A fourth week of fighting in West Asia has seen the United States and Israel trade fire with Iran, with strikes expanding to military, diplomatic and energy targets across the Gulf. Triggered by the February 28 US-Israeli strikes, the conflict has spread across the region, roiling energy markets and pushing up oil prices as Tehran blockades the Strait of Hormuz, while Israel has intensified attacks on Lebanon with a ground invasion targeting Hezbollah.
TOP DEVELOPMENTS
Trump threatens to strike Iran's power plant: US President Donald Trump threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if it fail to open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, just barely a day after talking about “winding down” the war.
Iran warns of retaliation: Iran on Sunday threatened to attack key infrastructure across the Middle East if US President Donald Trump follows through on his vow to hit Iran's power plants.
1,400 killed in Iran: Iranian authorities say over 1,400 people have been killed and more than 200 cities have been hit in the ongoing US-Israeli attack against the country.
Iran hits Israeli nuclear town: Iran attacks southern Israel, wounding dozens in the cities of Dimona and Arad, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it a “difficult evening of battle”.
Nations ‘ready’ to secure Hormuz: Twenty-two countries condemned Iran’s attacks on Gulf shipping and the Hormuz blockade, expressing “readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts” to ensure safe passage. The US was not among the signatories.
Israel vows intensification: Defence Minister Israel Katz warned the US and Israel would intensify strikes on Iran from Sunday.
Israeli first responders said rocket fire from Lebanon killed one person on Sunday close to Israel's northern border.
The ZAKA 360 emergency response unit said a person was pronounced dead after a strike on their vehicle "carried out by a rocket fired from Lebanon".
Local firefighters said flames had engulfed two vehicles after a "direct hit".
Rescuers were searching for the crew and passengers of a Qatari military helicopter that crashed in the Gulf state's waters after a "technical malfunction", the government said early Sunday.
While Qatar has been targeted by several strikes since the start of the Middle East war, no connection has been made between this chopper and the conflict triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran.
Iran’s envoy to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) said that foreign ships would be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, provided they coordinate with Iranian authorities for safety and security measures.
According to Mehr news agency, Ali Mousavi said that the international obligations must be accompanied by respect for “Iran’s territorial integrity and rights”.
He further said that Iran is ready to cooperate with the IMO and countries to improve maritime safety and protect seafarers.
"The Strait of Hormuz is only closed to Iran’s enemies," Mousavi added.
He also said that the US and Israel's war was at the “root of the current situation” in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's official IRNA news agency said on Sunday that a drone attack targeted a military base near the Baghdad International Airport.
The "military base, located near Baghdad International Airport, has again been the target of drone strikes," IRNA wrote, referring to a compound that was used in the past by the US military.
Blasts were heard and air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem on Sunday, AFP journalists said, after the Israeli military warned of incoming missile fire from Iran.
The army issued several alerts saying it had identified that "missiles were launched from Iran toward the territory of the State of Israel".
Iran on Sunday threatened to attack key infrastructure across the Middle East if US President Donald Trump follows through on his vow to "obliterate" the Islamic republic's power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz swiftly reopens.
Iran's military operational command responded that if the country's facilities were hit, "all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US" in the region would be targeted.
Sri Lanka raised fuel prices by 25 percent on Sunday, the second increase in two weeks, as the country prepared for more impact from the war in the Middle East.
Regular petrol was increased to 398 rupees ($1.30) per litre, up from 317 rupees, while diesel, the fuel commonly used for public transport, rose by 79 rupees to 382.
Several blasts could be heard from Jerusalem on Sunday, AFP journalists said, after the Israeli military warned of incoming missile fire from Iran towards central Israel.
Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Israeli Army Radio is reporting that some 150 injured individuals arrived at the Soroka Medical Center following the Iranian strikes in Dimona and Arad.
It cited the centre’s director, Dr Zachi Slutzky.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Sunday that one of two Japanese nationals detained in Iran has been released and will be returning to Japan.
Motegi, speaking on a Fuji Television talk show, said the person had been detained since last year and was released on Wednesday. He said the person took a flight from Azerbaijan which was scheduled to arrive in Japan on Sunday.
