Men watch from a hillside as a plume of smoke rises after an explosion in Tehran, Iran.

• US President Donald Trump ordered the postponement of any military strikes against Iranian power plants.
• But Iran’s Fars news agency said that there was no direct communication with the US or through intermediaries.
• More than 2 000 people have been killed in the war that the US and Israel launched on 28 February.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he had given orders to postpone any military strikes against Iranian power plants for five days, hours ahead of a deadline that threatened further escalation in the conflict now in its fourth week.

Trump said in ‌a post on his Truth Social platform that the US and Iran had had “VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE” conversations over the past two days about a “COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST”.

In his message, written entirely in capital letters, he said he had instructed the defence department to postpone the strikes pending the outcome of the talks.

However, Iran’s Fars news agency said after Trump’s post that there was no direct communication with the US or through intermediaries.

Citing an unnamed source, Fars said Trump had retreated after hearing that Iran would respond by attacking all power plants in the region.

READ | Iran rejects Trump deadline on Hormuz, threatens to strike ‘all energy infrastructure’

A source briefed on Israel’s war plans said Washington had kept it informed of its talks with Tehran, and that Israel was likely to follow Washington in suspending any targeting of Iranian power ⁠plants and energy infrastructure.

The prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on US talks with Iran or Washington’s decision to hold off on striking some Iranian targets.

Trump’s comments briefly sent the price of the Brent crude oil benchmark down around 13% to back below $100 a barrel.

By 11:55 GMT, however, it was back around $105.

Global markets also recovered sharply, with US stock futures reversing losses to gain more than 2%.

On Saturday, Trump had warned that Iranian power plants would be destroyed if Tehran failed to “fully open” the Strait of Hormuz to all shipping within 48 hours.

Trump set a deadline of around 19:44 EDT (23:44 GMT) on Monday.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Monday threatened retaliation, saying they would attack Israel’s power plants and those supplying US bases across the Gulf region if Trump followed through with his threat.

More than 2 000 people have been killed in the war that the US and Israel launched on 28 February, which has upended markets, driven up fuel costs, accelerated global inflation fears and convulsed the Western defence alliance.

However, the threat of strikes on Gulf electricity grids raised fears of mass disruption to desalination for drinking water, and further rattled oil markets.

While attacks on electricity could hurt Iran, they could be ‌catastrophic for ⁠its Gulf neighbours, which consume around five times as much power per capita.

Electricity makes their gleaming desert cities habitable, in part by powering the desalination plants that produce 100% of the water consumed in Bahrain and Qatar.

Such plants use seawater to meet more than 80% of drinking water needs in the United Arab Emirates, and 50% of the water supply in Saudi Arabia.