Trump threatens to 'obliterate' Iran's power plants if Hormuz strait remains closed

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Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense said Sunday three ballistic missiles were detected around the capital, as the kingdom and its Gulf neighbours face Iranian strikes in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks.

"One missile was intercepted, while the other two fell in an uninhabited area," a spokesperson for the ministry posted on social media.

Early Sunday morning, the Saudi Civil Defense issued a warning, before cancelling it seven minutes later after determining the danger had passed.

According to the defense ministry, five drones were also intercepted since midnight.

(AFP)

Qatar's defence ministry said early on Sunday that a Qatari helicopter had crashed in its regional waters after suffering a technical malfunction during "routine duty".

(Reuters)

Iran's military renewed threats on Sunday against the region's infrastructure after the US president vowed to "obliterate" power plants in the Islamic republic if the Strait of Hormuz is not swiftly reopened.

"Following previous warnings, if Iran's fuel and energy infrastructure is violated by the enemy, all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region will be targeted," the Iranian military's operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by Fars news agency.

The statement comes after Donald Trump gave Iran a 48-hour deadline to open the vital route in the Gulf to shipping traffic after it was effectively closed in response to the Middle East war.

(AFP)

The Israeli military said its forces launched a wave of strikes on Tehran early Sunday, hours after Iranian missile fire hit two cities in southern Israel.

(AFP)

An unknown projectile struck a vessel 15 nautical miles north of the United Arab Emirates' Sharjah, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said early on Sunday.

It said that all crew were reported safe.

(Reuters)

A British nuclear-powered submarine equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles has taken position in the Arabian Sea, giving Britain the capability to launch long-range strikes if regional conflict escalates, the Daily Mail reported on Saturday.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The British Ministry of Defence did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

HMS Anson, armed with Tomahawk Block IV missiles and Spearfish torpedoes, left Perth earlier this month and travelled roughly 5,500 miles to the region, the Daily Mail said.

The submarine surfaces periodically to communicate with the UK's Permanent Joint Headquarters in Northwood, where any launch order would be authorised by the prime minister and conveyed by the chief of joint operations, the report added.

The deployment comes after Downing Street authorised the US to use British bases for strikes on Iranian sites threatening the Strait of Hormuz.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iran's powerplants if it does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.

"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!" he wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Saturday to continue striking Iran after what he called a "very difficult evening", as two direct missile hits in southern Israel left scores wounded.

Israeli medics said 59 people were wounded in an Iranian missile strike Saturday on the southern town of Arad, raising initial casualty figures.

"Paramedics are providing medical treatment and transporting 59 patients to hospitals via dozens of ambulances," Israel's Magen David Adom first responders said.

"Among them are 6 patients in serious condition, 13 patients in moderate condition, and 40 patients in mild condition," it added.

(AFP)

The death toll from the US and Israel's three-week bombing campaign in Iran has surpassed 1,500, Iranian state media said Saturday, citing the country's health ministry.

An Iraqi officer was killed on Saturday in a drone attack targeting an Iraqi intelligence services building in a residential Baghdad neighbourhood, the agency said, as the Middle East war reverberates across the country.

At around 10:00 am local time (0700 GMT) the Iraqi National Intelligence Service was attacked in a drone strike, said Saad Maan, head of the Iraqi government's security media unit.

"An officer was martyred," the Iraqi intelligence agency said in a statement, condemning the strike as a "terrorist attack carried out by rogue elements".

No group immediately claimed responsibility.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday ordered an Iranian diplomat and three members of his team to leave the country, as the kingdom and its Gulf neighbours face Iranian strikes in retaliation for US-Israeli attacks.

In a statement condemning "repeated Iranian attacks", Riyadh said it "decided to declare persona non grata the military attache of the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with three members of the embassy's military mission".

They were given 48 hours to leave the country, the foreign ministry said in a message posted on social media.

The UN nuclear watchdog on Saturday issued a call for "maximum military restraint" after Iran's Natanz was hit in US-Israeli bombing and Tehran retaliated with an attack on a town near Israel's 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.

