Israeli and US forces pressed forward with their assault on Iran, striking targets across the country, including Iran’s state broadcaster and central military command centers, as the official death toll has climbed to 787 Iranians killed since the start of the Trump-ordered Operation Epic Fury. The US has sustained at least six troop deaths and several more seriously wounded.

Fears that this could open to a broader multi-front war appear to be coming to reality, as at the same time Israel escalated operations on a second front, intensifying airstrikes on Lebanon and launching a new ground incursion into the south. Beirut is once again under Israeli bombs, after Israel accused Hezbollah of firing rockets on the north. What’s more is that Kann News is citing a senior Israeli official as follows: We assess that Saudi Arabia will attack Iran soon after it was attacked yesterday. The war is expanding.

The conflict has continued to spread across the Gulf. Saudi authorities said two drones struck the US Embassy in Riyadh, igniting a small fire and causing minor damage. However, there’s been surprisingly little information or video to come out of this major incident.

Qatar has formally joined the war on the US-Israeli side, having already said it took out a pair of Iranian jets. The tiny oil and gas rich GCC country Foreign Ministry stated that “the two Iranian planes shot down by Qatar yesterday were flying toward Doha and were warned before being shot down. Qatar is searching for the pilots.”

Iran has continued its retaliation by targeting energy infrastructure across the Gulf, driving global oil and gas prices sharply higher. As we reported previously, Qatar’s state-owned petroleum company suspended all LNG production after two of its facilities were hit.

The status of the vital Strait of Hormuz remains a big unknown, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announcing that the vital oil transit chokepoint for roughly one-fifth of global oil consumption is now “closed”. While the consensus is that after the US blew up all or most of the Iranian Navy’s vessels, it doesn’t have the maritime power to effect a blockage, the IRGC can certainly wreak havoc through its drone and missile arsenal.

New Footage Shows US Base in Bahrain Under Iranian Missile Strike

New video has surfaced online showing US military base in Bahrain that were targeted in recent hours by heavy Iranian missiles. pic.twitter.com/LHC3iSD0Ws

— Tasnim News Agency (@Tasnimnews_EN) March 3, 2026

Iran has also continued missile attacks on Israel, with the Israeli military reporting interceptions over West Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Eilat. At least 10 people have been killed in Israel since Saturday. Many dozens, possibly in the hundreds, have been injured and wounded. Fox live shots and correspondent on the ground Trey Yingst have been offering proof that Israel’s anti-air defenses are routinely being overwhelmed and significant impacts have resulted.

Costly interceptors are also being expended at a high rate across the Gulf, and these countries are urgently appealing for more from Washington, but they will soon be in short supply at this rate. The Wall Street Journal warns as follows:

Persian Gulf nations targeted by Iran have, so far, managed to limit the damage by deploying sophisticated U.S.-made air defenses against the hundreds of drones and missiles that have rained on their cities.

With costly interceptors and radar, all integrated with the U.S. military, the oil-rich Gulf Arab states have fielded some of the most advanced air defenses in the world, despite their small populations and militaries.

A crucial variable in this war, however, is whether these monarchies start running out of interceptors before the Iranian regime runs out of projectiles. At current burn rates, it could be very soon.

Alarmingly, initial White House talking points of a ‘limited’ campaign of mere days (and based on pre-war comments during the build-up) have now gone out the window as on Monday President Trump and Secretary Rubio indicated the operation could run for roughly four or five weeks. But they also admitted there’s a basically open-ended timeline to “do whatever it takes” to eliminate Tehran’s missile and nuclear capabilities, and to destroy the country’s missile arsenal.

⚡️Massive explosion in Tehran pic.twitter.com/Tbeds9mviY

— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) March 3, 2026

But then here’s what the Trump administration failed to take into account, or perhaps chose to completely ignore. Trita Parsi told The Economist:

“This is not a monarchy in which the shah is gone and you take out all of the male heirs.” He explained: “This is a system—not a particularly popular system—but nevertheless one with a security establishment that is not dependent on a single person or a single family.”

Pentagon brass doesn’t seem to know what the plan is, how long it will last, or why they’re there: “The hours, days, and perhaps weeks ahead will challenge you. There will be noise and confusion.”

Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. military officer at @CENTCOM, sent this message to the roughly 50,000 U.S. troops directly involved in operations against Iran, I’m told. pic.twitter.com/9VGvRSWtTW

— Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) March 2, 2026

There are reports that in the instance of the Ayatollah’s death under US-Israeli bombs, which is the first thing that happened Saturday as he was apparently not in hiding, Iran put a strict emergency protocol in place. This reportedly involved plans for the IRGC and various military units across the country to begin acting autonomously within their respective chains of command, so that a state decapitation strike won’t disrupt the ongoing retaliation. 

That retaliation has already killed at least six US service members stationed at Gulf bases:

The U.S. is facing increasing risks to its military forces and diplomatic presence in the Middle East as Iran is launching waves of missile and drone attacks across the region that are testing its ability to defend a swath of territory.

U.S. Central Command said that six servicemembers had been killed in the three-day-old campaign on Monday. The six died in a drone strike on a base in Kuwait, The Wall Street Journal reported. Separately, three American F-15 jets were downed by apparent friendly fire over Kuwait on Monday, in one of the most significant losses of equipment for the U.S. in the operation.

Bases that house U.S. forces have also come under attack in Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

In at least one instance troops were in a mobile trailer which served as a makeshift command center or office when an Iranian projectile hit.

The White House has meanwhile said it is not at all in diplomatic contact with the Iranians, who may want to impose a deeper cost before even starting a discussion for an offramp – and it’s the same with the Gulf states – there doesn’t seem to be any top-level contact.

Rubio and Hegseth have kept repeating that “this is not Iraq” and have insisted this is not another Neocon “endless war”. They might be right in that what just opened up might prove far worse than the Iraq war. So far there’s no US boots on the ground that we know of, but we’re already at that admin talking point of ‘we haven’t ruled it out’. White House leadership has also been surprisingly open as to Israel’s role in the US decision to attack Iran.

🎯STRUCK: The Iranian Regime’s Leadership Compound — the central headquarters have been dismantled

This command headquarters was one of the most heavily secured assets in Iran. The compound that housed the regime’s most senior forum was struck by the IAF overnight using precise… pic.twitter.com/4iW2xd71bC

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 3, 2026

More latest headlines via Newsquawk: 

• Israeli defence forces announce that they did not deploy ground troops in Iran, Israeli source report.
• The IDF announces that they have struck Iran’s leadership compound in Tehran.
• IAEA confirms recent damage to entrance buildings of Iran’s underground Natanz fuel enrichment plan.
• Israel’s Home Front announce early warning after detection of rockets fired from Iran toward Israel, Al Jazeera reported.
• Israeli Military Spokesperson said it is not likely that Israel will deploy ground forces to Iran as it is not practical.
• IDF spokesperson said launches detected from Iran and alerts expected in the northern area from the Golan to northern Sharon.
• Iran’s military said it targeted the Al Udeid base with missiles.
• Iran’s IRCG said they targeted the aircraft carrier “Lincoln” with 4 cruise missiles; The aircraft carrier “Lincoln” headed towards the southeastern Indian Ocean , Al Arabiya reported.
• Member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts said choosing a successor to Supreme Leader Khamenei “won’t take long”, according to ISNA.
• Hezbollah said it targeted the Ramat David Air Base in northern Israel.
• US VP Vance said President Trump wants to make sure Iran never had nuclear weapons, adds the US has a lot of capacity in Iran.
• US President Trump held a call with Kurdish leaders in Iraq on Sunday to discuss the US-Israel war with Iran and what might come next, according to three sources with knowledge of the called cited by Axios.
• US is said to prepare for a ‘pickup’ of attacks in Iran during the next 24 hours, according to CNN.

One day after a reported Iranian drone strike forced Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery offline, with high-resolution post-strike satellite imagery showing visible damage, multiple reports on Tuesday morning suggest additional energy infrastructure in two Gulf states has also been targeted in suspected Iranian drone attacks.

Bloomberg reports that “falling debris” from an intercepted drone sparked a major fire at the United Arab Emirates’ major oil-trading hub of Fujairah.

The Fujairah Media Office wrote on X that civil defense units are suppressing the fire at the energy facility, while operations at the storage terminal and an oil refinery were suspended one day earlier.

