Middle East war latest: US Baghdad centre attacked and Trump issues Hormuz deadline

2026-03-22 - 10:20

Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war: US Baghdad centre attacked At least six overnight attacks targeted a US diplomatic and logistics centre at Baghdad’s International Airport, two Iraqi security officials told AFP on Sunday. “Eight separate attacks, carried out until dawn with rockets and drones targeted the US centre,” a senior security official told AFP, while a second security official said there had been six strikes. One killed in north Israel Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group said it attacked Israeli soldiers in the northern Israeli town of Misgav Am on Sunday, where first responders said rocket fire from Lebanon killed one person. The death is the first Israeli fatality from fire from Lebanon since fighting with Hezbollah started again on 2 March. Fresh blasts in Jerusalem Blasts were heard and air raid sirens sounded in Jerusalem on Sunday, AFP journalists said, after the Israeli military warned of incoming missile fire from Iran. Israel’s Magen David Adom emergency medical service said after the first warning that there were no immediate reports of casualties. Iran targets base near Baghdad airport Iran’s official IRNA news agency said on Sunday that a drone attack targeted a military base near the Baghdad International Airport. The “military base, located near Baghdad International Airport, has again been the target of drone strikes,” the IRNA wrote, referring to a compound that was used in the past by the US military. Missiles target Saudi, UAE Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said on Sunday three ballistic missiles were detected around the capital Riyadh, while its UAE counterpart said it was responding to Iranian missile and drone attacks. Qatar chopper crash Rescuers were searching for the crew and passengers of a Qatari military helicopter that crashed in the Gulf state’s waters after a “technical malfunction”, the government said early on Sunday. While Qatar has been targeted by several strikes since the start of the Middle East war, no connection has been made between this chopper and the conflict triggered by US-Israeli attacks on Iran. Israel strikes Tehran The Israeli military said its forces launched a wave of strikes on Tehran early on Sunday, hours after Iranian missile fire hit two cities in southern Israel. Israeli forces were “currently conducting strikes on Iranian terror regime targets in the heart of Tehran”, a statement said. 48-hour Hormuz deadline US President Donald Trump gave Iran a 48-hour deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic or face the destruction of its energy infrastructure. “If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform. Iran vows retaliation After US President Donald Trump’s ultimatum, Iran’s military said it would retaliate by targeting “all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US and the regime in the region”. Israeli towns hit in south Iranian missile strikes on two southern Israeli towns wounded more than 100 people after Israeli air defence systems failed to intercept the projectiles. First responders said 84 people were injured in the town of Arad, 10 of them seriously, hours after 33 were wounded in nearby Dimona. Iranian state TV said the missile attack on Dimona, which houses a nuclear facility, was a “response” to an earlier strike on its own nuclear site at Natanz. UAE targeted after islands warning The United Arab Emirates said it faced aerial attacks from Iran after the Islamic republic warned its neighbour against allowing strikes from disputed islands near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The islands of Abu Musa and Greater Tunb, which are controlled by Iran but claimed by the UAE, have long been a source of dispute between the two countries.