During the early morning hours on 23 March, President Trump announced on Truth Social that he had instructed the Department of War to halt planned strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure for five days following what he described as "very good and productive conversations" with Iran regarding a "complete and total resolution of our hostilities." He had previously set a 48-hour deadline on Saturday, 21 March for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz or face "obliteration" of its power plants. Iran threatened Gulf power plants and desalination facilities in response.
Iranian media say there was no direct or indirect contact with the Trump administration. As such, it is possible that Gulf states pressured the U.S. to postpone its strikes on Iranian power plants as the destruction of their own power plants would be catastrophic for maintaining desalination plants, their only source of fresh water.
Over the weekend, Iran continued launching drones and missiles at Israel and the Gulf states. The vast majority were successfully intercepted. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia remain top targets for Iran. It appears that Qatar has not been targeted since last week's strikes on the Ras Laffan complex.
Situation Report
- 22 March: Ukrainian President Zelenskyy confirms Ukrainian personnel are present in Gulf countries, assisting with establishing counter-drone defenses.
- 22 March: NATO Secretary-General stated that 22 NATO countries are prepared to assist the U.S. in opening the Strait of Hormuz.
- 22 March: Iran confirmed it is moving forward with plans to charge $2 million for tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
- 22 March: Iran denies reports that the U.S. conducted a cyberattack on the country's water infrastructure.
- 21 March: Iranian missiles impacted multiple sites in the town of Dimona, Israel, which hosts a nuclear power plant; however, the strikes were some 15 km away from the plant itself, indicating they were warning shots fired by Iran should Israel go after Iran's power plants.
- 21 March: U.S. CENTCOM Commander Cooper said U.S. strikes hit over 8,000 Iranian targets in three weeks, crippling Iran’s navy, grounding its tactical air force, and sharply reducing its missile and drone launch capacity.
Airspace Status
- Bahrain: airspace closed
- Cyprus: airspace open
- Egypt: airspace open
- Iran: airspace closed
- Iraq: airspace closed
- Israel: airspace partially open/restricted
- Closed to most commercial traffic except repatriation flights.
- Jordan: airspace open
- Kuwait: airspace closed
- Lebanon: airspace partially open/restricted
- Oman: airspace open
- Qatar: airspace partially closed/restricted
- Limited repatriation flights, most commercial flights suspended.
- Saudi Arabia: airspace open
- Syria: airspace heavily restricted
- UAE: airspace restricted
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