Trump says US considering ‘winding down’ war; Iran fired missiles at UK-US base on Diego Garcia

The Guardian -March21st 2026

Marina Dunbar (now); Harry Taylor, Hamish Mackay and Adam Fulton

Intelligence agencies were monitoring Nowruz celebrations in Iran on Friday to see whether Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei would be seen for the first time since his father’s death, Axios reports.

His father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei previously gave a new year’s address, and it was thought Mojtaba could do the same. However he only issued a written statement.

It comes as it is three weeks without him being seen, since he became supreme leader.

“We have no evidence that he is really the one giving orders,” a senior Israeli official told Axio

The day so far

If you are just logging on, here is a roundup of today’s news in the Middle East conflict. It has just gone 6pm in Tehran, and 4.30pm in Tel Aviv. It’s mid-morning in Washington DC, with the time having passed 10.30am.

Iran fired missiles at the US/UK Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean, the UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The MoD said the strikes were unsuccessful, and took place before the UK said the US could use its bases for “specific and limited defence operations”.
Israel’s defence minister Israel Katz said strikes on Iran will “intensify” next week. In a statement Katz said there would be a “significant” rise in the attacks.
Israel and the US targeted an Iranian nuclear enrichment plant overnight. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has called for restraint. Iran said there had not been any radioactive leakage, and no residents were in danger.
The Israel Defence Force claimed it had “significantly degraded” ballistic missile production at a factory in Tehran with airstrikes. It said “dozens” of targets were attacked, including those used to produce critical parts for missiles.
Meanwhile the US military said Iran’s ability to threaten ships in the strait of Hormuz has been reduced after it attacked an underground facility that stored cruise missiles. The commander of the US central command said US forces had destroyed intelligence support sites and radar relays.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “winding down” military operations against Iran. “We are getting very close to meeting our objectives,” the US president posted on Friday on his Truth Social platform in the strongest indication yet that he may be prepared to soon end the hostilities that began three weeks ago.
More than twenty countries now say they are “ready to contribute” to the safe passage of ships going through the strait of Hormuz. It said they were ready to contribute “appropriate efforts” to ensure safe passage through the waterway, which is critical to global oil markets.
An officer was killed in a drone attack on Iraq’s intelligence headquarters in Baghdad. The intelligence service blamed “outlaw groups” and said a second officer was wounded. It took place at about 10am local time.
The Israel Defence Force killed four Hezbollah members in southern Lebanon overnight, the military has said. The IDF posted on Telegram that a combination of ground troops and the Israeli air force killed one – and tanks killed three more.
European diplomats have criticised increasing “settler terror” in the West Bank, with six Palestinians shot dead in settler attacks in the area this month. Representatives of 13 European countries including the UK and France issued a joint statement alongside Canada.
In the UK two people have been charged, one of them Iranian, after they allegedly tried to enter a naval base in Scotland which houses the UK’s nuclear Trident submarines. They were arrested on Thursday.