Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened a surge in attacks against Iran on Saturday (March 21, 2026), and Britain condemned Iran for targeting a joint U.K.-U.S. base in the Indian Ocean as the war in West Asia entered its fourth week.
The Iranian attack on the Diego Garcia air base — located about 2,500 miles (4,000 kilometres) from Iran — suggested Tehran has in its stockpile missiles that can go far further than it had previously acknowledged.
Iran-Israel war LIVE
Also on Saturday (March 21, 2026), Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment facility was hit in an airstrike, an official Iranian news agency reported, saying there was no radiation leakage.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a video statement that next week, “the intensity of the attacks” by Israel and the United States against Iran’s ruling theocracy will “increase significantly.” He spoke shortly after fragments from an Iranian missile slammed into an empty kindergarten near Tel Aviv.
Israeli army spokesman Nadav Shoshani posted a video on X of the kindergarten building; no casualties were reported as the place was empty at the time.
Overnight and into the morning, Tehran, Iran’s capital, saw heavy airstrikes, residents said. In Iraq, a drone struck the intelligence service headquarters in Baghdad, killing an officer. No group immediately claimed responsibility for that attack.
Saudi Arabia said it downed 20 drones in just a couple of hours in the country’s eastern region, home to major oil installations. No injuries or damage were reported.
The attacks — and threats of more to come — indicate the Iran war shows no sign of abating. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Japan’s Kyodo news service on Friday (March 20, 2026) that Iran wanted “not a cease-fire, but a complete, comprehensive and lasting end to the war.”
Iran’s attempt to hit the Diego Garcia air base in the Indian Ocean
U.K. officials have not given details of the attempted strike on the ocean air base on Friday (March 20, 2026), which was unsuccessful.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday (March 21, 2026) that Iran’s “lashing out across the region and holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz ” is a threat to British interests and British allies.
Britain has not participated in U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, but has allowed American bombers to use U.K. bases to attack Iran’s missile sites.
On Friday (March 20, 2026), the British government said U.S. bombers can also use U.K. bases, including Diego Garcia, in operations to prevent Iran from attacking ships in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran targeted the base before that U.K. statement.
Published – March 21, 2026 05:58 pm IST
