Iran war updates: Attacks on infrastructure; UNIFIL peacekeeper killed

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Here are some of the day’s top developments:

• Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, says Iranian forces are prepared for a potential US ground attack, as he accuses Washington of signalling talks while planning escalation.
• After multiple attacks on Iran’s power infrastructure, Iranian forces struck an industrial zone in southern Israel, starting a fire at a chemical plant.
• Kuwait says an Iranian attack on an electricity and water desalination plant has killed one Indian worker and causes major material damage.
• Top officials from Pakistan, Turkiye, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have met in Islamabad to discuss the US-Israel war on Iran.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel’s invasion of southern Lebanon will intensify.
• UNIFIL says a peacekeeper has been killed in an attack on a southern Lebanon position.
• Israel says two drones from Yemen were intercepted over the southern port city of Eilat.

A spokesperson for Israel’s ⁠parliament says the Knesset has approved the 2026 state ⁠budget that provides for a massive increase in military spending.

The development allows Netanyahu ⁠to head off ⁠early elections as the war on Iran continues.

The military budget will rise by more than $10bn, exceeding $45bn – more than double the 2023 allocation before the start of the genocidal war on Gaza.

The overall budget stands at approximately $245bn.

Before the vote, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich called it a “historic turning point” for Israel.

“We have the capacity to reshape the Middle East. This budget positions the nation to win,” Smotrich said. “We are passing this budget under a right-wing government committed to fulfilling its term and achieving its missions in security, the economy, and judicial reform.”

Iraqi armed group Saraya Awliya al-Dam has said on its Telegram channel that it carried out eight attacks targeting US bases in the region in the past 24 hours.

UNIFIL has issued a statement on the killing of a peacekeeper. It said that so far, it doesn’t know what the origin of the shelling was and described it as a projectile which hit the base.

But it’s not the first time, in fact, in this war that UNFIL has had projectiles landing in one of their bases. A couple of days ago, they said that a projectile from a non-state actor landed inside one of their bases. But they have also been directly targeted by Israeli forces on a number of different occasions in the last couple of weeks.

UNIFIL peacekeepers have also been killed during the war in 2024. Notably, two people were killed, including one of their independent contractors, down in Naqoura, which is where their base is during the last round of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah.

It has repeatedly warned that peacekeepers shouldn’t be targeted and called on all parties to the conflict to refrain from targeting or shelling near these locations.

UNIFIL is the independent UN peacekeeping force that’s been stationed in southern Lebanon since the 1970s to observe and ideally enforce the various ceasefires and agreements that have been ongoing in southern Lebanon over these years.

We’ve published several stories covering various aspects of the conflict in recent hours. Here are a few highlights:

• A Republican lawmaker says Congress must approve any US troop deployment to Iran
• Netanyahu orders the military to expand its invasion of southern Lebanon
• Israeli police block a Catholic cardinal from the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday
• WATCH: A premature ceasefire risks “another round of conflict” in future

And there’s plenty more here.

Christians in Jerusalem and Gaza marked Holy Week under wartime restrictions, with Israeli police blocking the Latin Patriarch from the Holy Sepulchre for the first time in centuries.

In Gaza, a small Christian community continued Palm Sunday rites despite ongoing attacks and severe shortages of essentials.

Watch our video report below:

Iranian state media is reporting that a US-Israel attack has hit a unit of Tabriz Petrochemical Company.

The Tasnim news agency quoted the director general of crisis management for Iran’s East Azerbaijan province as saying the situation was “under control”.

Rescue and operational teams were present at the site, it said, adding that no toxic or polluting substances had been released.

As we’ve been reporting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his country’s military to further expand its invasion of southern Lebanon.

The UK’s Foreign Office has shared a post by Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer, stating his concern regarding Israel’s plan.

“Deeply concerned by Israel’s announcement stating intention to expand its ground operations in Lebanon, where over 1m people have already been forcibly displaced,” he said.

Falconer added that Israel “must avoid further exacerbation of the conflict, and refrain from any action to seize Lebanese territory”.

The US Embassy in Qatar says it has removed its shelter-in-place advisory.

“We urge U.S. citizens to remain vigilant, and follow directions issued by local authorities in the event an alert is issued,” it said in a statement.

The head of the US oil and natural gas industry’s top lobbying group says that immediately getting the Strait of Hormuz open is “the only real solution” to rising energy and consumer prices due to the war.

“If we can do that this week with targeted regime actions, I think we have to take that opportunity, because it’s only going to get worse over time,” said Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute.

Sommers told Fox News that the “artery has to be reopened, and fast”, because “the longer this goes on, the higher prices are going to go”.

He said he is also troubled by the entry of Yemen’s Houthis into the war.

“If the Houthis start attacking ships going through the Red Sea, that could really put us on the cusp of a major energy crisis throughout the world. That is a top concern this week as well,” Sommers said.

What we are seeing is that President Donald Trump is changing the tone from the morning to the evening – and it’s not clear whether it’s political leverage to have an impact on the markets or simply, as many people perceive it here, that the US was not prepared for this war.

And even though the president posted on social media that Iran is desperate for a deal, he is also promoting online an interview carried out by a conservative radio host that is justifying a ground invasion.

So, certainly, there are a lot of different angles, but what is clear is that the US right now is waiting for a response on the 15-point plan that was presented to Iran, including on the issues of ballistic missiles, nuclear weapons, the Strait of Hormuz, and others.

While this is happening, there is increasing pressure on Trump. On Sunday, millions of people took to the streets here in Washington, DC, in Minneapolis, in California, and elsewhere.

They complained about what they say is the expansion of the presidential powers, chanting against the immigration crackdown that is going on, but also protesting against this war that is going on.

And it’s not just about foreign policy but also about the impact that this war is having here in the US, with the price of gas going up about a dollar per gallon, among other things.

The president’s popularity has suffered – the latest polls show that it is around 36 percent – so, certainly, many here are wondering: What is the endgame and what is the US trying to achieve in Iran right now?

Earlier, we reported on Prime Minister Netanyahu saying that Israel’s invasion would intensify to seize more territory in southern Lebanon.

Mohammad Doghman, who fled the southern Lebanese city of Nabatieh, denounced Netanyahu, calling Israel “an expansionist state”.

More than 1 million Lebanese have been displaced in the latest war, sheltering in schools or in tents pitched on the side of the road.

Displaced Lebanese fear the invasion will be a pretext to a new occupation, but some are still hopeful they will return home.

“They take it, and we take it back again, like every time,” said Mohammad Wansa, a displaced man from the village of Dibbeen, living in a tent in central Beirut. “We will return to our homes. We will return to them.”