🇦🇪 A major fire broke out at Fujairah port, UAE, one of the world’s largest oil storage facilities, following an Iranian drone strike on an oil depot. pic.twitter.com/Jsx4jG39na

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 3, 2026

Fujairah is a major storage, blending, trading, and ship-refueling hub on the Gulf of Oman, near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz but outside the Persian Gulf. This makes it a partial bypass route if Hormuz is threatened.

The energy hub hosts the Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, which lets Abu Dhabi export crude directly to the Arabian Sea, and S&P Global says the port is linked to a 1.5 million b/d pipeline.

Footage circulating on X shows another incident earlier, this time at the Port of Salalah, of what appears to be an Iranian drone striking energy-related infrastructure. 

🇴🇲 The moment an Iranian drone impacted the Port of Salalah in Oman pic.twitter.com/YUE7UXXT6J

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 3, 2026

On Monday, a reported Iranian drone strike on Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura complex caused Saudi Arabia’s largest refinery to go offline.

GEOINT from spatial intelligence firm Vantor shows high-resolution satellite imagery of the aftermath:

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures and European natural gas have spiked as the world’s most critical maritime energy chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz, remains paralyzed, with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards commander threatening fire and destruction to any ship that transits the narrow waterway.

As of 0630 ET, Brent crude futures are up 7.7% to nearly $84/bbl.

Beyond Iran targeting critical infrastructure, soft targets have also been hit, including skyscrapers, at least one data center, airports, and the list goes on across Gulf states. Bloomberg’s top commodities analyst warned that water desalination plants could be next (read report).

President Trump signaled on Sunday that Operation Epic Fury could extend for four weeks, shifting our focus beyond the likely decline of certain air-delivered munition stockpiles to the question of whether a prolonged conflict begins tightening small-arms ammunition supplies and spilling over into civilian markets.

“It’s always been a four-week process. We figured it would be four weeks or so. It’s always been about a four-week process so – as strong as it is, it’s a big country, it’ll take four weeks – or less,” Daily Mail newspaper quoted Trump as saying.

War risk fears and the massive scale of Operation Epic Fury are set to drain critical missile stockpiles used by the THAAD, Patriot, and SM-3 systems. As we noted earlier on Sunday, this suggests the U.S. military may have to draw down on critical missile and bomb stockpiles.

Beyond missiles and bombs, the possibility of a four-week conflict may spark governments into a buying frenzy of small-arms ammunition, rebuilding stockpiles, and funding allies, thereby tightening the consumer market. Then there is retail: whenever there is a risk of war, riots, or Democrats trying to take away their guns, some consumers always go into a buying panic of ammo and guns.

At the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in early 2022, demand for 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition, commonly used in the AR-15 and M4/M16 platforms, surged, briefly pushing prices higher in the early days of the conflict. Prices then trended lower despite the war due to expanded manufacturing capacity and shrinking demand from retail post-Covid boom.

With 5.56 ammo prices now hovering around .40 cents per round after roughly 18 months of supply-demand rebalancing, the key question is whether conflict in the Middle East will drive military demand higher and tighten the end market.

5.56 Ammo Price Index via BlackBasin (online ammo price aggregator):  

.40 cents per round certaintly seems like a floor.

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

Vienna, once hailed as one of Europe’s safest capitals, is grappling with a wave of violent crimes linked to unchecked migration, alongside a deepening crisis in schools where German is becoming a minority language. 

Parents are fleeing public education, random assaults are making headlines, and the city’s demographic fabric is unraveling under policies that prioritize open borders over citizen safety.

This is the predictable fallout from years of mass immigration without real integration, turning neighborhoods into hotspots for brutality and cultural clashes.

In a shocking case, a 22-year-old Pakistani national has been sentenced to life in a “forensic therapeutic center,” rather than prison, after beating a random 27-year-old man to death in Vienna’s Favoriten district and filming it. The attack, unprovoked, left the victim, who suffered from schizophrenia, motionless on the asphalt after being pushed against a fence and kicked repeatedly.

Court footage showed the defendant delivering fatal blows to the blood-soaked victim. When confronted, the Pakistani man stated without emotion: “I can’t say anything about that.” 

Additional videos on his phone revealed assaults on homeless individuals, described by psychiatrist Peter Hofmann as “trophies” indicating a “desire for the exercise of power and murder.” Hofmann noted, “There is zero empathy for the victims.”

