U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press before leaving the White House en route to Miami March 20, 2026, in Washington, DC.
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American President Donald Trump On Saturday evening, he threatened to “destroy” Iran’s power plants if Tehran did not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, as the war escalates in a dangerous new direction at the start of its fourth week.
“If Iran does not COMPLETELY, WITHOUT THREAT, open the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this very moment, the United States of America will strike and wipe out their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE LARGEST FIRST!” Trump said in a post to Truth Social.
This dramatic reversal came barely a day after Trump spoke of “ending” the war.
In a Truth on social media On Friday, the president said the United States “is very close to achieving our goals as we look to wind down our major military efforts in the Middle East.”
Trump also told reporters he was not interested in a ceasefire with Iran.
“We could have a dialogue, but I don’t want a ceasefire,” Trump said from the White House South Lawn before leaving for Florida. “You know you’re not having a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side.”
“They don’t have a Navy. They don’t have an Air Force. They don’t have any equipment,” Trump continued.
However, hours after Trump’s remarks, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz retorted that Israeli attacks on Iran would “increase significantly” in the coming week.
“This week, the intensity of the attacks that the IDF and the U.S. military will carry out against the Iranian terrorist regime and the infrastructure it relies on will increase significantly,” Katz said in a video statement.
Iran and Israel strike near nuclear facilitiesTrump issued a stark warning as Iran and Israel exchanged strikes targeting nuclear facilities.
Dozens of people have been injured after Iran struck two communities near Israel’s main nuclear research site. The Israeli military said its defenses were unable to intercept missiles that struck the southern towns of Dimona and Arad.
Israeli soldiers work at the scene of damage after Iranian missile barrages hit residential buildings in Arad, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in southern Israel, March 22, 2026.
Ronen Zvulun | Reuters
Initial images from the scene in Arad showed a bus with shattered windows and several badly damaged buildings, as well as dozens of firefighters and police responding to two separate impact sites. Israeli emergency services said four people were seriously injured, including a 4-year-old girl, and 29 people were lightly injured. Authorities are still searching for several missing people.
It was the first time in the war that the Israeli nuclear research center had been targeted.
Israel’s secret nuclear reactor is located about 13 kilometers southeast of Dimona. Both cities are close to several military sites, including Nevatim Air Base, one of the largest in the country.
“It’s a very difficult evening,” Israeli PM said Benjamin Netanyahu ” said, adding that more emergency resources were being sent to the scene.
The strikes against Israel came after Iranian media reported that US-Israeli forces had attacked the Shahid Ahmadi-Roshan Natanz nuclear enrichment complex. Technical experts found that no radioactive leak had occurred and nearby residents were not at risk.
Israel has denied responsibility and said it was unaware of Israeli strikes in the area.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement post on that “no abnormal radiation levels were detected” and added that it was studying the report.
The same nuclear facility was targeted by Israel and the United States during the 12-day war against Iran in June 2025.
Meanwhile, Israel said it attacked Tehran, Karaj, west of the capital, and the central city of Isfahan. Three members of a family were killed in a strike on a residential building in the town of Ramsar, Iranian media reported.
The death toll stands at more than 1,500 people in Iran, more than 1,000 in Lebanon, at least 60 in Iraq, 17 in Israel, 13 U.S. military personnel, 8 in the United Arab Emirates, 5 in Kuwait, 3 in Saudi Arabia and 2 in Bahrain.
UK says Iran did not target baseIran unsuccessfully targeted a joint US-British military base in the Indian Ocean, British officials said.
“Iran’s unsuccessful targeting of Diego Garcia occurred before yesterday’s update on US use of UK bases,” the UK Ministry of Defense (MoD) told CNBC in an emailed statement.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said on Friday that ministers had approved American forces the use of British bases to defend the region, including “US defensive operations to degrade missile sites and capabilities used to attack shipping in the Strait of Hormuz”.
The Ministry of Defense said the UK had given the US permission to use its bases at RAF Fairford in England and Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands for “specific and limited defensive operations”.
Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory and the largest of the Chagos Archipelago islands, on July 2, 2013 in Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory.
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Iran targeted the island with a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile, the Israeli military said. These are missiles equipped with at least two rocket engines, one allowing the missile to reach space and the other propelling it towards 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 European capitals: Berlin, Paris and Rome are all within direct threat range,” said Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir.
The Wall Street Journal first reported Friday’s attack, citing several US officials.
“Iran’s reckless attacks, which are hitting the entire region and hijacking the Strait of Hormuz, pose a threat to British interests and its allies,” the UK said in its statement. “[Royal Air Force] British jets and other military assets continue to defend our people and personnel in the region. »
The reported attack marks Iran’s first operational use of intermediate-range ballistic missiles and a significant attempt to reach well beyond the Middle East and threaten U.S. interests, the Wall Street Journal reported.
