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Report: President Trump Considers Seizing Kharg Island + Report: President Trump to Announce Multinational Coalition to Secure Strait of Hormuz; EU Seeks "Strategic Clarity" Before Support + Army Precision Strike Missile Used in Combat Against Iran Mar 16, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. A missile strike on a house in Baghdad on Tuesday killed two people, with initial reports suggesting they are “Iranian advisers” to Tehran-backed groups, a security official tells AFP.

2. Rockets and at least five drones were launched at the US embassy in Baghdad early Tuesday from areas around the city, Iraqi security sources say, describing the attack as the most intense since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran.

3. Amid the latest Iranian missile attack on Israel, the military announces that it has launched “extensive” strikes against targets in both Tehran and Beirut.

In the Iranian capital, the IDF says it’s striking “infrastructure of the terror regime,” while in Beirut it’s attacking Hezbollah targets.

4. US President Donald Trump’s administration is urging US diplomats abroad to push allies to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Lebanon-based Hezbollah as terrorist groups, according to an internal State Department cable seen by Reuters.

5. US efforts to open Strait of Hormuz:

Both The Wall Street Journal and Axios reported that President Trump was planning to announce the formation of such a multinational coalition as early as this week.

Axios added, citing unnamed US officials, that President Trump was also mulling the option of seizing Iran’s key oil depot on Kharg Island -- if Tehran continues to deny oil tankers passage through the strait, a move that would require American boots on the ground.

US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told NBC earlier Sunday that he has been “in dialogue” with some of the countries Trump had mentioned previously, and said he expected China “will be a constructive partner” in reopening the strait.

“It is in our interest to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, and that’s why we are also discussing what we can do in this regard from the European side,” Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said Monday ahead of a meeting of the 27-nation bloc’s foreign ministers in Brussels.

6. Iran’s military apparatus is “in distress” and incapable of launching many missiles at Israel, while members of the country’s security forces stay inside for fear of Israeli and US warplanes, according to an assessment reportedly delivered by the IDF intelligence chief to political leaders.

7. Iraq’s powerful armed group Kataeb Hezbollah said Monday that its senior security commander, Abu Ali al-Askari, had been killed, without providing details on the circumstances of his death.

8. A “significant Israeli ground offensive” in Lebanon must be averted since it could have devastating humanitarian consequences, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, and Britain say in a joint statement.

9. US Navy mine warfare capabilities.

10. Lockheed Martin has announced it carried out the first flight test for the Army’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Increment 2 program, the service’s initiative at developing a multimode seeker capable of hitting maritime targets on the move.

Lockheed’s announcement comes shortly after the Army announced its PrSM Increment 1 capabilities, also developed by Lockheed Martin, were used for the first time in combat during the ongoing conflict in Iran.

Report: Iran's Supreme Leader in Russia for Medical Treatment + IDF: At least Three More Weeks of Operations; Thousands of Targets; Focused Effort is Destruction of Iran's Defense Industry Mar 15, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. On Sunday, citing “a senior source close to the new Iranian leader,” Kuwait’s Al-Jarida news outlet reported that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei had been smuggled out of Iran in a secretive Russian operation on Thursday to receive medical treatment in Moscow for injuries sustained in the same airstrikes that killed his father and wife on the first day of the ongoing US-Israeli offensive.

2. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Tehran had neither requested a ceasefire nor sought negotiations with Washington.

3. Iran’s relations with Arab Gulf states will require a “serious review” in light of the US-Israeli war on Iran, limiting the power of external actors so the region can become prosperous, Tehran’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia told Reuters on Sunday.

Asked if he was concerned that relations would be harmed by the war, Ambassador Alireza Enayati said: “It’s a valid question, and the answer may be simple.

4. The Israel Defense Forces’ campaign in the joint war with the United States against Iran is proceeding according to plan, and at a faster pace than initially expected, military officials said on Sunday.

Despite being apparently ahead of schedule, the military has said it is preparing for at least three more weeks of operations in Iran, as it still has thousands more targets to hit, both in Tehran and in other parts of the country.

The IDF is now focusing its efforts on destroying Iran’s military industry, according to the officials.

