A “very difficult evening” for Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised on Saturday night that Israel “will continue to strike” Iran “on all fronts” after Iranian missile strikes on two southern cities that left about a hundred people injured. The Israeli army confirmed a direct Iranian missile hit on a building in the city of Dimona, housing a nuclear research facility in the south of the country. This missile strike on Dimona was seen as a “response” to the earlier strike on Iran’s Natanz nuclear site the same day, as stated by Iranian state television. On the same evening, Iran also struck Arad, another city in southern Israel.
France is “ready to contribute” to the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Twenty countries have expressed their readiness to contribute to the efforts needed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively blocked by Iran since the start of the war, in a joint statement. The signatories include the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Lithuania, South Korea, New Zealand, Australia, and Bahrain.
The Iranian threat in the Strait of Hormuz is “diminished”. The US military announced that they have “reduced” Iran’s ability to threaten navigation in the Strait of Hormuz by bombing an underground facility housing cruise missiles this week. “We have also targeted intelligence sites and missile radar relays used to monitor ship movements,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US Central Command for the Middle East.
The Iranian nuclear site at Natanz targeted. The US and Israel conducted strikes on the Iranian Natanz nuclear complex in central Iran, according to the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization. Following the “criminal attacks by the United States and the usurping Zionist regime against our country, the Natanz enrichment complex was targeted this morning,” the organization announced, adding that “no leakage of radioactive materials has been reported” in the area. The Israeli army claimed to be “not aware” of such a strike, with the public television channel Kan reporting it as an American action.
The crisis in the Middle East in the spotlight next Wednesday. According to reports, a debate on the conflict in the Middle East will be held on Wednesday, March 25th, in the National Assembly. Several political groups, with La France insoumise at the forefront, had requested this following the outbreak of the war in Iran. During a meeting at Matignon on March 11, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu responded positively.
In Europe, a call to reduce gas stocks. The European Commission has called on European states to reduce their gas filling targets for next winter – from 90% to 80% – in order to alleviate pressure on prices, which are soaring due to the war in the Middle East.
