Iran war: What’s happening on day 23 of US-Israel attacks?

Trump threatens to hit Iranian energy sites if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened within 48 hours; Tehran vows to retaliate.

By Yashraj Sharma

Published On 22 Mar 202622 Mar 2026

United States President Donald Trump has threatened to “obliterate” Iran’s power plants if Tehran does not fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within two days, as Israel launched new attacks on Tehran, with explosions reported in the east of the city.

Meanwhile, Iranian retaliatory attacks on Israel and regional countries have continued, with nearly 100 people injured in Iranian missile strikes on towns near an Israeli nuclear facility.

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Israel had a “very difficult evening in the battle for our future”, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Iranian strikes hit the towns of Arad and Dimona.

Here is what you should know as the US-Israeli war on Iran enters day 23:

People look at a destroyed building in Tehran following an attack on March 21, 2026 [Alaa al-Marjani/Reuters]

In Iran

• Israel launched new attacks on Tehran on Sunday, with explosions reported in the east of the city, following Iranian missile attacks on southern Israel.
• Iran’s military threatened to attack all energy infrastructure linked to the US and Israel in the Middle East if its power plants are targeted, after Trump threatened new attacks.
• The Iranian military announced intercepting a US-Israeli armed drone in the skies over Tehran before it could carry out any combat operations, according to the Tasnim news agency.
• The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed on Saturday its air defences shot down an Israeli fighter in Iranian airspace, the third such incident reported during the war. Israel did not confirm this.
• Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation said Israel and the US targeted the country’s Natanz nuclear site on Saturday in “criminal attacks”. Tehran also informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about the attack, which confirmed no unusual radiation leak.
• Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian called on the BRICS alliance, currently chaired by India, to “play an independent role in halting aggressions against Iran”. He also proposed establishing a regional security framework of West Asian countries.
• Iran’s state broadcaster noted the death toll from the US-Israeli attacks has now topped 1,500, according to the Ministry of Health, and at least 20,984 people were injured, with seven hospitals evacuated and 36 ambulances damaged.

In the Gulf

• Saudi Arabia intercepted nearly 60 drones from Iran, officials said, a majority of them targeting the country’s Eastern province, which houses the country’s energy facilities and resources.
• The Ministry of Defence also said three ballistic missiles were launched towards Riyadh province. It said it intercepted one of those, while the others fell in an uninhabited area.
• Saudi Arabia declared many of the Iranian diplomatic staff, including its military attache, persona non grata, ordering them to leave the country within 24 hours, after Qatar did the same on Wednesday.
• In Bahrain, Iranian missiles targeted US bases after Iran’s state broadcaster claimed earlier attacks on al-Minhad base in the United Arab Emirates and Ali al-Salem airbase in Kuwait, which host US and British forces.
• Bahrain’s military said its air defences shot down 143 missiles and 242 drones fired by Iran during the war.
• Qatar’s Ministry of Defence noted a search operation after one of its helicopters suffered a technical malfunction during a routine duty and crashed in the regional waters.

US President Donald Trump waves while boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on March 20, 2026 [AFP]

In the US

• Trump threatened to attack Iran’s energy sites in a post on Truth Social. “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.
• Trump claimed that the US is “weeks ahead of schedule” in its war on Iran and reiterated that Washington is not looking to make a deal with Iran, because “their leadership is gone, their navy and air force are dead, they have absolutely no defense”.
• Trump repeated that Iran wants “to make a deal”; however, Iranian leaders have denied such earlier assertions. 😂😂😂
• Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of the US Central Command, says the US military has dropped multiple 5,000-pound (2,270kg) bombs on an underground facility along Iran’s coast that it used to store antiship cruise missiles, mobile missile launchers and other equipment, thus undermining its ability to threaten the Strait of Hormuz.

An Israeli Orthodox Jew inspects the site of an Iranian missile attack in Arad on March 22, 2026 [AFP]

In Israel

• Iranian missile attacks broke through Israeli defences in the south of the country, making direct impacts in the cities of Dimona and Arad, wounding some 100 people. The IRGC said it targeted Israeli military installations and security centres in the cities of Arad, Dimona, Eilat, Beersheba and Kiryat Gat in its most recent missile salvo. Tehran claimed more than 200 people were killed in the attacks; Israel reported no deaths.
• PM Netanyahu said he is “strengthening the emergency and rescue forces currently operating in the field” after the Iranian attack in southern Israel.
• The IAEA said it is aware of reports of a missile impact in the Israeli city of Dimona, adding that there are no indications of damage to the nuclear research centre in Negev.
• Israel’s Ministry of Education cancelled all in-person classes across the country for Sunday and Monday. Israel’s Home Front Command banned gatherings of more than 50 people in the country’s south until Tuesday.
• Israel’s military says it struck more than 200 sites in Iran and Lebanon over the weekend, targeting missile launchers, air defence systems and military bases.
• Israeli military spokesman said Israel’s air defence systems were activated during the attacks, but failed to intercept some of the missiles, even though they were not “special or unfamiliar”. The spokesman said the military would investigate and “learn from” the incidents. 😂😂😂
• Israel’s Ministry of Health said at least 4,292 injured people have been brought to hospitals since the start of the war.

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In Iraq and Lebanon

• Hezbollah said it fired a barrage of rockets at Israeli soldiers patrolling in southern Lebanon. Two Israeli reservists were wounded in another Hezbollah mortar attack in northern Israel.
• The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it carried out 21 attacks against US bases across the country and the region in the past 24 hours.
• Three drones were intercepted near Erbil airport, resulting in a fire in the vicinity. Another drone crashed in the al-Sayyidah area, southwest of the capital, Baghdad, with four people injured.

A satellite view of Qeshm Island in Hormozgan province, Iran, within the Strait of Hormuz region on January 17, 2026 [Gallo Images/Orbital Horizon/Copernicus Sentinel Data 2026]

On the Strait of Hormuz

• The UAE, Bahrain, the United Kingdom, France and Germany issued a joint statement, condemning what they described as Iran’s attacks on commercial vessels and civilian infrastructure in the Gulf.
  
  kt asks: WTF about US-Israeli attacks?
  
  
• The statement accused Iran of the “de facto closure” of the Strait of Hormuz and called for an immediate halt to threats, mine-laying, and drone and missile attacks.

Joint US-UK Diego Garcia base

• The UK accused Iran of launching ballistic missiles at the joint US-UK Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean, but said the attack was unsuccessful.
• A senior Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Iran was not responsible for the missile attacks on Diego Garcia.
• Diego Garcia, which is about 4,000km (2,500 miles) from Iranian territory, is one of the two bases the UK has allowed the US to use for “defensive operations” in the war against Iran. 😂😂😂