5. US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer speak today about the “importance” of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, currently blocked by Iran, the UK leader’s office says.

6. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar denied reports on Sunday that Israel and Lebanon are set to hold direct talks in the coming days amid the fighting with Hezbollah, and demanded that Beirut first act against the terror group on its soil.

7. As the United Arab Emirates confronts a large number of attacks from Iran, the small Gulf nation just to Iran’s south appears to be sharing less information about how successful its air defenses have been in recent days.

8. The Australian government announced on March 10 it would send an E-7A Wedgetail early-warning aircraft to the Middle East and help replenish United Arab Emirates stocks of AIM-120 air-to-air missiles.

9. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry issued a response on March 14 after Iranian politician Ebrahim Azizi called Ukrainian territory "a legitimate target for Iran" in a social media post.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called the threat "absurd" in a statement from a Spokesperson to the media.

"The Iranian regime has been supporting the murder of Ukrainians for years, by directly sharing drones and technology for Russian aggression against Ukraine,"

US & Iran Reject Diplomatic Negotiation Efforts + Report: Israel & Lebanon Direct Talks Expected + Israel Planning Massive Ground Invasion of S. Lebanon + US Navy Extends Carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) Service Life to 2027 Mar 14, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. US President Donald Trump’s administration has rebuffed efforts by Middle Eastern allies to start diplomatic negotiations aimed at ending the Iran war. Iran, for its part, has rejected talk of a ceasefire until US and Israeli strikes end, two senior Iranian sources told Reuters,

2. US President Donald Trump says that the United States may carry out more strikes on Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub, saying that while Tehran appears ready to make a deal to end the conflict, “the terms aren’t good enough yet.”

3. President Trump on the Strait of Hormuz: Tthe US “will be bombing the hell out of the shoreline” and “one way or the other, we will soon get the Hormuz Strait open, safe and free.”

Later on Saturday Trump said that “countries of the world that receive oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we will help — a lot!

The US will also coordinate with those countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well.

4. Hamas on Saturday called on its benefactor Iran to refrain from striking neighboring nations, including Qatar and Turkey, two of the terror group’s other leading state sponsors.

5. Lebanon was said Saturday to be seeking talks with Israel on ending the renewed flareup between the Jewish state and the Hezbollah terror group, with landmark direct negotiations reportedly expected to be held within days.

6. Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said on Friday his terror group was ready for a long confrontation with Israel, as the latter threatened to make Lebanon pay an “increasing price” in damage to infrastructure.

7. Israel is planning to launch a “massive” ground invasion of southern Lebanon in order to push the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group away from the border and destroy its weapons stores and positions, US and Israeli officials told the Axios news site on Saturday.

8. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel on March 13 confirmed his government is holding talks with the Trump administration, in the latest sign that the communist-run nation is open to signing a historic economic deal with the United States.

9. The US Navy has prolonged the service life of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) to March 2027.

US Attacks Military Targets on Iran's Kharg Island + Iranian Missile Strike Damages Five US Refueling Planes at Prince Sultan Air Base + IDF Destroys Zrarieh Bridge over Litani River + USMC 31st MEU Ordered to Middle East Mar 13, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei is “wounded and likely disfigured,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a briefing Friday.

2. US President Donald Trump announces that American forces “totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.

3. Five US Air Force refueling planes were struck and damaged on the ground at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing two US officials.

The planes, which were hit during an Iranian missile strike on the Saudi base in recent days, were damaged but not fully destroyed and are being repaired, the Journal says, adding that no one was killed in the strikes.

4. All six crew members of a KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed while supporting operations against Iran are dead, the U.S. military said Friday.

CENTCOM said the crash in Western Iraq on Thursday followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in “friendly airspace” and that the other plane landed safely.

5. After several statements over the past months and weeks urging Iranians to prepare to take to the streets and seize power from the government once the bombing stops, US President Donald Trump on Friday acknowledged that it will be very difficult for them to overthrow the regime.

6. Defense Minister Israel Katz on Friday threatened the Lebanese government that Israel would destroy the country’s national infrastructure used by Hezbollah if the terror group isn’t disarmed, after the Israel Defense Forces struck a bridge that it described as a “key crossing” for the group.

7. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has tapped former minister and longtime aide Ron Dermer to handle the Lebanon file for the duration of the ongoing Mideast war, Channel 12 news reported Friday, citing senior Israeli and US officials.

Dermer, who served as strategic affairs minister from 2022 until his resignation late last year, will lead talks with the US government regarding Lebanon, the report said.

8. The Pentagon’s supplemental funding request to replace weapons expended in Iran is expected to involve buying new types of equipment, not just legacy systems, the department’s chief financial officer said today.

9. On March 4, when a U.S. Navy submarine sunk an enemy combatant ship for the first time since World War II, three Australian submariners were aboard.

Two days later, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed the presence of Royal Australian Navy (RAN) sailors aboard the U.S. submarine when the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena was sunk.

10. A fire broke out aboard aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) on Thursday, multiple sources confirmed to USNI News.

The initial fire has been extinguished, but the crew is still doing damage control, according to a U.S. official.

“On March 12, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) experienced a fire that originated in the ship’s main laundry spaces,” reads a U.S. Central Command statement posted to social media website X. “The cause of the fire was not combat-related and is contained.

IDF Strikes Iranian Nuclear Facility at Taleghan Compound + Iran Supreme Leader Releases First Public Statement + US KC-135 Tanker Crashes in Iraq; CENTCOM says No Hostile or Friendly Fire + IEA to Release 400 Million Barrels From Oil Reserves Mar 12, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1.Two oil tankers were struck in the Gulf, killing one person, as Iran continued its attacks on targets across the region and the IDF reported hitting a “critical” nuclear site near Tehran, amid ongoing US-Israeli strikes on the Islamic Republic.

2. Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public, ostensibly vowed on Thursday to avenge the deaths since the start of the war with the US and Israel, in a statement read out by a presenter on state TV.

3. UN Security Council on Wednesday adopted a Bahrain-led resolution condemning Iranian attacks on several regional states, while a separate draft resolution introduced by Russia on the wider crisis failed to pass.

4. Spain permanently withdrew its ambassador to Israel on Wednesday as a diplomatic standoff worsened between the two countries over Spain’s opposition to Israeli policies.

Israel’s embassy in Spain is also run by a charge d’affaires after Israel in May 2024 recalled its ambassador, Rodica Radian-Gordon, in protest of Spain's decision to recognize a Palestinian state.

5. Israel and the US appeared Wednesday to be increasingly at odds over the time frame for the war with Iran, with US President Donald Trump saying the conflict would end “soon” as there was “practically nothing left to target” and Israel’s defense minister meanwhile insisting there was no time limit to the US-Israeli operation against Iran.

6. There is no guarantee that the Iranian people will rise up after Israel “creates the conditions” for them to topple the regime in Tehran, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“You can lead someone to water, you cannot make him drink,” says PM Netanyahu. “We will create optimal conditions to do this, including airstrikes as we did yesterday, as we are doing these days, to try to give them the space needed to take to the streets.”

7. The IDF said it continued to strike key strategic targets across Iran, while the US military said it had struck around 6,000 targets since the start of the war. Among the targets hit by US forces were more than 90 Iranian vessels — around 60 ships and 30 minelayers — according to US Central Command,

Targets struck by Israel included members of Iran’s Basij paramilitary force as well as its drone operations and capabilities.

8. At least 25 Iranian attacks have targeted US sites or locations housing American military personnel in the Middle East since the start of the war, according to an AFP analysis.

Of Iran’s attacks, recorded between February 28 and March 11 at 5 p.m. in Israel, four targeted US embassies or consulates in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.

The other 21 Iranian missiles or drone attacks targeted 13 different military sites housing American personnel.

9. The US Central Command on Thursday said a KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq in an apparent accident involving another tanker.

“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing. Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

10. Defense Minister Israel Katz said Thursday he has warned Lebanon that if it does not stop the Hezbollah terror group’s continuing rocket and drone attacks, Israel will “take the territory and do it ourselves.”

On Wednesday, Hezbollah launched some 200 rockets and around 20 drones at Israel over a period of several hours. The vast majority of the rockets were intercepted or struck open areas.

11. The International Energy Agency agreed Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the effects on energy markets of the war in the Middle East.

