Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called on world leaders to join the Israel-US war on Iran.

“I’m happy to say that I can see some of them beginning to move in that direction, but more is needed,” Netanyahu added, without naming any country.

Here are more top updates from the conflict in West Asia:

  • Netanyahu made the comments on Sunday while speaking to reporters at the site of an Iranian attack in Arad town on Saturday. Iran had launched missile strikes on southern Israel, hitting areas near a nuclear site. The attacks injured 116 persons in Arad and 64 in Dimona town, Tel Aviv said.
  • Iranian state television described the strikes on southern Israel as a response to an earlier Israel-US attack on the Natanz uranium enrichment facility on Saturday.
  • After the attack on Natanz, the United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi repeated a “call for military restraint to avoid any risk of a nuclear accident”. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, said on Sunday that the conflict had reached a “perilous stage” with strikes on the Natanz complex and Dimona where a nuclear facility is located.
  • United States President Donald Trump on Sunday issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz amid the conflict in West Asia, warning that the US will “hit and obliterate” Tehran’s power plants if it fails to comply.
  • Trump’s comments came a day after he hinted at “winding down” the conflict. Since the conflict broke out on February 28, Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz for most international commercial vessels. About 20% of the global petroleum supply passes through the maritime chokepoint.
  • In response to Trump’s comments, Iran on Sunday warned that it would attack key US infrastructure in West Asia if Washington follows through on its threat to strike its power plants, AFP reported. Iran’s military said that any US attack would trigger retaliation against “all energy, information technology and desalination infrastructure belonging to the US”.
  • Sri Lanka on Sunday raised fuel prices by 25 percent, AFP reported. This was the second increase in two weeks. Last week, the government increased retail fuel prices by 8% and introduced rationing to limit consumption amid supply disruption.
  • The US Central Command on Saturday claimed that Iran’s ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has been “degraded”.
  • Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian called for an immediate cessation of US-Israeli aggression to end the conflict and proposed a West Asian regional security framework to ensure peace without foreign interference. He made the remarks during a phone call with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iran’s embassy in India said.
  • Twenty-two countries, including the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy, condemned Iran’s attacks on ships and urged an immediate halt to threats and blockades in the Strait of Hormuz. In a joint statement, they expressed “readiness” to help ensure safe passage, stating that “freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law”.

The conflict

The US and Israel launched an attack on the Iranian government on February 28, claiming that Tehran’s action posed an existential threat to Israel. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security. Iran has retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region, and targeting major cities in Gulf countries and some ships.

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Israel has been claiming that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance. Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.

The International Energy Agency has said that the fighting has caused the “largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market”.

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