Potential U.S. Strike Targets Include Natural Gas Power Plants

By Brian Spegele

If President Trump follows through on his threat to attack Iranian power assets, the strikes would almost certainly target plants in the country that generate electricity from natural gas.

Around 80% of power generation in Iran came from natural gas as of 2023, according to the International Energy Agency, or around 303,000 gigawatt-hours. Total generation in the country jumped by more than 65% between 2010 and 2023, according to the IEA. As of 2023, it was the second largest electricity producer in the region, behind Saudi Arabia, the IEA said.

One potential U.S. target is the Damavand combined-cycle power plant, southeast of the capital, Tehran. With a capacity believed to be around 3,000 megawatts, it likely has accounted for as much as 4% of Iran’s total capacity in recent years.

Nuclear power accounts for a tiny fraction of Iran’s overall generation, though its Bushehr nuclear-power plant has already been ensnared in the war. In recent days, a drone struck a complex where the nuclear plant is located. Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the nuclear power plant and its reactors were not damaged.

Energy resilience is uneven across Iran’s power-generation system, with Tehran especially exposed, said Umud Shokri, senior visiting fellow at George Mason University focused on energy strategy. Tehran is a major power-consumption hub, reliant on transmission networks and electricity supplies shipped in from elsewhere.

“Disruptions to high-voltage substations or the loss of several key plants could rapidly trigger cascading outages across the capital,” he said. “While such strikes would generate serious domestic disruption and economic strain, they are unlikely to immediately impair Iran’s ability to sustain or escalate military operations.”