US allows Iranian oil to be sold offshoreThe war, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli airstrikes against Iranian targets, has effectively blocked the narrow and economically crucial Strait of Hormuz, which separates Iran from the United Arab Emirates.
About a fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait. Daily transit calls have fallen to almost zero from highs above 120 seen earlier this year, according to data analyzed by Charles Schwab. Much of the Gulf’s crude is typically shipped to Asia.
Reference Brent Crude Oil Futures for May rose 3.26% to $112.19 a barrel on Friday, its highest close since July 2022. WE West Texas Intermediate Futures for April rose 2.27% to $98.32 a barrel.
The Trump administration’s latest attempt to ease prices came Friday evening, when it lifted the sanctions on the purchase of Iranian oil at sea for 30 days. The move is expected to bring 140 billion barrels of oil to global markets, according to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. job on X.
“This temporary and short-term authorization is strictly limited to oil already in transit and does not allow new purchases or production,” he said. “Furthermore, Iran will have difficulty accessing the revenues generated and the United States will continue to maintain maximum pressure on Iran and its ability to access the international financial system.”
The license authorizing sale and delivery, published after market hours on the Treasury Department’s website, authorizes the entry of Iranian oil into the United States when necessary for its sale, delivery or unloading. Iranian oil has not been significantly imported into the United States since the 1979 Iranian Revolution.
G7 ready to protect global energy suppliesThe Group of Seven countries are ready to take necessary measures to support global energy supplies, their foreign ministers said in a statement. They also reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime routes, particularly in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We express our support for our partners in the region in the face of unjustifiable attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies,” said the ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the EU’s top diplomat, the statement said.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms the regime’s irresponsible attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure,” he added.
Iran calls for “immediate cessation” of “aggression”Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian said there was a need for “an immediate cessation” of what he described as US-Israeli aggression to end the war and wider regional conflict, the Iranian embassy in India said in a statement. Message SATURDAY.
Pezeshkian spoke with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi by telephone earlier today.
Pezeshkian told Modi there should be safeguards to prevent a repeat of such “aggression” in the future. He also called on the BRICS bloc, made up of major emerging economies, to play an independent role in ending aggression against Iran.
22 countries call for opening of the Strait of HormuzThe leaders of 22 countries, including the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan and Bahrain, published a report. joint statement condemning Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, as well as its attacks on unarmed commercial shipping in the Gulf and on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations in the region.
Read more news about the US-Iran war”We express our deep concern over the escalation of the conflict. We call on Iran to immediately cease its threats, mine laying, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the strait to commercial shipping, and to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 2817,” the statement said.
The countries said they were ready to contribute to “appropriate efforts” to ensure safe passage across the strait.
Saudi Arabia expels several Iranian diplomatsThe kingdom’s foreign ministry said the security attaché and his assistant, along with three other Iranian embassy staff in Saudi Arabia, were expected to leave within 24 hours. Hours earlier, Saudi Arabia shot down 20 Iranian drones, according to its Defense Ministry.
Earlier today, the UAE Ministry of Defense said it had responded to three ballistic missile attacks and eight drone attacks. The Jordanian military said 240 missiles and drones had been fired into Jordan since the start of the war, injuring 24 people.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed that Iranian escalation against Gulf countries endangers the security and stability of the region, the Saudi Press Agency reported. And Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit said visits by el-Sissi and his Jordanian counterpart, King Abdullah II, to several Gulf states in recent days “reflect full Arab solidarity.”
Iran promises safe passage for Japanese shipsIranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran was ready to facilitate passage of Japanese ships through the Strait of Hormuz, adding that negotiations with Japan on the issue are ongoing.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi speaks during a weekly news conference in Tehran, Iran, March 16, 2026.
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“We have not closed the strait. It is open,” Araghchi was quoted as saying by Japanese news agency Kyodo on Friday.
He also said Iran was seeking “not a ceasefire, but a complete, comprehensive and lasting end to the war.”
Araghchi said Iran had not closed the strategic waterway but had imposed restrictions on ships belonging to countries involved in attacks on Iran, while offering assistance to others amid heightened security concerns, Kyodo reported.
He added that Iran is ready to guarantee safe passage to countries like Japan if they coordinate with Tehran.
Iranian gas to Iraq reportedly resumedDeliveries of Iranian gas to Iraq have resumed at the rate of five million cubic meters per day, the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity announced on Saturday, according to the official news agency.
Flows have been disrupted since the Israeli attack on Iran’s main gas field, South Pars, on Wednesday.
— Terri Cullen of CNBC, Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
