In the present day’s Iran battle replace can be extra telegraphic than traditional. I don’t usually put together unique posts on Saturday and had the competing responsibility of assembling Hyperlinks. I’ll endeavor to have a accomplished model by 8:00 AM EST. Please make additions and any corrections in feedback and in the event you arrive early, refresh your browser and re-skim at 8:00 AM.
On the threat of once more seeming perversely optimistic, if monetary time operates because it usually does, sooner than political or actual world (right here kinetic battle) time, there’s a prospect that market upheaval will throw an impossibly large spanner in Trump’s prosecution of the Iran battle. Despite the fact that Brent crude rose and remained over $90 a barrel (and I’m advised that Fox Information, Trump’s favourite info supply, yammered about that and the decline in shares on Friday), his staff nonetheless appears to be in appreciable denial in regards to the rising financial prices and actual threat of investor revolt. A poor jobs report, with a decline of 92,000 and a small uptick in unemployment, confirmed that there’s already underlying weak spot within the US.
Bloomberg supplies a very good one-stop overview of not simply info to buyers but additionally considerations. A late-in-day Friday snapshot of the touchdown web page:
Admittedly, the finance group could not but be keen to just accept that the persevering with Trump utterances are admissions of impotence. There are report of Gulf state, notably the Saudis, trying to interact the Iranians. Thoughts you, this comes after the Monetary Instances reported that at the least some distinguished gamers had been deeply upset in regards to the excessive price the US was casually inflicting on them:
Khalaf al-Habtoor, a distinguished Emirati businessman, mirrored Gulf frustrations about being dragged right into a battle triggered by the US and Israel in a social media submit addressed to Trump.
“A direct query: Who gave you the authority to pull our area right into a battle with #Iran? And on what foundation did you make this harmful choice?” he mentioned on X. “Did you calculate the collateral harm earlier than pulling the set off?”
He identified that the Gulf states had been anticipated to be main funders of Trump’s plan to rebuild Gaza and backers of his wider “Board of Peace”.
He mentioned Arab Gulf international locations had “contributed billions of {dollars} on the premise of supporting stability and growth”, including: “These international locations have the fitting to ask right now: the place did this cash go? Are we funding peace initiatives or funding a battle that exposes us to hazard?”
Extra on divisions within the Gulf as a result of US leaving them excessive and dry and prioritizing protection of Israel:
On the identical time (I imagine it was Alastair Crooke in an recent interview with Chris Hedges) advised that the management of some nations within the cause could also be enjoying a double recreation, nonetheless supporting the US marketing campaign as a result of they discover an Iran win, at the least within the sense of verify that the US can’t insure safety within the area, as severely damaging to them. The UAE and its fellow vacationers have profited significantly from positioning themselves as sunny, luxury-filled enclaves for the worldwide rich. Tourism and journey are positive to plunge if that model proposition is revealed to be empty.
Nonetheless, Iran made a concession of types to the bleating of its neighbors. From Arab Information in Iran president apologizes to neighboring international locations for assaults:
President Masoud Pezeshkian apologized for Iran’s assaults on regional international locations, insisting that Tehran would halt them and suggesting they had been attributable to miscommunication within the ranks.
Pezeshkian made the assertion in a prerecorded handle aired by state tv after repeated assaults Saturday morning on Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“I apologize … to the neighboring international locations that had been attacked by Iran,” mentioned Pezeshkian in a speech broadcast by state TV.
Pezeshkian mentioned its short-term management council had authorized the suspension of assaults in opposition to neighboring international locations until an assault on Iran got here from these international locations.
Nonetheless:
Iran’s president mentioned the council has determined to cease all bombing of close by international locations IF no assaults depart from these international locations.
Pay attention to the IF.
— Elijah J. Magnier 🇪🇺 (@ejmalrai) March 7, 2026
In case you assume the US will cease utilizing bases within the area to assault Iran, I’ve a bridge to promote you.
However Trump will take any opener to flog the concept that the US is triumphing. Lead story on the Monetary Instances now:
However Pezeshkian’s remarks are in keeping with considered one of our beliefs: Iran will cease taking pictures as soon as the US and Israel cease taking pictures at them. However it appears logical for Iran to maintain the Strait of Hormuz closed till it has damaged US resolve.
