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🔹 ️ Motjaba Khamenei was chosen as the new Iranian Supreme Leader, multiple comments from various official figures in Iran, as well as Putin, praise the new leader or have held conversations, while the IRGC and Iranian army pledged their allegiance, and China announced its opposition to any targeting of the new Supreme Leader.
🔹 ️ The US State Department ordered American diplomats to leave Saudi Arabia after drone attacks near the US Embassy in Riyadh, then later ordered non-essential staff and families to leave its Adana consulate in southern Turkey due to increased security risks in the region.
🔹 ️ Bahrain’s largest refinery, BAPCO, was hit by Iranian strikes, later declaring a state of emergency, before eventually having to close down production, whileReuters reports that Saudi’s Aramco has begun reducing crude output at two oil fields.
🔹 ️ IDF forces reportedly attempted to carry out an airborne operation in Nabi Chit, east Lebanon, for the second consecutive day, in order to search for the remains of Ron Arad – clashes with Hezbollah were reported during the raid, but there has been no official IDF statement.
🔹 ️ The UK takes steps to evacuate some embassy staff and their families from Beirut.
🔹 ️ Lebanese Prime Minister Nawat Salam commented: “We are not seeking a confrontation with Hezbollah, but we will not succumb to blackmail.”
🔹 ️ Later, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said: “Israeli attacks on the southern suburbs, the south, and the Beqaa will not achieve what Israel aims for.”
🔹 ️ This morning, Lebanon officially announced that over half a million Lebanese citizens were displaced as of this morning.
🔹 ️ The Saudi Foreign Ministry stated: “The Iranian side has not implemented the Iranian President’s call in practice – ongoing Iranian attacks mean further escalation, which will have a profound impact on relations.”
🔹 ️ Ukrainian President Volodymyr confirmed: “Ukraine sent drone experts to protect American bases in Jordan.”
🔹 ️ US President Donald Trump told The Times of Israel “we will see what happens,” when he found out about the election of Khamanei, while also telling Fox News: “I’m not happy.”
🔹 ️ Ending the war with Iran will be down to Israel, Trump told the Times of Israel: “The decision to end the war with Iran will be made jointly with Netanyahu.”
🔹 ️ According to Yedioth Ahronoth, IDF General Staff officials said: “The war must continue until the Iranian regime is overthrown.”
🔹 ️ Qatari Interior Ministry said: “313 individuals of various nationalities have been arrested for filming and circulating unauthorised video clips, spreading misleading information and rumours, and disseminating content intended to incite public concern, in violation of official directives.”
🔹 ️ According to Qatar Prime Minister Al Thani, the “Iranian attacks on Qatar make us feel deeply betrayed,” while also stating that: “Once the war began – perhaps within just an hour in – the Gulf countries were immediately attacked, suggesting the strikes were pre-planned.”
🔹 ️ The Iranian Attorney General’s Office announced that assets of Iranians living abroad who cooperate with the US and Israel will be confiscated.
🔹 ️ Scenes this morning showed an airstrike in western Tehran near a crowd of pro-government Iranians who were celebrating the election of Khamenei, and the crowd could be heard after shouting “death to Israel” towards the smoke columns.
🔹 ️ Syrian Kurds warned Iranian Kurds against aligning with the US to fight Tehran, citing their own experiences of being ‘abandoned’ by Washington after years of cooperation, according to a report by Reuters.
🔹 ️ The IDF published a statement this morning stating: “We have launched a large-scale intelligence effort after the ‘Operation Rising Lion’ last year to build a target database in Iran […] which includes ballistic missile sites, military industries, and nuclear targets.”
🔹 ️ Two Israelis were killed and one other critically injured after shrapnel fell in Tel Aviv from an Iranian ballistic missile strike using cluster munitions, as officials claim the first death was a Chinese construction worker, and footage showed damage from a cluster impact scene in Bat Yam.
🔹 ️ An attack with cluster munitions last night on Tel Aviv left parts of Rishon Lezion without power, and a fire was visible in published footage from the scene.
🔹 ️ During the night, the US/Israel aerial forces carried out a large-scale strike in Isfahan, with multiple alert channels reporting up to 20 explosions heard in the area.
🔹 ️ Crude futures rose to $116 per barrel in an unprecedented 28% in a single day, however, prices are expected to almost double that in the coming weeks, while Asian stock markets plummeted as a result of oil shortages from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
🔹 ️ CENTCOM announced the death of another American soldier, who was badly wounded in an attack in Saudi Arabia on March 1st, bringing the total death toll to eight.
🔹 ️ Iran claimed the US had struck a desalination plant on the island of Qeshm, so in response, the Iranians launched a drone attack striking a Bahraini desalination plant.
🔹 ️ Another residential sanitation building was struck in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia, killing a man from India and a man from Bangladesh who worked inside the building.
🔹 ️ Israel claimed that the UAE attacked Iranian assets for the first time in an offensive manner, however, there was extreme censorship noted at the time of the launches by various media sources who noted the launches had taken place, and had said these had come from American airbases located within the UAE, not fired by the UAE themselves.
🔹 ️ Iranian drones targeted the US Victoria Base in Baghdad, Iraq and Ali Al Salem Airbase in Kuwait, while missiles were launched at the Muwafaq Salti Airbase in Jordan.
🔹 ️ IDF issued an urgent warning to residents of Lebanon: “In the coming hours, the Israel Defence Forces will operate forcefully against the terrorist infrastructure of the Al-Qard al-Hassan Association, which constitutes a central element in financing Hezbollah’s terrorist activities and harms the Lebanese economy in service of Iranian interests. Resident of the southern suburbs, the “terrorist Hezbollah” has dragged you into a war for the benefit of the weak Iranian regime and makes you pay the price. And to avoid harming you, I call on you to respond to our evacuation calls and follow the warnings we issue, for these warnings aim to save your lives.”
🔹 ️ Soon after an announcement that the IDF was about to hit infrastructure of the Hezbollah organisation in the Dahieh area of Beirut, loud explosions were heard in the AFP live feed and smoke was seen rising from the location – footage showed that people were still walking around and continuing with their daily lives when the strike occurred, as Lebanon’s Health Ministry confirmed one person had been killed and 12 others injured as a result of the strike.
🔹 ️ US forces this morning struck three Iranian vessels in the Persian Gulf, including two that were anchored off the coast of Bander Lengeh, and the other at Bander Kong.
🔹 ️ The Israel Defence Force announced they were starting to attack Tehran, Isfahan and southern Iran with a wave of attacks operating in the three areas simultaneously, then soon after there were strikes across District 22 and other areas of Tehran along with strikes in Bushehr.
🔹 ️ Another Iranian ballistic missile allegedly entered Turkey’s NATO airspace before it was intercepted, with debris falling in the Gaziantep region, but there were no reported injuries.
🔹 ️ Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sis says Egypt condemns the aggression against Arab states and calls for giving an opportunity to stop the war and seek peaceful solutions, emphasising there can be no settlements without dialogue.
🔹 ️ US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said the war with Iran is “only just the beginning” after 3,000 US strikes and deployment of 50,000 troops – Washington says Iran will eventually be forced into surrender as fighting spreads across the region.
