Heavy airstrikes in Tehran
DUBAI, Mar 21:
Britain condemned Iran for targeting a joint UK-US base in the Indian Ocean and Iran’s main nuclear enrichment site was struck again as the war in the Middle East entered its fourth week Saturday.
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Iran’s attack on the Diego Garcia air base – about 4,000 kilometres away – suggested Tehran has missiles that can go farther than it had previously acknowledged, or that it had used its space programme for an improvised launch.
Iran’s capital saw heavy airstrikes overnight and into the morning, residents said, as thousands of worshippers converged on Tehran’s grand mosque for prayers marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said attacks would “increase significantly” next week. He spoke shortly after fragments from an Iranian missile slammed into an empty kindergarten near Tel Aviv. No casualties were reported.
The attacks – and threats of more to come – indicate the war shows no sign of abating as its effects are felt far beyond the Middle East, raising food and fuel prices.
The US and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’s leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programmes and its support for armed proxies in the region. There have been no public signs of any uprising, while internet restrictions in Iran complicate communications.
With little information is coming out of Iran, it is not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained in the punishing US and Israeli strikes that began February 28 – or even who is truly in charge. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen in public since he was named to the role.
Iran’s official news agency, Mizan, said there was no leakage after the strike on the Natanz nuclear facility, nearly 220 kilometres southeast of Tehran.
The UN nuclear watchdog has said the bulk of Iran’s estimated 970 pounds (440 kilograms) of enriched uranium is elsewhere, beneath the rubble at its Isfahan facility, with a lesser amount at Natanz.
Israel’s military said it was “not aware” of a strike by it there.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on X it was informed by Iran about the strike and was looking into the incident.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said such strikes posed a “real risk of catastrophic disaster throughout the Middle East.”
The Natanz facility was hit in the first week of the war and several buildings appeared damaged, according to satellite images. Natanz also was targeted in the 12-day war last June.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said Saturday that Iran’s “lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz are a threat to British interests and British allies.”
UK officials have not given details of the strike that targeted the Diego Garcia base Friday, which was unsuccessful.
Iran in the past has asserted that it has limited its missile range to below 2,000 kilometres.
But military experts said Iran may have used its space launch vehicle for an improvised firing.
“If you’ve got a space programme, you’ve got a ballistic missile programme,” said Steve Prest, a retired Royal Navy commodore.
Britain has not participated in US-Israeli attacks on Iran but has allowed US bombers to use UK bases to attack Iran’s missile sites.
As Iran targets energy facilities in the region while threatening shipping on the Strait of Hormuz, the United Arab Emirates joined 21 other countries including the UK, Germany, France and Japan in saying they “express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage.”
The Trump administration announced it is lifting sanctions on Iranian oil that was already loaded on ships as of Friday and will end the pause on April 19. The license has limits including a restriction on sales involving anyone in North Korea or Cuba.
The decision does not increase the flow of oil production, a central factor in surging prices. Iran has evaded US sanctions for years, suggesting that much of what it exports already reaches buyers.
The head of US Central Command, Adm Brad Cooper, asserted that Iran’s ability to attack vessels on the strait had been “degraded.” He said earlier in the week that multiple 5,000-pound bombs were dropped on an underground facility along Iran’s coastline that was used to store anti-ship cruise missiles, mobile missile launchers and other equipment. (PTI)
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