Iran was "unsuccessful" in targeting the joint UK-US Indian Ocean military base at Diego Garcia, a UK official source told AFP on Saturday, as Israel's army chief said Tehran fired an "intercontinental ballistic missile" at the base.

Diego Garcia, which is around 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometres) from Iranian territory, is one of two bases the UK has allowed the United States to use for "defensive operations" in its war against Iran.

On Friday, the UK government said it would allow Washington to use its bases in Diego Garcia and Fairford in southwest England to target Iranian "missile sites and capabilities being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz".

The UK official source confirmed that Iran's "unsuccessful targeting of Diego Garcia" took place before Friday's announcement.

The source did not confirm additional details about the attack.

G7 countries on Saturday demanded Iran end its attacks on infrastructure in the Gulf in a joint statement that made no mention of Israel, which has bombed dozens of civilian sites in Iran and Lebanon over the past three weeks.

"We condemn in the strongest terms the regime’s reckless attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, including energy infrastructure" in Arab countries, 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.

"We call for the immediate and unconditional cessation of all attacks by the Iranian regime."

The Israeli military said it bombed a university in Tehran on Saturday, claiming that it housed a facility 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," it said.

It provided no evidence to support its claims.

The United Arab Emirates said on Saturday it faced aerial attacks from Iran after the Islamic republic warned its neighbour against allowing attacks from its territory on disputed islands near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"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".

The Tasnim news agency reported the Iranian military's operational command had warned the UAE "if any further aggression originates from its territory against the Iranian islands of Abu Musa and Greater Tunb in the Persian Gulf, Iran... will subject Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE to heavy strikes".

Authorities in the northern emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, which shares its name with the UAE's sixth-largest city, said later on Saturday the "sounds heard across parts of the city were the result of successful air defence interception operations".

Abu Musa and the Greater Tunb islands, which are controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE, have long been a source of dispute between the two countries.

India has blocked the release of "The Voice of Hind Rajab", a film about the killing of a five-year-old Palestinian girl by Israeli forces, the movie's distributor told AFP on Saturday.

The Oscar-nominated docudrama by French-Tunisian director Kaouther Ben Hania recounts the real-life death of Hind Rajab in Gaza last year as her family attempted to flee during Israel's war with Hamas.

Manoj Nandwana of Jai Viratra Entertainment, the film's Indian distributor, said a member of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) told him that the film's theatrical release would "hamper India's relations with Israel".

Read the full story here.

At least 20 people have been injured in Dimona, Israel, after an Iranian missile strike, with the military joining emergency response to about a dozen impact sites.

Damage to Gulf energy infrastructure in the Middle East war has turned attention to Algeria and Libya as possible fallback oil and gas suppliers, but both have little room to ramp up output in the short term, experts say.

Since the conflict erupted last month with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, the Islamic republic has kept up retaliatory fire on Israel and Gulf nations, including attacks on oil and gas facilities.

The resulting concerns of a global energy supply shock have turned eyes towards Algeria, an oil producer and OPEC member that is also Africa's leading gas exporter.

Read the full story here.

Damage was reported to a school in Dimona, Israeli, caused by fallen shrapnel during the latest interception of an Iranian missile, according to Israeli media.

The incident prompted authorities to order the closure of all schools in the town on Sunday.

In a separate incident, at least two people were injured in Ma'alot-Tarshiha following shrapnel strike.

Donald Trump's war with Iran is weighing on independent US voters, a crucial bloc likely to determine if the president's Republican Party maintains control of Congress in the November midterm elections.

Read the full story here.

The United Arab Emirates has ordered the closure of an Iranian state-linked hospital in Dubai, three employees at the facility told AFP, as ties between the two neighbours deteriorate amid Tehran's aerial campaign against Gulf states.

Since the United States and Israel began striking Iran on 28 February, Tehran has launched waves of missiles and drones at Gulf states, with more than 2,000 attacks on the UAE alone.

The strikes have strained ties between the countries, prompting Abu Dhabi to recall its ambassador to Iran and close its diplomatic mission.

Read the full story here.

The European Commission on Saturday urged EU member countries to lower their target for filling natural gas storage in the coming months, to alleviate price pressures caused by the war in the Middle East.

