After Iran threatened power plants across West Asia, news outlets published a list of such facilities, including the United Arab Emirates’ nuclear power plant.

The report by the semiofficial Fars news agency, close to its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, appeared to be an indirect threat to the sites, including desalination plants in West Asia.

The list also included the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant, which has four reactors out in the western deserts of the country near its border with Saudi Arabia.

The judiciary’s Mizan news agency also published the list.

The threat by Tehran puts at risk both electrical supplies and water in the Gulf Arab states, particularly as the desert nations commingle their power stations with desalination plants crucial for supplying drinking water.

Donald Trump’s self-declared 48-hour deadline expires just before midnight GMT Tuesday (March 24, 2026), further raising the stakes of the ongoing war with Iran that has disrupted global energy supplies, sending natural gas and gasoline prices soaring. 

– AP

An Iran-backed armed group announced on Monday (March 23, 2026) that it would continue its five-day pause on attacking the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.

Since the start of the war in the Middle East, pro-Iran armed groups have claimed responsibility for near-daily attacks on U.S. interests in Iraq and across the region, while strikes have also targeted these groups.

On Thursday, Kataeb Hezbollah, designated a “terrorist organisation” by Washington, said it would stop attacking the Baghdad embassy under certain conditions, including an end to attacks on residential parts of Iraq and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

The latter area is a bastion of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which is also Iran-backed and is at war with Israel.

“The deadline given to the embassy of American evil will be extended by an additional five days,” Kataeb Hezbollah said in a statement on Monday (March 23, 2026). — AFP