Skip to main content

Iran says Hormuz open to all but ‘enemy-linked’ ships amid US threat

DUBAI, March 22 (Reuters) - The Strait of Hormuz remains open to all shipping except vessels linked to "Iran's enemies", Iran's representative to the U.N. maritime agency said on Sunday, after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to target Iranian power plants if the waterway was not "fully open" within 48 hours.

The threat of Iranian attacks during the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has kept most ships from getting through the narrow strait, the conduit for around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, threatening a global energy shock.

FILE PHOTO: An LPG gas tanker at anchor as traffic is down in the Strait of Hormuz, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Shinas, Oman, March 11, 2026. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier/File Photo

War in the Middle East: latest developments

Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:

- 92% of Iran missiles intercepted: Israel -

Israel's military said that Iran had fired more than 400 ballistic missiles at Israel since the start of the Middle East war, with around 92 percent of them intercepted.

- Qatar chopper crash kills 6 -

Three Turkish nationals including a serviceman were killed after a helicopter crashed in Qatar's territorial waters, alongside three Qatari servicemen, the Gulf country's defence ministry said.

Israeli Orthodox Jews inspect the site of an Iranian missile strike in Arad on March 22

Exclusive-Patriot missile involved in Bahrain blast likely US-operated, analysis finds

By Jonathan Landay, M.B. Pell and Travis Hartman

March 22 (Reuters) - An American-operated Patriot air defense battery likely fired the interceptor missile involved in a pre-dawn explosion that injured dozens of civilians and tore through homes in U.S.-ally Bahrain 10 days into the war on Iran, according to an analysis by academic researchers examined by Reuters.

Smoke rises following a strike on the Bapco Oil Refinery, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, on Sitra Island Bahrain, March 9, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

Israel launches new strikes on Tehran as Iran takes aim at Gulf sites

Israel launched a fresh wave of strikes on Monday at Iran, which threatened retaliation against vital infrastructure across the Middle East in a war that has plunged the world into its worst energy crisis in decades.

Explosions rang out in Tehran, Iranian media reported, while Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said they were intercepting missiles and drones.

Rocket trails seen in the sky above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya early on Monday

Belgium remembers Brussels jihadist attacks 10 years on

Belgium on Sunday marked 10 years since 2016 jihadist bombings in Brussels, a trauma that still scars the country and that authorities say sharpened focus on intelligence and counterterrorism.

The March 22, 2016 attacks claimed by the Islamic State group left 32 people dead and more than 300 wounded -- Belgium's worst peacetime massacre.

"Our country will never forget," King Phillipe told hundreds gathered around a monument to the victims. "We did not give in to fear, we did not give in to division."

The 2016 Brussels attacks saw bombings at the city's main airport and at a metro station

Iranian missiles sow panic, destruction in Israeli towns

Sheltering from an Iranian missile attack on his town in southern Israel on Saturday, 17-year-old Ido Franky heard "terrifying" blasts like nothing he had experienced before.

An Iranian missile hit Franky's town of Arad, hours after another struck Dimona -- home to a nuclear facility -- wounding dozens and leaving entire apartment blocks with heavy damage.

Franky rushed to shelter with his family as air raid sirens sounded, warning of an incoming attack.

Rescuers at the site of an Iranian missile hit in southern Israel's Arad

Japan could consider Hormuz minesweeping if ceasefire reached, minister says

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."

FILE PHOTO: Japan's Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi delivers his opening remarks at the 28th ASEAN Plus Three Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. Vincent Thian/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

Trump threatens Iran with power plant strikes over Hormuz blockade

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.

Israeli soldiers work at the scene of damage after Iranian missile barrages struck residential buildings in Arad, amid the U.S.-Israel conflict with Iran, in southern Israel, March 22, 2026. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Slovenians vote in tight race between liberals and populist right

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.

FILE PHOTO: President of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), Janez Jansa, presents the party's candidates and announces the election programme at a party congress ahead of national elections, in Ljubljana, Slovenia, February 21, 2026. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic/File Photo

Family of Iranian butcher missing in strike on commercial complex clings to hope

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.

People look at a destroyed building following a strike, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 21, 2026. Reuters/Alaa Al-Marjani