DUBAI ¨C U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s ?abrupt pause in his showdown with Iran followed warnings from Persian Gulf states that the war was veering into a far more perilous phase and rising fears among officials in the region that Washington had misjudged Tehran¡¯s readiness to escalate, regional sources and analysts said.
Gulf Arab states warned him directly that U.S. strikes on Iran¡¯s power plants would trigger Iranian retaliation on their own vital energy and desalination facilities, according to three regional sources who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Trump had threatened to hit Iran¡¯s electricity grid unless Tehran reopened the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of global energy supplies from Gulf oil and gas producers. But Iran refused to yield, ?the strait stayed shut, oil markets spiked and global equities fell ¡ª?exposing the limits of Trump¡¯s leverage.
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