TOKYO, March 22 (Reuters) - Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil supplies, if a ceasefire is reached in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Sunday.

"If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up," Motegi said during a Fuji TV programme. "This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider."

By Maayan Lubell, Alexander Cornwell and Idrees Ali

TEL AVIV/JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday threatened to "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran does not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, a dramatic escalation that came barely a day after he talked about "winding down" the war.

LJUBLJANA, March 22 (Reuters) - Slovenians will choose between incumbent liberal Prime Minister Robert Golob and right-wing populist Janez Jansa on Sunday, with neither looking likely to win a parliamentary majority in the vote, which could be decided by smaller coalition partners.

Latest opinion polls confirm pro-Donald Trump Jansa's Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) and Golob's Freedom Movement (GS) are set for a close race after an eleventh hour campaign drama involving allegations of foreign meddling and graft.

By Maggie Michael, Alaa Al Marjani and Haidar Kadhim

TEHRAN, March 21 (Reuters) - For 20 years he had been an assistant butcher, but about a year ago Mahdi Mirzahosseini finally started up his own shop – one his family said he insisted on opening to serve customers for the Persian new year.

He has not been seen since that shop was destroyed on Monday in what neighbors said was a double strike on a complex that included homes, stores and a ground-floor laundry. Every day since, two of the 41-year-old’s elder brothers have come to search for him.

The World Health Organization has sent a first overland convoy of medical equipment bound for Beirut from its global emergency logistics hub in Dubai, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Saturday.

The UN health agency has dispatched 22 metric tonnes of "life-saving medicines and trauma and emergency supplies", Tedros said on X.

The supplies are enough to support treatment for 50,000 patients, including 40,000 surgical interventions, he said.

PARIS, March 21 (Reuters) - The foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries said on Saturday they stood ready to take necessary measures to support global energy supplies and reaffirmed the importance of safeguarding maritime routes, including in the Strait of Hormuz.

"We ... express support to our partners in the region in the face of the unjustifiable attacks by the Islamic Republic of Iran and its proxies," the ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, as well as the top EU diplomat, said in a statement.

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.

Magen David Adom first responders said 84 people were wounded in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously, hours after 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona.

NICOSIA, March 21 (Rtrs) - Britain will not be using its bases in Cyprus for any offensive action in the Iran crisis, the Cypriot government spokesperson said on Saturday, citing a phone call between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

"The British Prime Minister reiterated ... that the security of the Republic of Cyprus is fundamental to the United Kingdom and, to that end, a decision has been taken to enhance the means contributing to the preventive measures already in place," the spokesperson said in a written statement.

During almost three weeks of war in Lebanon, British-Palestinian doctor Ghassan Abu-Sittah has had no respite, telling AFP he has been working "against the clock" to save children wounded in Israeli bombardment.

At the American University of Beirut Medical Center, one of the capital's main hospitals, his paediatric intensive care unit has been receiving critical cases from across the country and desperate parents praying for their children's survival.

By Jonathan Landay, M.B. Pell and Maha El Dahan

DUBAI/WASHINGTON March 21 (Reuters) - 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 characterisedas 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.