Motegi said another Japanese national who was arrested earlier this year is still in custody.
The Israeli military says Iran has launched a new wave of missiles towards the country a short while ago.
It said in a statement that its air defence systems are working to intercept the incoming threat.
The Iranian military has announced intercepting and downing a US-Israeli armed drone in the skies of Tehran before it could carry out any combat operations, according to the Tasnim news agency.
“Since the beginning of the recent imposed war, 127 advanced drones of various types belonging to the enemy have been targeted and destroyed by the country’s air defence,” the military was cited as saying.
The Israeli government must be held “accountable” and should answer questions about its assessment of the military capability of Iran, after claiming that it is already running out of weapons following the joint US-Israeli strikes, an Israeli peace activist and politician said.
In a statement posted on X, Yariv Oppenheimer of Israel’s Peace Now advocacy organisation wrote that authorities “are not telling” the Israeli public about how the country’s interceptors failed against Iran’s latest strikes.
“They’re not telling us how many missiles were fired at Israel, how many missiles managed to hit their targets, how many launchers were actually destroyed, and how many launchers and missiles are still left,” Oppenheimer said.
The activist and politician issued the statement following Iran’s strike on Dimona and Arad, which left over 100 people injured including children.
“Enough with deceiving the public and telling it what it wants to hear. Speak the truth,” Oppenheimer said in a separate post on X.
לא מספרים לנו
— יריב אופנהיימר (@yarivop) March 21, 2026
האם זה כשל ביירוט או כלכלת מיירטים
לא מספרים כמה טילים נורו לישראל
כמה טילים הצליחו לפגוע במטרות
כמה משגרים באמת הושמדו
וכמה משגרים וטילים עוד יש
קו דק בין צורך מבצעי וביטחון שדה, לאינטרס פוליטי ושליטה בנרטיב.
The United Arab Emirates said it was responding to incoming aerial attacks from Iran on Sunday.
"UAE air defences are currently responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran," the defence ministry said in a statement explaining "the sounds heard are the result of the Air Defence Systems intercepting missiles and drones".
A ministry spokesperson said three drones had been intercepted and destroyed in the country's eastern region.
The Saudi Ministry of Defence says it has intercepted and downed four more drones over the Eastern Province.
The statement came hours after it announced shooting down a ballistic missile over Riyadh.
Iran’s military has threatened to attack all energy infrastructure linked to the US and Israel in the Middle East if its power plants are targeted.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya central command, said that Iran will also attack desalination plants and information technology infrastructure linked to the US and Israel.
The warning came after Trump threatened to attack Iranian power plants if Iran failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.
The Israeli military says it has “just begun a wave of strikes” targeting the Iranian government infrastructure in Tehran.
This comes after Iranian missile attacks wounded more than 100 people in southern Israel.
Tehran said its assault was in retaliation for strikes on its Natanz nuclear facility.
Israel’s Home Front Command has closed schools and banned gatherings of more than 50 people in the country’s south until Tuesday, following the Iranian missile strikes in the area, according to the Kan broadcaster.
The restrictions cover the Negev, Lachish and the Dead Sea areas, Kan reported.
It added that large gatherings can only be held if participants can reach a protected area in case of an incoming missile alert.
Earlier, the Education Ministry announced that there would be no classes throughout the country on Monday.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday gave Iran a 48-hour deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure.
"If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!" Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
Since the US and Israel launched the war against Iran on February 28, Iran has effectively closed the strait in retaliation.
In response, Iran's military said it would retaliate by targeting "all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region."
Iranian missile strikes on two southern Israeli towns wounded more than 100 people on Saturday, medics said, after Israeli air defence systems failed to intercept the projectiles.
The two direct hits tore open the fronts of residential buildings and carved craters into the ground.
Iranian state TV said the missile attack on Dimona, which houses a nuclear facility, was a "response" to an earlier strike on its own nuclear site at Natanz.
"The air defence systems operated but did not intercept the missile, we will investigate the incident and learn from it," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin wrote on X.
The UN nuclear watchdog on Saturday issued a call for "maximum military restraint" after Israel said an Iranian missile struck the southern town of Dimona, home to a nuclear facility.