EU energy commissioner Dan Jorgensen sent a letter asking to "consider reducing your filling target to 80 percent as early as possible in the filling season to provide certainty and reassurance to market participants", down from the usual 90 percent goal.

Donald Trump's Board of Peace has presented Hamas with a written proposal on how it could lay down its weapons, two sources said, a step the Palestinian group has thus far refused to take as the US president pushes on with his plan for Gaza's future.

The proposal, first reported by NPR, was submitted to Hamas during meetings in Cairo over the past week, one of the sources said.

The talks were attended by Nickolay Mladenov and Aryeh Lightstone, the two sources familiar with the matter said. Mladenov is the Trump-appointed Board of Peace envoy to Gaza. Lightstone is a US aide to Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff.

Read the full story here.

A Patriot air defence system was involved in the interception of an Iranian drone over a residential area of Bahrain on March 9, Bahrain's government said on Saturday, an incident that the U.S. military had characterised as a direct Iranian drone strike.

At the time, Bahrain said 32 civilians had been injured, including children who required medical treatment, and the U.S. military said an Iranian drone had struck a residential neighbourhood.

On Saturday, a government spokesperson said the kingdom had been subjected to multiple Iranian drone attacks that day, and that the interception over the Sitra district had prevented a drone strike and saved lives.

"During this incident, the Patriot air defence system intercepted an Iranian drone aerially," they said.

"Had the Iranian drone impacted the residential area, it would have resulted in significant loss of life."

U.S. Central Command at the time denied reports from Russian and Iranian media that a U.S. Patriot missile had failed to intercept an Iranian missile or drone and instead inadvertently struck a residential area.

The U.S.-made Patriot surface-to-air missile defence system is designed to intercept missiles, drones and other aerial attacks. It has been used by the United States and Gulf Arab allies including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Qatar to protect cities, energy infrastructure and military bases from Iranian missile and drone attacks during the Iran war.

Israel has launched two new airstrikes in the southern Lebanese village of Qotrani, according to local media.

The US military claimed on Saturday it had damaged an Iranian bunker reportedly housing weapons near oil and gas shipments in the Strait of Hormuz, as thousands of Iranians marked Eid al-Fitr with prayer.

The US statement appeared designed to calm the concerns of energy markets and of Washington's sceptical international allies, more than 20 of whom issued a statement vowing to back efforts to re-open the key sea lane.

Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, said US war planes had dropped 5,000-pound bombs on an underground facility on Iran's coast that was allegedly storing anti-ship cruise missiles, mobile missile launchers and other equipment.

Read the full story here.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has met with Saudi Arabia's Mohamed Bin Salman in Jeddah following recent stops in Bahrain, UAE and Qatar.

In an official statement published on Saudi state media, authorities said the meetings affirmed Egyptian "solidarity" with Gulf countries against Iranian attacks without providing details of discussions.

The Israeli army has said it has detected a new wave of Iranian missile launches towards Israel and is working towards intercepting it.

US-Israeli airstrikes have damaged 19 government offices in the Gilan Gharb area of of Iran's Kermanshah region, its governor said to Tasnim, after teams conducted surveys to assess the extent of the damage.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday they had targeted an Israeli F-16 fighter jet over the country's centre.

Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on February 28, sparking a conflict that has since spread across the Middle East.

"An F-16 hostile enemy fighter jet belonging to the Zionist regime was struck at 3:45 am in central Iran," the Guards said on their Sepah News website.

The Israeli military earlier said a surface-to-air missile had been launched at an Israeli aircraft during "an operational activity" in Iran, without specifying the type of jet.

It added that "no damage was caused to the aircraft".

It was not immediately clear if the Iranian and Israeli statements referred to the same incident.

Iranian media also released an image showing smoke in the sky, saying another aircraft had been targeted, without identifying the type or whether it belonged to Israel or the United States.

AFP could not independently verify the image or what caused the smoke.

The reports came days after Iran's Revolutionary Guards said a US F-35 fighter jet "was hit and seriously damaged in the skies of central Iran" .

