A ‘very difficult evening’ for Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised Saturday night that Israel would “continue to strike” Iran “on all fronts” after Iranian missile strikes on two southern cities left about a hundred wounded. The Israeli army confirmed “a direct missile hit” from Iran 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 against the Iranian nuclear site of Natanz, as stated by Iranian state television. In the same evening, Iran also struck Arad, another southern city in Israel.
France is ‘ready to contribute’ to unblocking the Strait of Hormuz. About 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 beginning of the war, in a joint statement. 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 U.S. military has stated that they have “diminished” Iran’s ability to threaten navigation in the Strait of Hormuz by bombing an underground facility housing cruise missiles this week. “We also targeted intelligence sites and missile radar relay stations used to monitor ship movements,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. Central Command for the Middle East.
The Iranian nuclear site at Natanz targeted. The United States and Israel conducted strikes on the Iranian Natanz nuclear facility 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,” said the organization, adding that “no leakage of radioactive materials has been reported” in the area. The Israeli army stated that they were “not aware” of such a strike, with the public television Kan reporting it was an American action.
The crisis in the Middle East to be discussed next Wednesday. According to information from our colleagues at Le Monde, a debate on the conflict in the Middle East will be held on Wednesday, March 25 in the National Assembly. Several political parties, including La France Insoumise, had requested this discussion following the outbreak of war in Iran. During a meeting at Matignon on March 11, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu responded favorably to the request.
In Europe, a call to reduce gas stockpiling. The European Commission has called on European states to reduce their gas stockpiling targets for next winter – from 90% to 80% – in order to alleviate price pressures that are rising due to the conflict in the Middle East.
