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 around a hundred injured. The Israeli army confirmed a “direct missile hit” on a building in the city of Dimona, housing a nuclear research facility in the south of the country. This missile shot in Dimona was a “response” to the strike on the Iranian nuclear site of Natanz earlier in the day, as claimed by the Iranian state television. That same evening, Iran also struck Arad, another city in southern Israel.
France is “ready to contribute” to unblock the Strait of Hormuz. About twenty countries have declared themselves “ready 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 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 “reduced”. The American military declared having “reduced” Iran’s ability to threaten navigation in the Strait of Hormuz by bombing an underground installation housing cruise missiles. “We also targeted intelligence sites and missile radar relays that were monitoring ship movements,” said Admiral Brad Cooper, head of the US Central Command for the Middle East.
The Iranian nuclear site of Natanz targeted. The United States and Israel carried out strikes against the Iranian Natanz nuclear complex, located 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,” stated the organization, adding that “no radioactive material leaks have been reported” in the area. The Israeli army assured it was “not aware” of such a strike, with the public television station Kan reporting it was an American action.
The crisis in the Middle East in the spotlight 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, at the National Assembly. Several political parties, notably La France Insoumise, had requested this debate after the outbreak of the 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 storage stocks. The European Commission has called on European states to reduce their gas storage filling targets for next winter – from 90% to 80% – in order to alleviate the pressure on prices, which are skyrocketing due to the war in the Middle East.