On Thursday, CNN, citing two sources familiar with the matter, reported that a US F-35 fighter jet "made an emergency landing at a US air base in the Middle East after it was struck by what is believed to be Iranian fire".

The Israeli military on Saturday said its forces struck ballistic missile production facilities belonging to Iran's Revolutionary Guards in overnight attacks on Tehran.

"Facilities utilised for the production of critical components for the development of ballistic missiles belonging to the Iranian regime's security apparatus were targeted," the military said.

The strikes hit a central Guards' compound, a missile components production facility, and a separate compound belonging to Iran's defence ministry, it said.

"The strikes significantly degrade the Iranian terror regime's capabilities to continue producing critical components for ballistic missiles at these sites," the military said.

The US and Israel launched their joint campaign against Iran on February 28, saying they seek to dismantle the country's ballistic missile capabilities, alongside its nuclear facilities.

More than 20 countries on Saturday said they would contribute to efforts ensuring safe passage in the Strait of Hormuz, condemning Iran's closure of the vital waterway.

"We condemn in the strongest terms recent attacks by Iran on unarmed commercial vessels in the Gulf, attacks on civilian infrastructure including oil and gas installations, and the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iranian forces," said the 22 countries, mostly European but also including the UAE and Bahrain.

"We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait. We welcome the commitment of nations who are engaging in preparatory planning," they said in a joint statement.

After the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, Tehran has retaliated with strikes on its Gulf neighbours but also on vessels in the strait.

From March 1 to 19, commodities carriers made just 116 crossings, according to analytics firm Kpler -- a decrease of 95 percent from peacetime averages.

Iran's de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil and gas normally flows, and the numerous attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in the Middle East, have sent energy prices soaring.

"We call for an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations," the countries added.

Several blasts were heard in Bahrain's capital of Manama on Thursday, according to an AFP journalist, as Iran presses its aerial campaign against Gulf states.

Two missiles were seen being intercepted in the sky and a number of explosions rocked the city after warning sirens sounded. Tehran has targeted Bahrain and other neighbouring countries in retaliatory strikes following US-Israeli attacks on Iran beginning 28 February.

The UN body in Sudan condemns army drone strike on a hospital in Sudan's East Darfur on Friday night, where dozens of people were killed and injured, including children.

Gas resumed flowing from Iran, Iraq's electricity ministry said Saturday, after a strike on an Iranian facility caused a three-day stoppage.

Iraq has been unwillingly drawn into the conflict triggered by the US-Israel attack on its neighbour Iran on February 28.

The total gas cutoff on March 19 dealt a fresh blow to Iraq's already-struggling economy.

While oil-rich, Iraq is heavily reliant on gas imports from Iran, supplying roughly a third of its electricity needs.

"Iranian gas flow to Iraq resumed at a rate of five million cubic metres" per day, electricity ministry spokesman Ahmed Moussa told state news.

Prior to the war, Iran had agreed to export some 50 million cubic metres of gas per day to Iraq during the boiling summer months, and roughly half that during the cooler winters.

However, those measures were not consistently met.

Electricity shortages are a frequent complaint in Iraq, which suffers from endemic corruption and dilapidated public infrastructure. Most households rely on private generators to compensate for daily power cuts.

On Thursday, Iraq condemned the strikes on energy facilities in the region and stressed the importance of ensuring a "continuous" supply to global energy markets.

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry condemned on Saturday Israel's strikes on Syrian army camps as "aggression", joining other Arab nations and Turkey in calling on the international community to intervene.

Israel's military said on Friday it had struck southern Syria in response to what it called attacks against the Druze community in Sweida province.

Read the full story here.

The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned an attack on Iran's Natanz enrichment facility that occurred on Saturday.

"This is a blatant violation of international law," the ministry's spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. Iran has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that the Natanz nuclear enrichment site was attacked on Saturday, the agency said in a post on X. 

US Central Command official says Iran has lost "significant" combat capability including navy and tactical air power since the conflict began, claiming to have struck 8,000 Iranian targets struck, including 130 vessels.

