TEHRAN - Iran's Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization (ISIPO) has announced the approval of 24 specialized industrial parks dedicated to solar energy.

Iran added 668 MW of generating capacity in a week, including 70 MW of solar and a 160 MW combined-cycle unit at Asaluyeh, as Energy Minister Abbas Aliabadi pointed to weekly additions amid summer power shortages.

In the interview, the U.S. Energy Secretary said easing some sanctions may allow Iran to export roughly 1.5–2 million barrels per day, said any released frozen funds would be tightly controlled, and defended the administration's Strategic Petroleum Reserve trading and refill approach.

Iran is building four solar plants and a wind farm targeting 100MW as the war batters the power grid, with the first phase due online by July 2026 amid repeated strikes on electricity infrastructure.

In the midst of escalating tensions in the Iran-US-Israel conflict, President Donald Trump revealed that he directly instructed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to refrain from targeting Iran's energy infrastructure, such as oil and gas fields. This directive came amid reports of Israeli strikes on key Iranian facilities, including fuel depots in Tehran and the massive South Pars gas field, which triggered significant disruptions. Iranian responses included missile attacks on Gulf states like Qatar and threats to broader regional energy installations, causing oil prices to surge over 5% to above $108 per barrel and raising fears of global supply chain chaos. Trump emphasized on social media that the US was informed of but did not participate in Israel's South Pars strike, distancing Washington from the action while warning Iran against further retaliation. He stated that any additional attacks on allies like Qatar would prompt a massive US response, potentially devastating Iran's energy sector entirely. US officials expressed concerns that continued hits on Iranian oil sites could provoke wider reprisals across Gulf facilities, exacerbating the ongoing war that has displaced over a million in Lebanon and made the Strait of Hormuz nearly impassable. The Trump administration views large-scale energy strikes as a last-resort option, reserved for extreme scenarios like direct assaults on Gulf oil infrastructure. This episode highlights diverging US-Israeli strategies, with Trump prioritizing de-escalation to stabilize markets while Israel pursues aggressive containment of Iranian threats. The developments underscore the fragile geopolitics of Middle East energy security as of March 2026.