ARAD, Israel — The conflict in the Middle East intensified on Sunday as Iran and its ally, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, launched fresh assaults on Israel. This escalation comes amid threats from both the United States and Iran to broaden their combat targets in the ongoing war, which has now entered its fourth week.
In a day marked by renewed hostilities, Israeli leaders made their way to the southern town of Arad. This area, close to a clandestine nuclear research facility, was hit by Iranian missiles late Saturday, resulting in numerous injuries. This attack underscores the growing severity of the conflict.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Arad to assess the damage. Expressing relief, he remarked on the “miracle” that no lives were lost in the attack. Netanyahu reiterated that both Israel and the United States were progressing towards their military objectives and called for increased international backing.
Amidst these tensions, U.S. President Donald Trump issued a stern warning to Iran, threatening to dismantle its power infrastructure unless it opens the Strait of Hormuz. Trump imposed a 48-hour deadline, raising the stakes in the already volatile region. In response, Iran’s parliamentary speaker warned of retaliatory actions against American and Israeli energy facilities and broader infrastructure should the U.S. proceed with its threat.
These developments indicate a perilous shift in the conflict, originally initiated by the U.S. and Israel on February 28. Despite President Trump’s earlier suggestion of potentially “winding down” military operations, the war has resulted in substantial casualties, disrupted the global economy, and driven up oil prices.
In a further escalation, Hezbollah claimed responsibility for an airstrike that killed an individual in northern Israel. Meanwhile, Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, reported intercepting new waves of Iranian missile attacks. The unfolding situation suggests that the conflict is far from reaching a resolution.
Iran responds to Trump threat on its Strait of Hormuz closure
Iran has practically closed the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint connecting the Persian Gulf to the rest of the world through which roughly one-fifth of global supply passes. Attacks on ships and threats of further strikes have stopped nearly all tankers from navigating the strait, compelling some of the largest oil producers to make cuts because their crude has nowhere to go.
The blockade is a liability for both the U.S. and its allies in Europe and Asia, who rely heavily on the Persian Gulf supply to meet energy demand and power factories, vehicles and homes. The U.S. lifted some sanctions on Iranian oil at sea to relieve pressure on energy prices.
Trump said if Iran didn’t open the strait, the U.S. would destroy its “various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”
Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded Sunday on X that if Iran’s power plants and infrastructure are targeted, then vital infrastructure across the region – including energy and desalination facilities – would be considered legitimate targets and “irreversibly destroyed.”
Separately, Iranian officials said they would keep providing safe passage through the strait to vessels from countries other than its enemies.
Nuclear concerns as the war rages
Iran said its strikes in the Negev Desert were in retaliation to an earlier attack on Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site in Natanz, according to state-run media.
Tehran praised the attack as show of strength, even as Israel’s military asserts that Iranian missile launches have gradually decreased in frequency since the war began.
“If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected Dimona area, it is, operationally, a sign of entering a new phase of the battle,” said Qalibaf, the Iranian parliament speaker.
Dimona is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the nuclear research center, and Arad about 35 kilometers (22 miles) to the north.
Soroka Medical Center, southern Israel’s main hospital, received at least 175 wounded from Arad and Dimona, the hospital’s deputy director Roy Kessous told The Associated Press.
Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though it doesn’t confirm or deny their existence. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on X it had not received reports of damage to the Israeli center or abnormal radiation levels.
Israel denied responsibility for hitting Natanz on Saturday while the Iranian judiciary’s official news agency, Mizan, said there was no leakage. The Pentagon declined to comment on the strike at Natanz, which was also hit in the first week of the ongoing war and in the 12-day war last June.
The U.N. watchdog – the International Atomic Energy Agency – has said the bulk of Iran’s estimated 972 pounds (441 kilograms) of enriched uranium is elsewhere, beneath the rubble at its Isfahan facility.
Iran says strikes also hit hospital
Iran said that, in addition to Natanz, strikes also hit a hospital in Andimeshk. The Health Ministry reported patients and doctors were evacuated to another city.
Iran’s death toll in the war surpassed 1,500 on Saturday, state media reported, citing the ministry. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. More than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states have been killed in strikes.
The war has also seen noncombat-related accidents, including a U.S. refueling plane crash in Iraq that killed six U.S. service members and a Qatari military helicopter crash on Saturday blamed on a technical malfunction. All seven aboard were killed, Qatari authorities said Sunday.
Hezbollah strike on northern Israel claims first fatality there
The Israeli civilian was killed in the northern town of Misgav Am in what Israel’s military said “seemed to be” a rocket attack. Israeli medics said they found the man in his car and released a video showing two vehicles ablaze.
Hezbollah, an ally of Iran, launched strikes on Israel soon after the war began, saying it was in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Israel struck back, bombarding Lebanon and targeting Hezbollah in deadly airstrikes, expanding its presence in southern Lebanon and amassing more troops near the border.
Fighting in southern Lebanese towns have intensified recently as Israel continues its ground operations. Israel on Sunday expanded its list of targets to include all bridges over the Litani River, which Defense Minister Israel Katz said Hezbollah is using to move fighters and weapons into southern Lebanon. It later struck the Qasmiyeh bridge near Tyre.
Katz also ordered the military to accelerate its destruction of Lebanese homes near Israel’s northern border as part of a strategy he described as aligned with Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza.
After Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel on March 2, the Israeli military launched an offensive that Lebanese authorities say killed over 1,000 people and displaced over 1 million. Hezbollah has fired hundreds of rockets into Israel.
Israeli military spokesperson Avichay Adraee issued a warning an hour before the Qasmiyeh bridge near the coastal city of Tyre was struck.
Lebanese authorities say Israel’s strikes have killed more than 1,000 people and displaced more than 1 million.
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Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, Koral Saeed in Abu Snan, Israel, and Isabel Debre in Beirut contributed.
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