Iran was "unsuccessful" in targeting the joint UK-US Indian Ocean military base at Diego Garcia, a UK official source confirmed to AFP on Saturday, after the Wall Street Journal reported Tehran fired two ballistic missiles at it.

The source said the "unsuccessful targeting of Diego Garcia" took place before the UK government announced Friday that it would allow the United States to use some of its bases to target Iranian sites being used to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Jordan's military says they have shot down 14 Iranian missiles and 21 drones in the last week, which left one person injured.

The injury toll has risen to at least 24 people since the start of regional conflict, all of whom have been discharged from hospital.

Iran has rejected calls for a ceasefire to end the war that the US and Israel launched against it last month, insisting instead on a "full, permanent and comprehensive end" to the conflict, as hostilities appear to be expanding beyond the Middle East, with a reported Iranian attack on Diego Garcia.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with Japan’s Kyodo News that Tehran "does not accept a ceasefire", stressing that any resolution must include "guarantees to prevent a repeat of what happened, and compensation for the damage inflicted on Iran".

Read the full story here.

Iran's attack this week on Qatar's natural gas export facility threatens to disrupt not just world energy markets but also global technology supply chains because the helium it produces is crucial for a range of advanced industries.

Best known as the gas that makes party balloons float, helium is also a key input in chipmaking, space rockets and medical imaging.

Qatar supplies a third of the world's helium, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, but the nation had to halt production shortly after the war erupted three weeks ago. The latest Iranian strikes against the region's energy producing infrastructure have added to supply worries, with Qatar'sstate-owned gas company saying it would crimp helium exports by 14%.

Read the full story here.

The Trump administration waived sanctions on the purchase of Iranian oil at sea for 30 days on Friday in its latest attempt to ease oil prices that have been driven up by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

The waiver will bring some 140 million barrels of oil to global markets and help relieve pressure on energy supply, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent posted on X.

The move reflects White House worries that the surge in oil prices after nearly three weeks of U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran will hurt U.S. businesses and consumers ahead of the November midterm elections, when President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans hope to retain control of Congress.

Read the full story here.

Britain condemns “reckless attacks” after Iran fires missiles at UK-US Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X on Saturday that he had spoken with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Modi condemned attacks on critical infrastructure in the Middle East region, while also reiterating the importance of ensuring that shipping lanes remain open and secure.

"Appreciated Iran's continued support for the safety and security of Indian nationals in Iran," Modi added.

The UN atomic watchdog on Saturday said it was looking into a report by Iran that the Natanz nuclear site was attacked in the war with the United States and Israel.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Rafael Grossi repeated a "call for military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident", the agency posted on X.

"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 Israeli military announced a new wave of strikes on Beirut claiming to target the Iran-backed  group Hezbollah early Saturday.

In a brief statement on Saturday, the Israeli military said its forces were "currently striking Hezbollah terrorist organisation targets in Beirut".

Read the full story here.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that the United States and Israel would intensify their strikes on Iran in the coming week starting Sunday.

"This week, the intensity of the strikes to be carried out by the IDF and the US military against the Iranian terror regime and the infrastructure on which it relies will rise significantly," Katz said in a statement issued by the defence ministry on Saturday.

Thousands of Iranians held Eid al-Fitr prayers on Saturday to mark the end of the Ramadan fast, against the backdrop of war with the United States and Israel, which reportedly carried out a strike on Iran's Natanz nuclear site.

Iran's supreme leader traditionally leads Eid prayers but Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, who came to power earlier this month after his father was killed in a US-Israeli strike, has remained out of the public eye.

Instead, the head of the judiciary, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, attended prayers at central Tehran's Imam Khomeini grand mosque, named after the founder of the Islamic republic, which was filled to overflowing, with worshippers in the streets outside.

Read the full story here.

An Iranian man and a Romanian woman have been charged after attempting to enter Britain's nuclear submarine base in Scotland, Police Scotland said on Saturday.

The two, who British media have called suspected Iranian spies, were arrested on Thursday.

The charges come three weeks into the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. While Britain has not taken part in the attacks on Iran, the country's forces have downed Iranian missiles and drones in the Gulf region.

