Live updates: Iran threatens Gulf as Trump's Hormuz deadline looms; energy crisis worse than 1970s, IEA says

Japan’s top government spokesperson said today that one of two Japanese nationals detained in Iran has safely returned home in good health.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara’s confirmation came one day after Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi announced the person’s release. Motegi, speaking on a Fuji Television talk show yesterday, said the person had been detained since last year and was released Wednesday. He said the person took a flight from neighboring Azerbaijan.

Kihara, at a regular news conference today, confirmed that the former detainee returned to Japan yesterday in good health.

Kihara said another Japanese national who was arrested earlier this year is still in custody but “we have confirmed that there is no problem with the safety and health” of the person and that Japan is continuing to press Iran for a release as soon as possible.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent defended strikes on Iran’s infrastructure since the U.S. and Israel began their joint war against the country in February, saying “sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate.”

His comments came just hours after Trump wrote on Truth Social that he was giving Iranian leadership 48 hours to open the Strait of Hormuz or risk U.S. military strikes that “will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Bessent defended Trump’s rhetoric, saying it’s “the only language the Iranians understand.”

In an interview yesterday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Bessent also addressed comments he made last week about Kharg Island, a critical hub for Iran’s oil production that he said could become a “U.S. asset.”

He did not explain what that would look like but said “all options are on the table,” including sending U.S. troops to secure the island.

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After three weeks of relatively low Israeli casualties from the raging U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, the explosive impact from an Iranian ballistic missile delivered a grim wake-up call in Arad, a desert town in southern Israel.

People look at residential buildings damaged by an Iranian missile strike in Arad, Israel, yesterday. Ohad Zwigenberg / AP

“It was a very shocking boom, something that we haven’t heard before,” said David, 39, who gave only his first name. “It was a big miracle here, and thank God there was no killing of people.”

The strike on Saturday sheared the façade off several adjacent apartment blocks and shattered glass for blocks around. No one was killed, but Israel’s emergency services said more than 115 people were injured across the attack and another strike in the nearby town of Dimona.

The missiles startled an Israeli public that has endured comparatively few casualties in recent weeks thanks to the country’s formidable air defenses, frequently tested across many years by rockets from militant groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

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Tehran has threatened to escalate strikes on energy infrastructure and target critical water desalination facilities should Trump make good on a promise to “obliterate” the country’s power plants if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump on Saturday evening gave Tehran a 48-hour deadline to reopen the critical trade route, through which around 20% of the world’s oil passes, threatening in a post on Truth Social to target Iran’s energy infrastructure if the demand is not met.

Iran has effectively blocked the strait since the U.S. and Israel launched their attacks on the country on Feb. 28, sparking swift retaliation from the Islamic Republic and triggering a wider war in the region.

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