Tehran has warned it would target energy and water infrastructure across the Middle East following US President Donald Trump’s threat on Saturday to strike Iran’s power plants unless the Strait of Hormuz is fully reopened within 48 hours.
Iran has kept the vital shipping route closed to most vessels since February 28, when the US and Israel launched the first wave of strikes against the country.
Although the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck several tankers attempting to cross the strait, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blamed insurers on Sunday for the disruption to navigation.
The war entered its fourth week on Saturday, with neither side showing signs of de-escalation and global energy prices continuing to surge. Trump ruled out a ceasefire over the weekend, arguing that the US was close to significantly reducing Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities. Tehran, however, remained defiant, vowing to continue the fight.
Israel said on Sunday that it would expand ground operations against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, where the IDF had destroyed several bridges across the strategic Litani River.
At least 1,444 people have been killed and 18,551 injured in US-Israeli attacks on Iran since February 28, the country’s Health Ministry has said.
Iran’s retaliatory strikes killed 15 people in Israel and seven US service members at bases in the region. A further six US service members were killed in a crash involving a refueling aircraft.
Here are the latest developments:
- US President Donald Trump has threatened to strike power plants in Iran unless the Strait of Hormuz is reopened within 48 hours.
- Iran has kept the crucial waterway largely closed to vessels linked to the US and Israel since the outbreak of the war on February 28. The Hormuz disruption – affecting a route carrying roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies – has already pushed crude prices higher and heightened concerns over a prolonged global supply shock.
- The IRGC has released a statement that should Iran’s power plants be targeted, the Strait of Hormuz will be “completely” closed and won’t be reopened until the facilities are rebuilt.
- Saudi Arabia has declared several Iranian embassy staff, including the military attaché, to be persona non grata, and ordered them to leave the country within 24 hours due to Tehran’s ongoing attacks on the Gulf region.
Follow our live coverage below for continuous updates. You can also read our previous updates here.
23 March 2026
The number of airstrikes launched by US and Israeli warplanes has decreased since an American F-35 fighter jet was hit by Iranian forces last week, an intelligence source has told Press TV.
“Multiple strikes by Iran's integrated air defense system against... invading aircraft have led to a significant reduction in military operations by American and Israeli fighter jets in the central regions of the country,” the source said.
However, the aircraft and drones “are still being used for reconnaissance purposes” by Washington and West Jerusalem, the broadcaster's interlocutor added.
The US military has published a clip which it said shows the aftermath of airstrikes on a drone and aircraft turbine engine production facility in Iran’s north-central Qom province.
The global economy is facing a “major threat” as a result of the US-Israeli war against Iran, the head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, has warned.
“This crisis, as things stand, is now two oil crises and one gas crash put all together,” he said, adding that at least 40 energy assets in nine countries in the Middle Eastern region have been “severely or very severely damaged.”
“No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction. So there is a need for global efforts” to stop the fighting, Birol stressed.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has mocked US President Donald Trump, using his own catchphrase from his time at ‘The Apprentice’, a reality TV series.
"Hey Trump, you’re fired. You are familiar with this sentence. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” an IRGC spokesman said in a video.
The jab followed the US leader’s ultimatum to Iran to unblock the Strait of Hormuz in 48 hours or face attacks on its power plants.
US President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer “agreed that reopening the Strait of Hormuz was essential to ensure stability in the global energy market” during a phone call on Sunday, according to Downing Street.
Trump previously scolded Starmer for initially not allowing the US to use UK bases for strikes on Iran and for refusing to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz. “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with,” Trump said of Starmer this month.
Israeli military spokesman Effie Defrin has told citizens to prepare for “more weeks of fighting against Iran and Hezbollah.”
The statement came as Israel carried out new strikes on Tehran overnight and sent additional troops and armor to expand its area of control in southern Lebanon.
Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said the country “will never be blackmailed by terrorists.”
He made the comment on X in response to former French diplomat and UN envoy Gerard Araud, who argued that “dependence” on the US had led the UAE “into a disastrous conflict without caring about your interests.”
Like other Arab states hosting US bases, the UAE has been hit by Iranian missile and drone strikes.
Powerful explosions have been reported across Tehran, shortly after Israel said it had launched a “wave of extensive strikes” targeting government infrastructure in the city.
Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent Suhaib al-Asa described the scale and intensity of the blasts in the eastern part of the Iranian capital as “unprecedented.”
Airstrikes were also reported in the southern city of Bushehr, home to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.
An airstrike damaged a residential building in Urmia in northwestern Iran, near the border with Iraq and Türkiye, Iranian media reported.
A US-operated Patriot interceptor missile malfunctioned and crashed into a residential neighborhood in Bahrain on March 9, injuring dozens, a visual analysis by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies suggests, according to Reuters.
Bahrain acknowledged for the first time on Saturday that a US missile was involved in the blast over the Mahazza neighborhood on Sitra Island, near the capital, Manama, Reuters reported.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte told CBS News that members of the military bloc were working together to “secure free navigation” through the Strait of Hormuz.
Rutte downplayed US President Donald Trump’s remarks calling NATO “a paper tiger” and labeling European countries that declined his call to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz “cowards.” He said member state were working with the US behind the scenes and “needed a couple of weeks to come together.”
New Iranian missile strikes were reported in central Israel.
The barrage came after around 180 people were injured in earlier attacks on Arad and Dimona, which prompted the Israeli military to launch an investigation into a failure of its air defense systems.
US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz has refused to rule out potential strikes on Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant.
When asked by CBS whether President Donald Trump’s threats meant he was “going to bomb a nuclear power plant,” Waltz replied: “Well, I would never take anything off the table for the president, certainly not on national television.”
22 March 2026
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) has released footage showing strikes on drones and vehicles in Iran.
CENTCOM also denied Iranian claims that an F-15 fighter jet was shot down near the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday.
New CCTV footage shows the moment an Iranian missile struck Arad in southern Israel on Saturday evening.
The Israeli Health Ministry said 180 people were injured in Arad and Dimona, which hosts Israel’s main nuclear facility.
Iran’s military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari said the Strait of Hormuz would be “completely closed” to all vessels, not just “enemy ships,” if the US carries out its threat to bomb Iranian power plants.
Zolfaghari added that Iran would strike energy and communications infrastructure in Israel, including “all power plants,” and target US companies in the region. He reiterated that power plants in countries hosting US bases would be “legitimate targets.”