HM Naval Base Clyde is located on the west coast of Scotland and is key to Britain's security, hosting the country's nuclear-armed submarine fleet, as well as its attack submarines.

Police Scotland said the Iranian man, 34, and the Romanian woman, 31, are due to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on March 23.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will next week convene an emergency meeting of senior ministers and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey to discuss plans to help households with the soaring cost of living caused by the war in Iran, the Times reported on Saturday.

A spokesperson for Starmer's office and one for the Bank of England declined to comment on the report. Starmer is under pressure to assist UK consumers after the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran drove up petrol, energy and mortgage costs.

On Monday, he promised to support "working people" with cost-of-living pressures worsened by the conflict. As a start the government said it will provide a 53-million-pound ($70 million) package to help the most vulnerable households cope with the rising cost of heating oil.

A strike killed a fighter from former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi at a military airfield in northern Iraq on Friday, the group said, blaming the attack on the United States and Israel.

Iraq has been unwillingly drawn into the regional conflict triggered by the US-Israel attack on its neighbour Iran on 28 February.

Strikes have targeted Iran-backed groups, which in turn have claimed near-daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region.

"One fighter was martyred and another wounded," in the latest strike at a military airbase in the Tuz Khurmatu area, Hashed al-Shaabi said in a statement.

Read the full story here.

An officer was killed after a drone launched by "outlaw groups" struck near the Iraqi intelligence headquarters in Baghdad on Saturday, the National Intelligence Service said in a statement.

The United States and Israel struck Iran's Natanz nuclear facility on Saturday, the Islamic republic's atomic energy organisation said.

"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 organisation said in a statement carried by the Tasnim news agency.

It added that there was "no leakage of radioactive materials reported" in the area in central Iran.

The European Commission has urged EU states to lower natural-gas storage targets and start refilling reserves gradually to curb demand, after the war in Iran disrupted key suppliers and triggered a surge in energy prices, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.

EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen instructed member states to lower the filling target for their gas storage facilities to 80% of capacity, 10 percentage points below the EU’s official targets, “as early as possible in the filling season to provide certainty and reassurance to market participants”, the newspaper said, citing a letter.

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres welcomed Donald Trump's Board of Peace's aim of funding and delivering the basics of a Gaza reconstruction plan to rebuild Palestinian homes and infrastructure, he said in an interview with Politico this week.

Iran's military warned the United Arab Emirates on Saturday against allowing attacks from its territory on two disputed islands in the Gulf, near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

"We warn the United Arab Emirates if any further aggression originates from its territory against the Iranian islands of Abu Musa and Greater Tunb in the Persian Gulf, Iran's powerful armed forces will subject Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE to heavy strikes," the military's operational command Khatam Al-Anbiya said in a statement carried by Tasnim news agency.

Abu Musa and the Greater Tunb islands, which are controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE, have long been a source of dispute between the two countries.

The islands are located in the Gulf near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, through which normally about a fifth of the world's oil passes.

But marine traffic has been disrupted by the regional war, which began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28 and has since spread across the Middle East.

Iran accuses Gulf states of allowing US forces to carry out attacks from their territory, and has launched missile and drone strikes against what it calls US interests in those countries throughout the war.

Gulf states have repeatedly denied those accusations, saying even before the war that they would not allow their territory or airspace to be used to attack Iran.

Iran fired two ballistic missiles at the U.S.-U.K. military base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Saturday.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that Iran had launched two intermediate-range ballistic missiles toward the base but that they did not hit it.

Mehr said targeting the base was a "significant step ... that shows that the range of Iran's missiles is beyond what the enemy previously imagined". 

Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Iranian leaders on Nowruz and said Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner to Tehran, the Kremlin said on Saturday. 

An upscale Baghdad neighbourhood came under drone attack Saturday morning, a security official told AFP, with one drone targeting an Iraqi security service building.

The drone "carried out the attack on a communications building", the official said, adding that the building houses an Iraqi security agency that works with US advisors in Iraq, part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.

Another drone, filming the operation, crashed into a private members sports club popular with Iraqi elite and foreign diplomats, according to the same source.