rushed to enact new tariffs and vowed to preserve others after a recent Supreme Court ruling knocked out most of his levies.

Businesses and consumers now face a different set of tariffs, which amount to taxes paid by importers for goods shipped into the U.S. Oftentimes, importers pass along tariff-related costs to consumers, raising retail prices.

The nation’s overall tariff rate has dropped, meaning some products have gained relief from tariff-related price pressures, some analysts told ABC News. But levies remain in place for nearly all imported goods, including duties as high as 50%, hiking costs for some companies and shoppers, they added.

“In general, we’ve seen tariffs pushing up on prices. That won’t go away,” Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, told ABC News.

The high court ruled on Friday that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEPPA) does not authorize Trump to impose levies, nullifying 70% of Trump’s tariffs after they collected more than $140 billion through December, the Yale Budget Lab found.

During his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, Trump criticized the Supreme Court decision, describing at as a “very unfortunate ruling,” and asserting that he retains the ability to impose tariffs under “fully approved and tested alternative legal statutes.”

In a social media post on Monday, Trump affirmed what he said was his authority to issue tariffs, saying he does not need to consult Congress before erecting new trade levies.

Trump also reiterated his commitment to his policy approach, warning other countries that they may face a “much higher Tariff, and worse.”

A 10% global tariff took effect on Tuesday, marking the first duty enacted by Trump since the high court’s decision. Trump issued the levy under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to hike tariffs for 150 days as means of addressing “large and serious” balance-of-payments deficits, or disparities between a country’s total payments in transactions with other nations and its total earnings. In order to extend the Section 122 tariffs beyond 150 days, Trump would need to secure congressional approval.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said this week that Democrats would oppose an extension of Section 122 tariffs, which could deny Trump the 60 votes necessary to overcome a potential Senate filibuster.

Trump has vowed to hike the Section 122 tariff to 15%. As of Tuesday, however, the president had not issued an order formalizing that increase.

A 15% Section 122 tariff would result in price increases amounting to $800 in additional costs for an average U.S. household over the next 150 days, the Yale Budget Lab projected.

“That’s hundreds of dollars that you’re going to be paying as a result of these tariffs,” Raymond Robertson, professor for trade, economics and public policy at Texas A&M University, told ABC News.

Robertson noted the ultimate cost impact may be slightly lower than projected as consumers shift away from products that display noticeable tariff-induced price hikes. But, he added, tariff-impacted products will be all but impossible for shoppers to avoid.

“These tariffs are hitting across the board,” Robertson said.

The Trump administration also plans to maintain sector-specific tariffs imposed under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 and conclude pending investigations that could authorize additional levies, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement on Friday.

That statute permits the White House to levy tariffs on products of importance to national security. Under the law, the White House must await the result of an investigation undertaken by the Commerce Department before imposing a tariff.

Under Section 232, for instance, steel and aluminum face a 50% tariff, putting upward pressure on prices for tableware, motorcycles, canned goods and assorted children’s products, analysts previously told ABC News.

A 50% tariff also applies to some copper products, while 25% tariffs remain for cars and auto parts. Those levies exclude a host of goods compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA, a free trade agreement.

To be sure, some products will experience a reduction of tariffs in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision. Products from China, Brazil, Vietnam and India will likely gain notable tariff relief, since those nations faced significant tariffs under the legal authority that was struck down by the Supreme Court, Miller said.

Electronics and clothing are among the products that could benefit from softer tariffs.

If the Supreme Court had opted to uphold tariffs issued under IEPPA, the nation’s effective tariff rate would have remained at 16%, the Yale Budget Lab said. Taking into account Section 122 tariffs, the effective tariff rate now stands at 13.7%, the group said.

“The good news for consumers is there’s an overall decrease in tariff rates,” Miller said. “What creates a challenge is we don’t know exactly what the new landscape will look like.”

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