LIVE: Iran missiles hit close to Israel’s nuclear reactor; Trump gives a Hormuz ultimatum

Japan's Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi said Sunday that one of two Japanese nationals detained in Iran has been released and will be returning to Japan.

Motegi, speaking on a Fuji Television talk show, said the person had been detained since last year and was released on Wednesday.

He said another Japanese national who was arrested earlier this year is still in custody.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has named the person detained in Iran in January as a journalist at Japan's public broadcaster NHK.

Motegi did not identify either of the people detained and said the released Japanese national was detained in 2025.

The Foreign Ministry said earlier this month the detainees were safe and in good health, but gave no further details such as whether the two cases were related.

The Kerala government has approached the Centre seeking the authenticity of reports regarding the death of a man from the state in the war-hit region of Israel.

When contacted, the NORKA officials told PTI on Saturday that they received the information from a collective of Keralites working in Israel and therefore approached the Centre to confirm it.

NORKA is a state-run agency that oversees matters related to non-resident Keralites.

According to local media reports, the deceased man was a Thiruvananthapuram native and his cause of death was yet to be ascertained.

A member of a WhatsApp group of Keralites working in Israel, told PTI that they got the information about the death on Wednesday and they are also trying to collect further details.

Iran’s attack this week on Qatar’s natural gas export facility threatens to disrupt not just world energy markets but also global technology supply chains because the helium it produces is crucial for a range of advanced industries.

The gas that makes party balloons float is a byproduct of natural gas production, and a key input in chipmaking, space rockets and medical imaging.

Qatar supplies a third of the world’s helium, according to the US Geological Survey, and had to halt production shortly after the war erupted three weeks ago. After repeated Iranian drone attacks on Ras Laffan, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas plant, state-owned QatarGas reported “extensive” damage that will take years to repair and cut annual helium exports by 14 per cent.

More than 1,500 people have been killed in Iran during the war, the state broadcaster said late Saturday, citing the health ministry. Residents said Iran’s capital saw heavy airstrikes as they marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan.

US President Donald Trump has warned the US will “obliterate” Iranian power plants if it doesn't fully open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours.

Trump, who is facing increasing pressure at home to secure the strait as oil prices soar, issued the ultimatum in a social media post while he spent the weekend at his Florida home.

Trump said he’s giving Iran 48 hours to open the vital waterway or face a new round of attacks. He said the US would destroy “various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!”

At least 47 people were injured on Saturday evening after an Iranian missile struck the southern Israeli town of Dimona—famous for the dome-shaped structure atop its nuclear centre and popularly known as “little India”.

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said it was investigating the failure to intercept the Iranian ballistic missile. The Israeli army said the air defences engaged the ballistic missile, but the interceptors failed to knock it down.

This was the first time Iranian missiles penetrated Israel’s air defence systems in the area around the nuclear site.

“If the Israeli regime is unable to intercept missiles in the heavily protected Dimona area, it is, operationally, a sign of entering a new phase of the battle,” Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on X before word of the Arad strike spread.

Iran said it is targeting Dimona as a “response” to an earlier strike on the Natanz nuclear enrichment site. The IDF, however, said it was not responsible for striking Natanz earlier in the day.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said more emergency crews were being sent to the scene. “This is a very difficult evening,” he said.

Rescue workers said the direct hit in Arad caused widespread damage across at least 10 apartment buildings, three of them badly damaged and in danger of collapsing. At least 64 people were taken to hospitals.

Dimona is about 20 km west of the nuclear research centre and Arad around 35 km north. Dimona has a large Indian-Jewish population, and the community members, mostly from Maharashtra, maintain strong links with India and have consistently put efforts to solidify them. This has earned the town the nickname of “Little India”.