23/03/2026 – 02:50
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23/03/2026 – 00:55Iran awaits Trump threat to blow up power plants
Iran on Monday faces a deadline by President Donald Trump to open up the crucial Strait of Hormuz or face a major US assault on power plants, as Israel warned of weeks more of war.
Israel also gave the clearest signs yet it intends a ground campaign into Lebanon, destroying a key bridge as it vows to crush Hezbollah, the Shia Muslim movement backed by Iran.
Trump, after enthusiastically backing Israel in the war the two countries launched on February 28, is under political pressure as fuel prices rise, the result of Iran’s attempts to retaliate in the oil-rich Gulf
22/03/2026 – 23:33UK’s Starmer calls emergency meeting on economy as Iran war risks mount
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to chair an emergency meeting on the economic fallout from the war in Iran on Monday, with finance minister Rachel Reeves and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey in attendance, the government said.
Investors are bracing for another stormy week in financial markets after Iran said it would strike the energy and water systems of Gulf neighbours if US President Donald Trump follows through with a threat to hit Iran’s electricity grid.
Britain is watching with particular unease. The country’s heavy dependence on imported natural gas, persistently high inflation and stretched public finances have pushed its government bonds into a far steeper decline than those of international peers.
22/03/2026 – 23:30Iraqi pro-Iran group prolongs pause in US embassy attacks
Kataeb Hezbollah, an influential pro-Iran Iraqi armed group, announced on Monday that it would extend a pause on its attacks on the US embassy in Baghdad by five days.
“The deadline given to the embassy of American evil will be extended by an additional five days,” the group said in a statement.
The group warned that it would respond if it came under attack and denied involvement in a drone strike that hit an Iraqi intelligence building on Saturday, killing an officer.
22/03/2026 – 22:39Watch: What Trump’s 48h ultimatum is about
22/03/2026 – 22:03
22/03/2026 – 21:30Lebanon PM says Iran Guards commanding Hezbollah operations
In an interview with the Al Hadath network, Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said that members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards are commanding Hezbollah’s operations in the country.
Referring to an incident in which an Iran-made drone hit a British base in Cyprus earlier this month, Salam said “that was the Revolutionary Guard, which is present and, unfortunately, is managing the military operation in Lebanon”.
“These people have forged passports and entered the country illegally,” he added.
The Lebanese government decided this month to ban any activity by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the country. Beirut also took the unprecedented step of imposing a ban on Hezbollah military activities and called on the group to hand over its weapons to the state.
22/03/2026 – 21:04Death toll in Lebanon surpasses 1,000, health ministry says
At least 1,024 people have been killed in Lebanon since the war broke out, the country’s health ministry said.
Among those killed are 118 children and 79 women. At least 2,786 others have been wounded.
22/03/2026 – 20:43Iran’s foreign minister blames US for closure of Strait of Hormuz
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the reason maritime traffic is not passing through the Strait of Hormuz is because insurance companies are concerned about the US-initiated war – not because of Iran’s actions.
“Freedom of Navigation cannot exist without Freedom of Trade. Respect both—or expect neither,” Araghchi wrote on X. He added that further threats will not sway Iranians nor insurers.
A foreign ministry statement says “vessels, equipment and any capacities” belonging to the United States and Israel, “as well as other participants in the aggression,” do not qualify.
It also says any security arrangements in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Sea of Oman must be coordinated with Iran’s “competent authorities”, while taking into account “realities” around armed conflict.
22/03/2026 – 20:36Macron tells Saudi crown prince bin Salman France ready to contribute to Saudi air defence
French President Macron has held a telephone call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in which he said that France is committed “to contributing to the air defence of Saudi territory”.
22/03/2026 – 20:16Israel faces ‘weeks of fighting’ against Iran, Hezbollah, military spokesman says
Israel faces “more weeks of fighting against Iran and Hezbollah”, military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised briefing.
“With each passing day, we are further weakening the (Iranian) terror regime. We will not allow it, or its proxies, to threaten the citizens of Israel or the existence of the state of Israel.”
22/03/2026 – 19:51Iran’s president: ‘Illusion of erasing Iran from map shows desperation’
22/03/2026 – 19:28Israel to ‘advance targeted ground operations’ in Lebanon, army chief says
Israel’s military will expand its ground operations in Lebanon against Hezbollah, its army chief said.
“The operation against the Hezbollah terrorist organisation has only begun… This is a prolonged operation,” Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement.
“We are now preparing to advance the targeted ground operations and strikes according to an organised plan,” he added.
22/03/2026 – 19:25Iraqi fighters targeted in strikes south of Baghdad
Fighters from the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi have been targeted in strikes south of Baghdad, local authorities said.
The alliance, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), is part of Iraq’s regular armed forces, but also includes some pro-Iranian groups.
“Units of the PMF were targeted by drone strikes and airstrikes, with three strikes in different locations,” said a statement from a local emergency crisis cell, adding that the positions were deserted and there were no casualties.
22/03/2026 – 18:41Slovenia limits fuel purchases as some pumps run dry
Slovenia has temporarily limited fuel purchases to tackle shortages at the pump caused in part by cross-border fuelling and stockpiling due to the Iran war.
As of Sunday, fuelling at individual service stations has been restricted to 50 litres per day for private vehicles and 200 litres for companies and other priority users such as farmers.
The restrictions will stay in force until further notice.
22/03/2026 – 18:35Israel probes whether own forces killed civilian on Lebanon border
Israel’s military said it was investigating whether its own fire killed an Israeli civilian near the Lebanese border on Sunday, after Hezbollah claimed an attack in the same area.
Israeli emergency workers said earlier in the day that a man was killed in a “direct hit” on his car by a rocket from Lebanon, making him the first fatality in the country’s north since the latest round of fighting with Hezbollah broke out.
The Iran-backed militant group said after the incident that its fighters had attacked Israeli soldiers in the same area. But the Israeli army later announced it was “conducting a comprehensive investigation” into the death.
“The possibility that the incident involved fire originating from IDF soldiers is being examined,” the military said in a statement.
22/03/2026 – 18:18More than 80,000 civilian sites damaged in Iran, Red Crescent says
The number of civilian sites damaged in Iran “has reached 81,365 based on the latest field assessments”, Iran’s Red Crescent chief Pirhossein Kolivand said.
The figure includes residential and commercial units, schools, medical centres and vehicles.
“Behind every damaged unit stands a family, a life, a memory, a livelihood, and a future that has collapsed beneath the rubble of war and violence,” he said.
22/03/2026 – 18:05Watch: Living under the bombs in Lebanon’s Nabatieh
22/03/2026 – 17:47Son of Iran’s last shah asks US and Israel to spare civilian infrastructure
Exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi has called on the US and Israel to “continue targeting the regime and its apparatus of repression, while sparing the civilian infrastructure Iranians will need to rebuild our country”.
“Iran’s civilian infrastructure belongs to the Iranian people and to the future of a free Iran,” he wrote on X.
22/03/2026 – 17:26Israeli air strikes kill four in Gaza, Palestinian officials say
An Israeli air strike on a police vehicle has killed three people in the middle of the Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip, health officials said, hours after another person was killed in a strike on northern Gaza.
Medics and police sources said the three men killed in Nuseirat were members of the Hamas-led police force.
Ten people were also wounded in the attack, medics said.
Earlier on Sunday a separate airstrike killed one person – identified as a leader of one of Fatah’s armed groups – and injured an unknown number of others in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in northern Gaza.