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.

March 21 (Reuters) - Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that there needs to be an "immediate cessation" of what he described as U.S.-Israeli aggression to end the war and wider regional conflict, Iran's embassy in India said in an X post on Saturday.

Pezeshkian spoke with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi by phone earlier in the day.

LONDON, March 21 (Reuters) - 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.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to shipping or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure, as Tehran launched its most destructive attack yet on Israel.

The ultimatum, made just a day after the US leader said he was considering "winding down" military operations after three weeks of war, came as the key oil passage remained effectively closed and thousands more American Marines headed to the Middle East.

By Matt Spetalnick and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump ends the third week of the Iran war confronting a crisis that seems to be slipping out of his hands: Global energy prices are surging, the United States stands isolated from allies and more troops are preparing to deploy despite his promise the war would be only a "short excursion."

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.

By Pesha Magid and Rami Ayyub

JERUSALEM, March 21 (Reuters) - 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 militants have thus far refused to take as the U.S. 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.

By Alex Lawler and Arathy Somasekhar

March 21 - The war in the Middle East has triggered a nightmare scenario for the global energy system, slashing so much supply that consumers around the world must both pay up big and lower consumption.

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel along the Iranian coast, has stopped the passage of 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas since the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran on February 28.

By Laila Bassam, Tom Perry, Samia Nakhoul and Maya Gebeily

BEIRUT, March 21 (Reuters) - Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) rebuilt Hezbollah's military command after it was mauled by Israel in 2024, plugging gaps with Iranian officers before restructuring the Lebanese group and laying plans for the war it is now waging in support of Tehran, two people familiar with these IRGC activities said.

By Guy Faulconbridge and Marina Bobrova

MOSCOW, March 21 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putincongratulated Iranian leaders on Nowruz and said Moscow remained a loyal friend and reliable partner to Tehran, the Kremlin said on Saturday.

The extent of Moscow's support for Iran, though, is in dispute. Some Iranian sources have said that they have had little real help from Moscow in the biggest crisis for Iran since the U.S.-backed Shah was toppled in the 1979 revolution.