The man’s lawyer, Werner Tomanek, admitted: “this exceeds some limits, even for us as criminal defense attorneys. To sugarcoat or downplay a defense in the sense of anything is completely inappropriate here.” 

Diagnosed with narcissistic-sadistic personality disorder, the perpetrator avoided high-security prison due to his “sadist” label, instead heading to a center with perks like sports and education.

Austria: Sadist Pakistani national sentenced to ‘therapeutic center’ after beating random victim to death on the streets of Vienna and filming it.https://t.co/STfw63PRx0 pic.twitter.com/pE05DJJcLu

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) February 27, 2026

In a separate incident, a naked 25-year-old Sudanese man was arrested for stabbing a 35-year-old in Vienna’s Märzpark with scissors during an unprovoked altercation. 

The victim, sitting with his girlfriend, was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. Police reported: “The injured person was treated by Vienna’s professional rescue service and taken to a hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening.”

Naked Sudanese man arrested for violent scissor attack in Vienna park.https://t.co/sx902HIY58 pic.twitter.com/2nHPr0e6mL

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) February 27, 2026

These attacks align with a pattern, including a stabbing after a man asked migrant teens to lower music, where Syrian and Iraqi youths assaulted and spat on him. 

Broader Austrian stats reveal a 3900% surge in Syrian youth crime suspects over a decade, from 25 to over 1,000.

Crime stats in the country have also confirmed that nearly 47% of suspects are foreigners, with Syrians up 30%. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner noted: “The number of complaints by Syrian suspects stands out.”

In another separate case, a “well-integrated” 27-year-old Afghan was imprisoned for brutally raping a 17-year-old, choking her and filming the act after she rejected his advances. He blamed cocaine, claiming it “makes him aggressive.”

In another case seven youths with migrant backgrounds were charged for raping, blackmailing a teacher, torching her house, and beheading an animal on video. Prosecutors say they leveraged consensual sex with a minor into months of abuse, forcing drugs and payments.

In another horrific case, a 14-year-old girl’s body was found in an Afghan refugee’s home, suspected drugged and raped before overdosing.

Pools in Austria have become flashpoints too, with reports of sexual assaults on underage girls, including a 16-year-old surrounded by Bulgarian men at  in Vienna. Her mother said: “My heart sank,” after seeing her daughter hysterical. The victim noted: “They’re about the same age as me – weird and perverted.”

Parents are also pulling kids from Vienna’s public schools amid a language meltdown. One mother transferred her daughter after two years in Rudolfsheim-Fünfhaus, where only four children spoke German fluently. 

She said teachers spent lessons translating, leaving her child unable to recite the alphabet. “I felt my child was being strongly influenced,” after cultural pressures like avoiding pork or certain clothing.

‘Only four children spoke German!’ — Austrian parents are pulling kids out of state schools as language crisis deepens.https://t.co/Cm1t9TKwpg pic.twitter.com/xIzEwudQ5r

— Remix News & Views (@RMXnews) February 27, 2026

In Graz, a principal reported: “We have four or five out of 170 children with German as their first language.” Around 80 percent are Muslim, sparking tensions over sex education and symbols like Christmas trees.

Ministry data shows 46,385 pupils unable to follow lessons due to poor German, prompting FPÖ’s Hermann Brückl to warn: “German is becoming a foreign language in our own classrooms.” He called it a “full-blown educational emergency.”

This ties to accusations of refugees failing German courses deliberately to stay on benefits, avoiding low-wage jobs. A Syrian woman criticized pushing qualified migrants into cleaning roles, claiming some fail exams on purpose.

Vienna’s shifts reflect broader changes: Refugee women have nearly triple the birth rate of natives—3.3 versus 1.22 children. 

Shocking data reveals massive transformation, with one-third of primary pupils non-native German speakers, over 80% in some districts.

For the first time, Muslim students outnumber Christians in schools at 41.2%, fueling warnings of “displacement.” FPÖ’s Maximilian Weinzierl said: “This is no longer immigration, this is displacement.”

Austrian MEP Harald Vilimsky warns Europe risks becoming “a second Arabia or Africa” without halting this. 

As Austria spirals, it’s a stark reminder: Open borders erode safety and identity, demanding borders-first policies to reclaim Europe’s future.

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

The wreckage of an Iranian drone that targeted the British Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri, Cyprus, on Sunday reportedly contained a Russian-made “Kometa” satellite navigation chip using Western-made components, according to OSINT accounts on X.