"The IAEA is aware of reports of an incident in the city of Dimona, Israel, involving a missile impact and has not received any indication of damage to the nuclear research center Negev," the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a post on X.
"Information from regional States indicates that no abnormal radiation levels have been detected," it added.
Earlier in the day, IAEA head Rafael Grossi had repeated a "call for military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident", the agency posted on X following attack on Iran's Natanz nuclear facility.
"The IAEA has been informed by Iran that the Natanz nuclear site was attacked today. No increase in off-site radiation levels reported," it added.
The US announcement that it will lift sanctions on Iranian crude stranded at sea is an attempt to manipulate the market, since there is no such oil, Iran’s Oil Ministry spokesperson, Saman Ghodousi told Iran’s state media.
“At present, Iran essentially has no crude oil left in floating storage or any surplus available for supply to other international markets, and the US Treasury Secretary’s remarks are solely intended to reassure buyers and manage the market psychologically,” he said late Friday.
Iran targeted Diego Garcia Island with a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile, Israel’s military said. This refers to missile with at least two rocket engines, one allowing the missile to reach space, and the other propels it to its target, at a range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles).
“These missiles are not intended to strike Israel. Their range extends to the capitals of Europe — Berlin, Paris, and Rome are all within direct threat range,” Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Saturday evening.
The Israeli military said Saturday that its forces had struck a facility embedded within a Tehran university that was allegedly being used to develop components for nuclear weapons.
"The Malek-Ashtar University facility was utilised by the Iranian terror regime's military industries and ballistic missiles array to develop nuclear weapon components and weapons," the military said.
"The Malek-Ashtar University was subordinate to the Iranian Defence Ministry, and is sanctioned internationally due to its activities and efforts over the years to advance the Iranian nuclear program and to develop ballistic missiles," the military added.
Top envoys for the Group of Seven advanced economies and the European Union on Saturday urged an "immediate and unconditional" end to Iran attacks against allies in the Middle East.
"We call for the immediate and unconditional cessation of all attacks by the Iranian regime," the foreign ministers for Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as the EU foreign policy chief said in a joint statement.
Israel is only at the halfway point in the war with Iran, the military’s chief of staff said on Saturday, as the country entered the fourth week of war against Iran.
“Dear citizens of Israel — we are at the midway point, but the direction is clear,” Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said.
“In about a week, on Passover, the Festival of Freedom, we will continue to fight for our freedom and our future.”
Iranian state TV said a missile attack on the Israeli town of Dimona, home to a nuclear facility, was a "response" to an earlier strike on its own nuclear site at Natanz.
Iran's atomic energy organisation had said earlier in the day that the "Natanz enrichment complex was targeted this morning", though there was "no leakage of radioactive materials reported", according to a statement carried by local media.
The missile strike in Dimona wounded at least 39 people, according to Israeli emergency services.
The US military said on Saturday that Iran's ability to threaten the Strait of Hormuz has been "degraded" by the bombing this week of an underground facility where it stored cruise missiles and other weaponry.
With Iran mostly closing off the Strait, the gateway for one-fifth of the world's oil, the US military has brought out some of the heaviest bombs in its arsenal to penetrate adjacent missile sites.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), said it had dropped multiple 5,000-pound bombs on a "hardened" underground facility located along Iran's coast that it used to store anti-ship cruise missiles, mobile missile launchers and other equipment.
"We not only took out the facility, but also destroyed intelligence support sites and missile radar relays that were used to monitor ship movements," Cooper said in video message posted on X.
"Iran's ability to threaten freedom of navigation in and around the Strait of Hormuz is degraded as a result, and we will not stop pursuing these targets," he added.
According to Iran's atomic energy organisation, the US and Israel targeted a plant at Natanz in Isfahan province, which hosts underground centrifuges to enrich uranium for Iran's disputed nuclear programme and was already damaged in last year's June war.
"Following the criminal attacks by the United States and the usurping Zionist regime against our country, the... Natanz enrichment complex was targeted this morning," the agency said, in a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency.
No leakage of nuclear materials was reported, it added.