The Paris-based organization said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members’ emergency reserves

US Destroys 16 Iranian Minelaying Vessels Near Strait of Hormuz + Half of Iranian Ballistic Missiles Fired at Israel Have Cluster Bomb Warheads + Additional B-52 Bombers Land at RAF Fairford Mar 10, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1.The Swedish Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, published its global arms export and import report on Monday, comparing the arms exports of various countries in the years 2016–2020 to 2021–2025.

2. Kurdish rebels say they are ready to fight the Islamic Republic, but hope for an uprising before they intervene, with or without US support.

3. In a press conference at the Pentagon, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that Tuesday would be “the most intense day of strikes” on Iran. “The most fighters, the most bombers, the most intelligence, more defined and better than ever.”

At the same time, he said, the last 24 hours saw the lowest number of missiles Iran has fired over the course of one day in the ongoing campaign.

4. The US military said it destroyed 16 Iranian minelaying vessels near the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, the key waterway, through which roughly a fifth of global oil shipments travel.

“US forces eliminated multiple Iranian naval vessels, March 10, including 16 minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz,” the US Central Command wrote on X.

5. Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said Tuesday that Israel was not seeking an “endless war” in Iran, while hosting German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul in Jerusalem.

While declining to give a timeline for the operation, Mr. Sa’ar said Jerusalem does not aim to continue the conflict indefinitely and would coordinate with Washington on when to end the fighting.

6. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tuesday his country would keep fighting as long as necessary, casting doubt on US President Donald Trump’s insistence the previous day that the conflict would be over “soon.”

And the Islamic Republic’s security chief, Ali Larijani, dismissed Trump’s “empty” threats, insisting that the people of Iran did not fear them.

7. About half of the roughly 300 ballistic missiles Iran has launched at Israel in the current war carried cluster bomb warheads, according to Israel Defense Forces assessments published Tuesday.

8. British warplanes have begun “defensive air sorties” in support of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and taken out drones elsewhere in the Middle East amid the ongoing war, the UK defense ministry says.

More US B-52 bombers landed at the UK air force base in Fairford, in southwestern England, today, AFP witnessed, after a first one landed on Friday.

9. Saudi Arabia says that it has intercepted seven ballistic missiles in separate attacks targeting an airbase and its eastern region.

10. The IDF says it has launched a wave of airstrikes against Hezbollah infrastructure in Beirut’s southern suburbs.

The strikes come after the military on Tuesday reiterated its warning to evacuate the area, a Hezbollah stronghold known as the Dahiyeh.

President Trump on Iran War: "It's Going to be Ended Soon" + Iran Fires Second Ballistic Missile at Turkey; Turkey Send Six F-16 Fighters to Cyprus + France to Send Ten Warships to Middle East Region; 10 x Frigates & 2 x Amphib Assault Ships Mar 09, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. Turkey said on Monday that NATO air defenses shot down a second ballistic missile that was fired from Iran and had entered Turkish airspace, warning it will take any necessary steps against threats.

2. Turkey deployed six F-16C fighter aircraft to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus on Monday, defense officials here said.

The warplanes were sent as part of a phased approach to enhancing security in light of recent developments in the region, the Ministry of Defense wrote in an announcement.

3. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday, after an incoming Iranian missile was intercepted in Turkey’s airspace.

4. The French Navy will send eight frigates and two amphibious assault ships to the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea, joining aircraft carrier FS Charles De Gaulle (R91).

5. US President Donald Trump doubles down on his threat to strike Iran with unprecedented force if it stops the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

“If Iran does anything that stops the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz, they will be hit by the United States of America TWENTY TIMES HARDER than they have been hit thus far,” Trump writes on Truth Social.

6. US President Donald Trump said Monday he was “not happy” with the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s next supreme leader, and asserted he had a replacement in mind, without saying who that was.

7. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards pledge allegiance to the country’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, after he was appointed his father’s successor by the Assembly of Experts.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps… is ready for complete obedience and self-sacrifice in carrying out the divine commands of the Guardian Jurist of the time, His Eminence Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei,” the Guards say in a statement.

8. President Donald Trump described Iran War as “short term” Monday — suggesting the 10-day conflict could be nearing its end while also warning of intensifying strikes if a key oil route is restricted.

9. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it will “determine the end of the war” in the Middle East after US President Donald Trump said the conflict would end “soon.”

“It is we who will determine the end of the war,” the IRGC says in a statement.

10. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio urges Iraq’s leadership to keep protecting the US embassy after violent protests over the US-Israeli war on neighboring Iran.

In a call with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, Rubio “reiterated the importance of the Iraqi government taking all possible measures to safeguard US diplomatic personnel and facilities.

11. Another Iranian naval vessel has sought refuge in a neutral port following an expansion of the Iran conflict to the Indo-Pacific and U.S. efforts to target Tehran’s naval forces.

IRIS Lavan (514) docked at the Port of Kochi following engine troubles, government officials told Indian news outlet Wion.

Alongside the now stricken frigate IRIS Dena (75) and currently interned oiler IRIS Bushehr (422), Lavan was a part of Tehran’s diplomatic naval mission around the Indian Ocean region.

12. Talks to advance US President Donald Trump’s plan to end the Gaza war have been on hold since last week when the US and Israel jointly attacked Iran.

The pause threatens to stall implementation of Trump’s flagship Middle East peace initiative.

Iran Assembly of Experts Select Ayatollah Motjaba Khamenei as new Supreme Leader + President Trump: Decision to End War with be Mutual with PM Netanyahu + Gulf Nations Exercise Fragile Regional Diplomacy & Coordination Amid Iranian Attacks Mar 08, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was chosen Sunday to succeed him, despite never having been elected or appointed to a government position.

A secretive figure within the Islamic Republic, Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen publicly since the start of the war.

2. US President Donald Trump told The Times of Israel on Sunday that a decision on when to end the war with Iran will be a “mutual” one that he’ll make together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

3. Israel Defense Forces chief Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir warned on Sunday that there was “no safe place” for the Iranian regime to hide.

The military provided details on a strike carried out on Saturday against the newly appointed military secretary to Iran’s supreme leader,

Abol-hasem Babian, who was appointed last week- was confirmed killed by the IDF.

4. Iranian Fars news agency reported that Israel's Saturday strikes hit four oil storage facilities and an oil production transfer center in Tehran and Alborz.

Residents reported the smell of burning lingering in the air, with many saying it appeared dark even as the sun rose and rain poured on the city.

5. ·NYT Report: Iran may be able to access and move highly enriched uranium that had been previously thought to have been buried underground by US strikes on the Isfahan nuclear facility last June.

6. ·Emirati officials raged on Sunday over what they called false Israeli media reports claiming that the United Arab Emirates had carried out a military strike on Iran amid the ongoing US-Israeli bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic.

7. · Saudi Arabia has told Tehran that while it favors a diplomatic settlement to Iran’s conflict with the United States, continued attacks on the kingdom and its energy sector could push Riyadh to respond in kind, four sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday.

President Trump on Kurdish Involvement: "I Don't Want the Kurds Going In" + Report: US Preparing Third Aircraft Carrier for Middle East Deployment + Israel Strikes Iran's Oil Depots in Tehran + IDF Targets IRGC Commanders in Beirut Mar 07, 2026

Show notes

For review:

1. Six top defense contractors have agreed to quadruple production of what President Donald Trump has termed “Exquisite Class Weaponry” following a meeting at the White House on munitions production.

Meeting attended by:

RTX, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, BAE, L3 Harris, & Honeywell.

2. US President Donald Trump said Saturday he ruled out Kurdish involvement in the war with Iran, saying Washington does not want the conflict to become “more complex.”

3. The United States has started using British bases for certain operations against Iran during the Middle East war, the UK’s government announced on Saturday.

Britain’s defense ministry said the US had begun using the military sites for “specific defensive operations to prevent Iran firing missiles into the region.”

4. Israel continued its military campaign against Iran overnight Saturday, striking key missile infrastructure and IRGC aircraft, as Tehran launched repeated salvos of ballistic missiles at Israel and issued new threats against European countries that might join the war.

5. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said the US-Israeli bombing campaign in Iran would continue unabated and that the “moment of truth” was nearing for Iranians to overthrow their government.

His comments came as the IDF said it struck Iran’s two “most central” ballistic missile sites, and, in an apparent first, oil infrastructure in Tehran.

6. Iran’s president apologized Saturday for attacks on regional countries even as its missiles and drones flew toward Gulf Arab states, indicating that Tehran’s political leadership either cannot or does not seek to exercise full command over Iran’s armed forces.

On Saturday, Fox News reported that the US was expected to deploy a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

7. On Saturday, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets and drones from Lebanon at northern Israel, with no reports of injuries.

The IDF on Saturday confirmed launching a new wave of airstrikes on Beirut’s southern Dahiyeh district, a Hezbollah stronghold.

8. says it carried out a targeted strike on key commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

It says the targets were members of the Lebanon Corps of the Quds Force, the IRGC’s extraterritorial arm, who “acted to advance terror plans against the State of Israel and its citizens from Lebanese territory.”

9. Helicopter-born Israeli commandos landed deep in eastern Lebanon in an overnight raid aimed at locating the body of missing Israeli Air Force navigator Ron Arad, the military said.

The raid was accompanied by heavy Israeli airstrikes that killed at least 41 people, according to local officials. There were no Israeli casualties.

The Israel Defense Forces said no findings relating to Arad were discovered during the operation in Nabi Chit.

10. US President Donald Trump on Saturday urged Latin American nations to use military power against the “cancer” of drug cartels and offered to support them with US missile strikes targeting narco kingpins.

US Submarine Sinks Iranian Frigate Off Sri Lanka Coast + IDF F-35I Air-to-Air Kill of Iranian Yak-130 + Iran Fires Ballistic Missile at Turkiye + IDF Threatens to Target Iranian Officers in Lebanon Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

Operation Epic Fury & Roaring Lion for review:

1. Concerning Iran's New Supreme Leader: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Wednesday that Israel would target whoever leads the Islamic Republic. “

Any leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue leading the plan to destroy Israel, threaten the US and the free world and the countries of the region, and oppress the Iranian people, will be an unequivocal target for elimination,” Katz said in a statement.

“It does not matter what his name is or where he hides,” he said.

2. An American submarine sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed Wednesday, the first US sinking of an enemy ship by torpedo since World War II.

3. Within a week, the US and Israel “will have complete control over Iranian skies,” US War Secretary Pete Hegseth asserted on Wednesday during a press conference at the Pentagon alongside Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, exclaiming that Iran was “toast.”

4. An Israeli Air Force F-35I fighter jet shot down a Russian-made Iranian Yak-130 jet over Tehran on Wednesday, the IDF said, in the first-ever downing of a manned aircraft by an F-35.

5. The Israeli Air Force carried out “extensive” strikes against regime targets across Iran overnight and into Wednesday, as the Islamic Republic continued to fire salvos of ballistic missiles at Israeli population centers.

6. The US and Israel, in their ongoing airstrikes throughout Iran, are targeting members of the regime’s forces that took part in the crackdown on anti-government protesters earlier this year, hoping to make it easier for demonstrators to return to the streets once the bombing subsides, a US official and an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Wednesday.

7. In a televised address, Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Wednesday said his terror group’s resumption of rocket attacks on Israel this week is a response to Israel’s continued presence and airstrikes in Lebanon since the November 2024 Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire deal.

8. Hezbollah fired on central Israel on Tuesday, the terror group’s first long-range attack since the start of the Iran war, as Israeli airstrikes hammered the organization and Israel threatened Iranian officials in Lebanon.

Hezbollah fired three rockets toward Tel Aviv and the Haifa area, setting off sirens across central Israel and parts of the north.

9. NATO air and missile defense systems stationed in the eastern Mediterranean destroyed a ballistic missile fired from Iran as it headed into Turkish airspace after passing Syria and Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.

10. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has told his country’s neighbors in the region that he respects their sovereignty after Iran launched a number of airstrikes at Gulf nations in recent days.

11. Iranian Kurdish militias have consulted with the United States in recent days about whether, and how, to attack Iran’s security forces in the western part of the country, three sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The groups have requested US military support, and Iraqi leaders in Erbil and Baghdad have also been in touch with the Trump administration in recent days, they said.

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