The British military air base Akrotiri in Cyprus was hit by a drone strike, resulting in “minor damage” to the military facility, the Cyprus Mail newspaper reported:https://t.co/0YOqD5eS2I

Video: World News/Х pic.twitter.com/iuBEvixw0R

— TASS (@tassagency_en) March 2, 2026

A video circulating on X appears to show the drone’s wreckage, with an unidentified person holding a Russian Kometa military antenna. The attack came shortly after the RAF moved radar systems, counter-drone defenses, and F-35 stealth fighter jets to the base as part of ongoing efforts to support Operation Epic Fury against Iran. 

OSINT X account Special Kherson Cat said:

Shahed kamikaze drones launched by Iran toward Cyprus were partially manufactured in Russia using western components.

Video footage shows a Russian-made “Kometa” satellite navigation module recovered from one of the Shahed drones used in the attack. The “Kometa” is an anti-jamming GNSS antenna system designed to protect the drone’s navigation from electronic warfare interference, improving targeting accuracy under contested conditions.

‼️ Shahed kamikaze drones launched by Iran toward Cyprus were partially manufactured in Russia using western components.

Video footage shows a Russian-made “Kometa” satellite navigation module recovered from one of the Shahed drones used in the attack. The “Kometa” is an… https://t.co/BXd2tMdYdl pic.twitter.com/3rYxapnMEk

— Special Kherson Cat 🐈🇺🇦 (@bayraktar_1love) March 2, 2026

Another X account pointed out:

Those Taoglas CGGP.18.4.C.02 GNSS signal receivers are Irish and integrated into the Russian Orlan models back in 2024

Those Taoglas CGGP.18.4.C.02 GNSS signal receivers are Irish and integrated into the Russian Orlan models back in 2024 pic.twitter.com/gTXTuGRusi

— Mixed Strategy (@mixedstrategy) March 2, 2026

A separate report from independent Russian journalist Roman Dobrokhotov via The Insider provided more context about Russia’s Kometa military antennas, which are typically used on drones and guided bombs to avoid GPS jamming.

The report noted:

Russian engineers assemble the Kometa from parts imported by circumventing sanctions. For a long time, these parts were delivered directly to the Russian research institute making the antennas. But as The Insider discovered, more recent deliveries have been carried out using intermediary firms.

The Kometa is a patch antenna array for satellite navigation. All patch antennas shipped to Russia are processed under customs code 854231, which covers electronic circuits in general. All items under this code are under export bans from the United States, the UK, the European Union, and the Republic of China (Taiwan). However, as The Insider found, Kometas continue to be assembled from Irish- and Taiwanese-made antennas.

Taoglas

One Kometa can be assembled from four cheap antennas made by the Irish firm Taoglas. They enter Russia through Taiwanese or Chinese suppliers and are shipped to Russian firms that do not have websites, such as Hailang LLC in St. Petersburg.

Another X user, by the name Clash Report, said the Kometa chips are the “same system used on Russian drones and missiles in Ukraine,” suggesting possible reverse tech transfers between Iran and Russia.

Authored by Julianne Geiger via OilPrice.com,

The UK may be quietly inching toward an awkward admission: the windfall tax experiment on oil and gas has been a flop.

The Treasury is holding talks with North Sea oil and gas producers about potentially scrapping the Energy Profits Levy before its scheduled 2030 expiry, according to people familiar with the discussions. After multiple extensions and rate hikes, the levy has pushed the sector’s headline tax burden to 78% – a level producers argue borders on confiscatory, and a level critics argue borders on ridiculosity.

The EPL was introduced in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices soaring. Back then, it was framed as a temporary measure to capture extraordinary profits and ease pressure on households. But prices have since cooled, while the tax has lingered and grown.

Under current rules, the levy can end early if six-month average oil and gas prices fall below preset thresholds of $78.65 per barrel and 61 pence per therm for 2026–2027. Otherwise, it runs through March 2030.

There has been anticipated industry pushback. Offshore Energies UK has warned that the levy risks long-term damage to domestic production. Harbour Energy saw nearly all of its 2022 profits evaporate under the expanded tax regime, forcing it to cut jobs and shelve projects. BP and Shell have publicly reviewed UK investment plans. TotalEnergies trimmed spending.

Politically, it’s a minefield. Labour must juggle climate goals with energy security, jobs, and the rising pressure from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which has pledged to scrap the levy outright. Meanwhile, the Greens want it made permanent, and the Scottish National Party argues that it threatens tens of thousands of North Sea jobs.

Then comes the strategic backdrop. The UK’s grid operator and the state-owned system operator have both warned that shrinking domestic production could increase reliance on imports and leave the country more exposed to supply shocks.

For the UK Continental Shelf, some are left to wonder if the levy quietly accelerated decline in a basin already fighting gravity.

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday broke several decades of French nuclear taboos, promising to increase the country’s arsenal and positioning France for a lead role in European security.  Macron also called for the deployment of French nuclear capable aircraft to allied nations (which could potentially include Ukraine).  The new policies are some of the most significant changes in French nuclear doctrine since the end of the Cold War.

“Today, a new phase in French deterrence may therefore be taking shape. We are embarking on what I would call forward deterrence,” the French president said. That means increasingly including European countries in France’s deterrent – starting with participation in nuclear drills. 

“It will ultimately provide for the circumstantial deployments of elements of our strategic air forces to allied countries,” Macron added, referring to the squadrons of nuclear-capable Rafale fighter jets.

Macron cites threats from Russian and China as reasons for the decision. His announcement comes only a week after Russian Intelligence claimed they had uncovered a British and French plot to provide Ukraine with relevant European components and equipment that would then be misrepresented to the world as proof of a domestically developed nuclear program. This also allegedly included a plan to give Ukraine at least one actual warhead and/or materials for a dirty bomb.

It may be that there was some truth to this report and now France is simply abandoning clandestine strategies and implementing nuclear plans out in the open.  The Kremlin has warned that any presence of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would result in a direct military response to European suppliers.  They say this could include a nuclear response.

French political analysts note that Macron and his leftist political compatriots may be attempting to lock France into military action before the next presidential elections in 2027, so that new leadership will be unable to reverse course.  In other words, conservatives in France are gaining significant ground due to mass immigration issues and the leftist establishment is hoping to embed military forces in Ukraine before they lose power in government.  

Macron argued to qualify nuclear proliferation in his speech while standing at a podium in front of a nuclear submarine.  The statements came off as empty posturing, but the implications are still broad.

“Whoever wants to be free must be feared. Whoever wants to be feared must be strong…To be free, we have to be feared.”

France is, of course, not free.  The government has arrested and jailed numerous citizens in the past few years over online posts that violate the country’s leftist “hate speech” laws.  This mostly involves punishing people for speaking out against mass immigration.  This is why Macron’s strategy to bolster French military strength is unlikely to gain popular traction – Most young French people have no interest in dying for a government that wants to replace them with third world migrants.

Critics of the NATO handling of Ukraine have predicted that Europe has no intention of pursuing peace with Russia. Rather, they believe that European elites are seeking to trigger a wider war with Russia and drag the US into the middle of it.  The Trump Administration has been reticent rattle sabers over Ukraine and its peace proposals have been consistently thwarted by European leaders. 

Russian forces in the region continue to gain ground and Ukrainian troop strength is dwindling.  It would appear that the Europeans have decided to escalate rather than accept any agreement that would result in ceding territory to Vladimir Putin.    

Authored by Evgenia Filimianova via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

U.S. President Donald Trump said he was disappointed by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s refusal to use the joint UK–U.S. military base on Diego Garcia island to strike Iran.

In an interview with The Telegraph, published on March 2, Trump said that Starmer’s initial refusal to let Washington use the Chagos Islands base was unlike anything that had “happened between our countries before.”

Starmer confirmed late on March 1 that the UK had initially decided not to take part in U.S. strikes against Iran, but said the security situation had changed as Iranian actions began threatening British personnel and interests in the region.

“We have British jets in the air as part of coordinated defensive operations which have already successfully intercepted Iranian strikes,” Starmer said. “But the only way to stop the threat is to destroy the missiles at source – in their storage depots or the launchers which used to fire the missiles.”

Starmer said that he would now allow the United States “to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose.”

Trump said it “took far too long” for Starmer to change his mind.

“It sounds like he was worried about the legality,” he said.

