Iran says its Natanz nuclear facility has been hit in airstrike as war in Mideast enters week 4

Irans Natanz nuclear enrichment facility was hit in an airstrike on Saturday the official Iranian news agency Mizan reported There was no radiation leakage it said as the war in the Middle East entered its fourth weekNatanz Irans main enrichment site was hit in the first week of the war and several buildings appeared damaged according to satellite images The United Nations nuclear watchdog had said that no radiological consequence was expected from that earlier strikeThe nuclear facility located nearly 220 kilometres 135 miles southeast of Tehran had been targeted by Israeli airstrikes in the 12day war between Iran and Israel in June 2025 and by the United StatesThe strike comes a day after US President Donald Trump said he was considering winding down military operations in the Middle East even as the US is sending three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2500 additional Marines to the regionTrumps post Friday on social media followed an Iranian threat to attack recreational and tourist sites worldwide and another day of the airstrikes and drone and missile attacks that have engulfed the regionThe mixed messages from the United States US came after another climb in oil prices plunged the countrys stock market and was followed by a Trump administration announcement it was lifting sanctions on Iranian oil already loaded on ships a move aimed at wrangling soaring fuel pricesThe threeweekold war has shown no signs of abating with Israel saying Iran continued to fire missiles at it early Saturday while Saudi Arabia said it downed 20 drones in just a couple of hours in the countrys eastern region which is home to major oil installationsThe attacks came a day after Israeli airstrikes hit in Tehran as Iranians celebrated the Persian New Year known as Nowruz a normally festive holiday that has been muted by the warTrump says US near completion of its goalsThe US and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Irans leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programmes There have been no public signs of any such uprising and no end to the war in sightOn social media Trump said We are getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle EastThat seemed at odds with his administrations move to bolster its firepower in the region and request another USD 200 billion from Congress to fund the warThe United States is deploying three more amphibious assault ships and roughly 2500 additional Marines to the Middle East an official told The Associated Press Two other US officials confirmed that ships were deploying without saying where they were headed All three spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operationsDays earlier the US redirected another group of amphibious assault ships carrying another 2500 Marines from the Pacific to the Middle East The Marines will join more than 50000 US troops already in the regionTrump has said he has no plans to send ground forces into Iran but also has asserted that he retains all optionsIran threatens attacks beyond the Middle EastIrans top military spokesperson Gen Abolfazl Shekarchi warned Friday that parks recreational areas and tourist destinations worldwide will not be safe for the countrys enemies The threat renewed concerns that Tehran may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as a pressure tacticSupreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei praised Iranians steadfastness in the face of war in a written statement read on Iranian television to mark Nowruz Khamenei has not been seen in public since he became supreme leader following Israeli strikes that killed his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and reportedly wounded himWith little information coming out of Iran it was not clear how much damage its arms nuclear or energy facilities have sustained in the punishing US and Israeli strikes which began February 28 or even who was truly in charge of the country But Irans attacks are still choking off oil supplies and raising food and fuel prices far beyond the Middle EastIsrael continues wave of strikes against Hezbollah militantsThe Israeli military said early Saturday that it began a wave of strikes targeting Iranbacked Hezbollah militants in Beiruts southern suburbsSmoke was seen rising fires broke out and loud explosions were heard across parts of central Beirut hours after the Israeli army renewed evacuation warnings for seven neighbourhoodsIsraeli strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon have killed more than 1000 people and displaced more than 1 million according to the Lebanese governmentMore than 1300 people have been killed in Iran during the war In Israel 15 people have been killed by Iranian missiles and four others have died in the occupied West Bank At least 13 US military members have been killedUS pauses sanctions on Iranian oilBrent crude oil the international standard has soared during the fighting and was around USD 106 per barrel up from roughly USD 70 before the warThe newly announced US pause in sanctions applies to Iranian oil loaded on ships as of Friday and is set to end April 19The new move does not increase the flow of production a central factor in the surging prices Iran has managed to evade US sanctions for years suggesting that much of what it exports already reaches buyersLooking for ways to boost global oil supplies during the Iran war the Trump administration has previously paused sanctions on certain Russian oil shipments for 30 days which critics said rewarded Moscow while having only a modest effect on marketsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever