“Iran war shakes Gulf’s faith in US protection” by veteran journalist KP Nayar
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/iran-war-shakes-gulfs-faith-in-us-protection/
“For the first time in their post-colonial history, Arab Gulf states are victims of war, not its victors…

“Ten Days That Shook Trump” by Rostislav Ishchenko
https://ukraina.ru/20260309/desyat-dney-kotorye-potryasli-trampa-1076566850.html
“The current war in the Middle East differs from standard wars in that its initiators (the United States and Israel) had the opportunity to conduct a test operation beforehand…

Boris Marcinkevich: “The Hormuz Gas Arithmetic”
https://aftershock.news/?q=node/1595678

“France’s finance minister said Monday the G7 was “not there yet” in terms of any release of strategic oil reserves as the world’s leading industrialised nations held crisis talks on the economic fallout of the Middle East war.”
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260309-g7-not-there-yet-on-release-of-oil-reserves-french-minister

**Iran’s IRGC Navy says it carried out an offensive operation against American terrorists, striking the “Al-Udayri Helicopter Base” (Camp Buehring) in Kuwait with various drones and cruise missiles.
The announcement says this highly significant operation, foiled operational plans, and eyewitnesses and informed sources reported a panicked evacuation from the base.
In this attack, 11 highly important targets at the base were hit by several missiles and drones.
Among the destroyed targets were the base’s fuel tanks, gas tanks, the American helicopters’ ramp, logistics and support facilities, and the base’s infrastructure installations.
@FotrosResistancee

**The main points from Putin’s statements at the meeting on the situation in the global oil and gas market:
➡️The route of oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz is currently effectively closed;
➡️ A complete switch to supplies of Middle Eastern oil without the Strait of Hormuz is currently unrealistic;
➡️Competition for energy suppliers in the world is currently intensifying;
➡️Russian energy companies have always been distinguished by their stability;
➡️Russian energy companies need to take advantage of the current oil prices and use the revenue to repay debts to banks;
➡️A change in the balance of supply and demand for energy resources will lead to a new sustainable price reality.
@DDGeopolitics

“In its confrontation with the United States, Iran is playing the long game” by Andrey Rezchikov
https://m.vz.ru/world/2026/3/7/1400300.html
“Iran’s interim governing council has rejected attacks on neighboring countries. President Massoud Pesekshian has apologized for the previous missile strikes. However, the war continues. Iran has launched a massive retaliatory strike and attacked a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States is amassing forces and preparing for a major bombing campaign against Iran. According to experts, Tehran is willing to reconcile with its neighbors, but it has no red lines when it comes to the United States and Israel…

Iran is eager for revenge. “This is not just an emotion, but a religious obligation. Therefore, there will be no negotiations on Trump’s terms. The United States is looking for an excuse to save face and reach an agreement, but Iran will not agree to this. The Americans will leave the region in disgrace, without even being able to approach the Iranian coast,” the political analyst added.”

WASHINGTON BOMBED THE CONCLAVE. WHY THIS WAR IS BIGGER THAN THE WAR WITH IRAN
Evgeny Poddubny, war correspondent, deputy general director of VGTRK, author of the @epoddubny channel.

While the global media discusses events in Iran in the language of geopolitics—ballistic trajectories, oil prices, the balance of power in the Middle East—almost no one is attempting to view the conflict from the perspective of a minaret. Meanwhile, it is precisely theological perspective that explains why this conflict will not end with the fall of the Tehran regime and why its consequences could be far greater than Western strategists imagine. After all, from the perspective of the clerical establishment, attacks by Jews and Americans are not a war against the state, but an attempt to destroy an entire religious-political civilization.

For a Western observer, Qom is a provincial Iranian town, one of many targets on the coalition’s strike list. For 200 million Shiites worldwide, Qom is what the Vatican is for Catholics and Jerusalem is for the entire Abrahamic world. The mausoleum of Fatima Masumeh, sister of the eighth Imam, Reza, is located here, and around 20 million pilgrims flock here annually. But the pilgrimage is only the visible part. Qom is, above all, the world’s largest Hawza Ilmiya, a Shiite seminary system founded in 1922 that produces thousands of theologians who then travel throughout the Shiite world—from Lebanon to Pakistan, from Bahrain to Afghanistan. It is in Qom that the body of Shiite law is formed, and it is from here that the “marja’ at-taqlid”—the supreme religious authorities, the “sources of emulation”—issue fatwas binding on millions of believers. A blow to Qom is a blow to the nervous system of the entire Shiite world. And this blow was dealt twice, both times hitting the building of the Council of Experts of the Islamic Republic. The Council of Experts is not a parliamentary commission or a bureaucratic body. It is a gathering of 88 senior clerics, the sole authority authorized to elect and oversee the Supreme Leader—the Rahbar. The second blow came as the council members gathered precisely to elect a successor to the assassinated Khamenei . Translated into language understandable to Western readers, the coalition bombed the conclave of cardinals as a new pope was being elected.

The entire architecture of the Islamic Republic rests on the doctrine of velayat-e faqih—the “guardianship of the Islamic jurist.” This concept was developed by Ayatollah Khomeini, and it is the supporting structure of Iranian theocracy. According to it, during the Occultation of the 12th Imam—the Mahdi—all political and spiritual power belongs to the most knowledgeable faqih, who acts as the Hidden Imam’s viceroy on earth. The Rahbar is neither a president nor a dictator in the traditional sense. He is a link in the chain connecting the community of believers with hidden divine guidance.

Now let’s look at the sequence of the coalition’s strikes: Supreme Leader Khamenei was killed, Defense Council Secretary Shamkhani was assassinated, and the building of the Council of Experts was destroyed during a meeting. This is not an “elimination of the military leadership” or a “regime change” in the usual Western sense. From a Shiite theological perspective, this is an attempt to sever the very chain of succession of spiritual authority—to destroy both the Hidden Imam’s viceroy and the mechanism for appointing a new viceroy. This is a blow not to the state, but to the institution of marja’iyya—the system of supreme religious authority that existed long before the Islamic Republic and will outlast any political regime.

Western strategists are apparently counting on demoralization. The logic is clear: the leader is killed, the infrastructure is destroyed, the leadership is destroyed—which means the enemy must break

Forwarded from Pepe Escobar’s Telegram channel:
“If you are boiling with rage at all this dementia, here’s the antidote.”

“Iranian Fever” captures that sophisticated court energy, music, luxury, intrigue, and the particular electricity of spaces where power and art collide. This is jazz for elegant complexity, for understanding that influence doesn’t always announce its…

“Iran regime change may elude Trump” by K.C. Singh an Indian Civil servant who was the Indian ambassador to Iran and UAE.
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/iran-regime-change-may-elude-trump/

Medvedev on the attack on Iran:
“The Third World War has not formally started, but if Trump continues his insane course of criminal regime change, it will undoubtedly begin. And any event could trigger it. Any event.
This is a war by the US and its allies to maintain global dominance. The pigs don’t want to give up their trough.
Trump made a grave mistake. With his decision, he put all Americans under potential attack, even though the Iranian regime is not well-liked in neighboring Arab countries. The main thing is that the late Ayatollah was the spiritual father of nearly 300 million Shiites. And now he’s also a martyr. You can fill in the rest yourself.
And now there’s no doubt that Iran will redouble its efforts to develop nuclear weapons.”

“What was the US mistake in killing Khamenei?” by Gevorg Mirzayan
https://vz.ru/world/2026/3/1/1398486.html
…And if the Iranians succeed in all of the above, then the assassination of Ali Khamenei will not bring the Americans any closer to implementing their strategy of regime change in Iran. And the Americans will be forced, at a minimum, to choose a different strategy. Perhaps even negotiate an end to the war—but not on their own terms, but on compromise.”

Forwarded from Older than Edda:
“To avoid any misconceptions, I’ll say this: if Trump stops the war in the coming days (no matter how he frames it), it means America has lost the war, and the Islamic world has gained a new martyr, practically a prophet. And it doesn’t even matter that he’s Shiite. The Joint Chiefs of Staff made a mistake by killing an 86-year-old man.”

“For two days, you’ve been showing photos and videos of the Ayatollah’s destroyed residence on all American channels, telling stories about how he was killed, and then suddenly, “It’s not our fault, it’s all Netanyahu.”

I wrote yesterday that the Joint Chiefs of Staff made a huge mistake by killing the old Ayatollah. Firstly, Khomeini became a true martyr, and secondly, it paved the way for younger, much more radical and tough leaders. The entire Middle East is now reaping the consequences of what happened two days ago, and Iran still seems to have a few aces up its sleeve.

Trump, of course, needs to announce capitulation and resign. Otherwise, he will be the first US president to lose the Middle East.”

“Kuwait’s air defense can boast its best results so far. Three American aircraft were downed in one day, and it’s only lunchtime. Importantly, the American command confirmed the downing. Now it’s the navy’s turn. I hope the UAE and Kuwaiti coastal defenses don’t let us down and destroy the carrier strike group.”😄

“Iran has agreed to Washington’s demands.”
Iran intends to abandon its enriched uranium stockpiles at the US request, the Foreign Ministry said. https://www.kp.ru/online/news/6842151/
Iran has agreed to one of the United States’ key conditions: Tehran will give up its enriched uranium stockpiles. According to Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi , the results of the talks are “positive.”