The base on Diego Garcia is regarded by the United States as one of its most strategically important military hubs. Located roughly 2,300 to 2,400 miles from the southern coast of Iran, it allows long-range bomber and naval operations across the Middle East, East Africa, and the Indo-Pacific.

In a Feb. 18 post on Truth Social, Trump warned that the facility could become critical if tensions with Iran escalated further. He wrote that if Tehran refused a diplomatic agreement, the United States might need to use Diego Garcia and the airfield at RAF Fairford in England to prevent a potential Iranian attack on the UK or its allies.

Diplomatic Tensions, Parliamentary Delay

Trump’s criticism also comes amid continuing debate over the UK’s decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, a British overseas territory, to Mauritius.

Under the terms of the agreement, signed in October 2025, the British–U.S. naval and bomber base on Diego Garcia would remain under UK control for at least 99 years, ensuring continued access for U.S. forces.

The UK government has said the agreement was necessary to safeguard the long-term operation of the base, following a series of international court rulings that weakened the UK’s legal position.

According to Starmer’s remarks in January, the issue of the Chagos deal had been raised repeatedly with the White House, and he maintained that the Trump administration had already reviewed and supported the agreement at an agency level.

Trump has criticized the UK’s decision to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, calling it an “act of total weakness” in January.

“All of a sudden [Mauritius] was claiming ownership. He [Starmer] should have fought it out and owned it or make him take it, if you want to know the truth. But no, we were very disappointed in Keir,” Trump told The Telegraph, describing the Chagos deal as a “very woke thing.”

Last week, UK officials confirmed that Downing Street was pausing to discuss the matter with the United States before bringing the bill to ratify the Chagos deal back to Parliament.

“We are sometimes going to disagree with our friends and allies in public, but we will seek to resolve those issues in private,” British Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer told lawmakers on Feb. 25.

Referring to the UK’s decision to pause the process, Trump said it “is useful,” adding that “it took far too much time.”

“It would have been much better on the legal front if he just kept the ownership of the land and not given it to people that weren’t the rightful owners,” Trump said.

Security Risks

Roughly 300,000 Britons are believed to be in countries targeted by Iran, with 102,000 registered with the Foreign Office for alerts as officials weigh all options, including a potential mass evacuation.

Trump suggested Starmer should have always approved American use of the base, because Iran was responsible for killing “a lot of people from your country”.

“[There are] people without arms and legs and faces that have been blown up. Iran is 95 per cent of those. Those horrible events were caused by Iran,” Trump said.

Starmer said in his March 1 statement that Iran is “striking British interests” and “putting British people at huge risk.”

“Our partners in the Gulf have asked us to do more to defend them, and it is my duty to protect British lives,” he added.

Hours after his statement, a Shahed-type unmanned aerial vehicle crashed into the UK’s Royal Air Force base at Akrotiri in Cyprus. The drone struck military facilities at the base at 12:03 a.m., causing minor damage but no casualties, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said in a post on X.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times on March 2, a spokesperson for the UK’s Ministry of Defence said that it regularly reviews the security of its overseas bases, including the Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus.

The ministry also said additional capabilities had recently been deployed to the island as part of efforts to maintain regional security and stability in the Middle East.

Those capabilities are focused on defensive operations and include radar systems, counter-drone technology, F-35 fighter jets and ground-based air defence systems designed to detect and defeat airborne threats.

PA Media contributed to this report. 

Authored by Andrew Korybko via substack,

Authorities in Russia believe that Ukraine has quick access to Russian servicemen’s messages and exploits this for military purposes, which wouldn’t be possible without some degree of complicity on Telegram’s part, thus impugning its founder’s character after he denied working with foreign spooks.

The FSB claimed to have “reliable information that the Ukrainian armed forces and intelligence agencies are able to quickly obtain information posted on the Telegram messenger and use it for military purposes.” This coincides with the government allegedly throttling Telegram on the grounds that it’s not in compliance with local laws, which preceded reports that it’ll be banned on 1 April. The authorities denied that they have nay such plan but there’s no doubt that Telegram is now controversial in Russia.

Speculation about Ukraine’s access to the messages sent by Russian servicemen on that platform, which the FSB also touched upon in their two-sentence press release, is credible in light of founder Pavel Durov’s brief detention by the French authorities in 2024. Although he vehemently denied that he cut a deal with them for granting their authorities access to certain users’ messages and has since accused them of askingz him to ban conservative Romanian accounts, he might be lying and it could all be an act.

After all, criticizing the French authorities in the aftermath of his scandalous detainment could be meant to convince observers that he didn’t cut a deal with them even though he might have, or he could at least have been coerced by the American ones to that end or even voluntarily decided to help the Ukrainian ones. In any case, however it ended up happening, the FSB arguably does indeed believe that Ukraine has access to Russian servicemen’s messages and uses them for military purposes.

It would therefore be best for them to speedily replace Telegram with Russia’s Max messenger app instead, which was developed for strengthening Russia’s “digital sovereignty”. That concept refers to the trend of countries asserting their sovereignty in this sphere through regulations like banning certain sites like Russia banned Facebook, Twitter/X, and others for non-compliance with local legislation and creating their own alternatives that can’t be exploited by their adversaries. It’s a sensible policy in today’s world.

In fact, so sensible is it that some cynics speculate that the pressure that Telegram has recently come under in Russia is part of the state’s campaign to get citizens to use Max, but that still doesn’t discredit the FSB’s claim about Ukraine having quick access to Russian servicemen’s messages. Telegram is used by many of them to communicate with each other as well as by many Russian businesses to engage with their clients. It’s also a useful channel for sharing facts about Russian policy with the rest of the world.

Even in the scenario of Russia banning Telegram, it could still be used with a VPN just like Facebook, Twitter/X, and other banned sites are, which the FSB obviously knows and thus challenges the cynical speculation that it might be lying about the app as part of a ploy to get Russians to use Max instead. Accordingly, their claim about it being compromised by Ukraine is credible, and this in turn impugns Durov’s character since it wouldn’t be possible without some degree of complicity on his part.

Whatever Telegram’s fate in Russia may be, Russia and others are correct in doubting the integrity of that app and all foreign ones in general since there are credible reasons to believe that they’re exploited by adversarial intelligence agencies for hostile purposes. The solution is therefore creating national alternatives and getting citizens to use them instead for strengthening “digital sovereignty”. Some states might struggle with this, however, so their citizens would then have to choose the “lesser (foreign) evil”.

A Milwaukee man who slashed a bicyclist with a box cutter and then tried to frame his own victim with fake death threats against President Trump – hoping immigration authorities would deport him before trial – was sentenced Friday to 16½ years in prison.

Demetric DeShawn Scott, 52, was convicted in January of felony identity theft, witness intimidation, reckless endangerment and bail jumping after a Milwaukee County jury concluded he impersonated the man he attacked and sent threatening letters to state and federal officials.

On Friday, Judge Kristy Yang stacked the penalties: 18 months for identity theft, five years for intimidating a witness and 10 years for reckless endangerment. He received credit for 882 days already served on the bail-jumping charge.

The attack

The case began in September 2023, when Ramón Morales Reyes was riding his bike in Milwaukee.

Scott approached him, kicked him off the bicycle, cut him with a box cutter and rode away on the stolen bike, according to court records. Police arrested Scott within hours. He was out on bail in a separate burglary case at the time. That burglary case was dismissed Friday.

The deportation ploy

While jailed, Scott carried out a scheme prosecutors described as calculated and cynical.

He wrote multiple letters posing as Morales Reyes and sent them to state and federal officials threatening to kill Trump at a rally. The goal: trigger federal immigration enforcement and remove Morales Reyes from the country before he could testify.

We are tired of this president messing with us mexicans – we have done more for this country than you white people – you have been deporting my family and I think it is time Donald J. Trump get what he has coming to him. I will self deport myself back to mexico but Not before I use my 30 yard 6 to shoot your precious president

The plan briefly succeeded in dragging the victim into federal custody.

In May, immigration authorities detained Morales Reyes after he dropped his daughter off at school. Investigators later determined the threat letters were forged and tied them to Scott. The letters did not match Morales Reyes’ writing or language ability, and evidence presented at trial linked them to Scott.

A high-stakes backfire

What started as a street robbery escalated into a national story — blending a violent assault, threats against a former president and the machinery of federal immigration enforcement.

Morales Reyes has since sought a U visa, available to certain crime victims who assist law enforcement. His immigration case remains pending.

Scott, meanwhile, will spend more than a decade in state prison — his attempt to silence a witness by weaponizing the federal government ultimately sealing his own fate.