Iran is relenting with the Strait of Hormuz closure…..with some exceptions. From Bloomberg in HORMUZ TRACKER: Iran-Linked Ships Transit as Others Keep Away:
• Strait of Hormuz transit stays close to a standstill for a sixth day, with Iran-linked tankers the one giant vessels making the crossing previously 24 hours.
• Visitors via the Strait of Hormuz has successfully flatlined following a number of assaults on service provider ships, with missile and drone exercise posing a important threat to all vessels.
• The shortcoming to maneuver oil tankers into and out of the Gulf means storage tanks are filling and a few refineries have minimize capability, with international locations reminiscent of Iraq and Kuwait scaling again manufacturing.
To date, except for the hare-brained thought of a battle threat insurance coverage backstop (not possible on any related time-frame save maybe for US carriers, who’re small fry in maritime insurance coverage), the most recent vibrant thought has been for Treasury Secretary to offer a 30 day sanctions waiver. Per Anadolu Company:
The US could take into account lifting sanctions on further Russian oil shipments to ease a short lived world provide hole, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent advised Fox Information on Friday.
The remarks comply with a US choice to situation a short lived 30-day waiver permitting Indian refiners to buy Russian oil in an effort to keep up world provide….
Bessent mentioned the Treasury Division is analyzing whether or not further sanctioned Russian crude shipments could possibly be launched to the market.
“We could unsanction different Russian oil,” he mentioned. “There are lots of of thousands and thousands of barrels of sanctioned crude on the water … by unsanctioning them, Treasury can create provide.”
With respect to India, the Bessent declare seems to be to be closing the barn door after the horse is within the subsequent county. India was near prime of the checklist of nations that will be harmed by lack of provide from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. India was nearly sure to purchase Russian oil to fill the hole whether or not the US stored its pig-headed sanctions on or not.
As for different international locations, Putin said earlier than the Bessent hand-waive that he would possibly instantly help Europe’s suicide pact to not purchase Russian power.
Russia might halt fuel provides to Europe ‘proper now,’ amid a spike in power costs triggered by the Iran disaster, President Putin warned, linking the attainable choice to the European Union desirous to ban purchases of Russian fuel and liquefied pure fuel https://t.co/lRKY1A6XYg pic.twitter.com/PLkqFHPdhv
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 5, 2026
Now to kinetic battle updates:
Tel Aviv, final night time.
IRGC channel.
@SepahPasdaran pic.twitter.com/VcB0VRMcoD— tim anderson (@timand2037) March 7, 2026
Observe that an increasing number of indications that Iran is inflicting a whole lot of harm on Israel come as doubt are rising in regards to the diploma of punishment Iran is taking. Despite the fact that it appears unquestionable that civilian lives and infrastructure have been broken, a CNN report confirmed that life for many Iranians appears to be persevering with as usually as it will possibly throughout a battle, and in notably meals provides and different fundamentals of the financial system are working correctly. Army professional are additionally elevating pink flags about US claims to have worn out Iranian missile launchers. Chas Freeman in a chat with Daniel Davis cited a Douglas Macgregor account that within the 1997 Serbia air marketing campaign, Serbia has 17 launchers however NATO forces reported 64 kills. Scott Ritter gave the same account from the Iraq battle, of how pilots rapidly reported having destroyed a big integral a number of of the Iraq missile launchers that existed as having been destroyed.
US missile: pic.twitter.com/Mo0p9co3bp
— . (@distantdeadstar) March 4, 2026
There have been many superb talks on Friday however this one was a standout on account of Wilkerson presenting each related working element, reminiscent of the method of screening and getting ready active-duty troopers for fight, in addition to info he’s receiving from contacts:
Some key objects on this dialogue:
The US has not supplied pictures confirming harm in Iran as one would anticipate by now
The US is firing into Iran almost completely at a distance, which makes even JDAMs much less correct, sot they miss targets more often than not
Stamrer is aware of the strike on Cyprus was a false flag
Larry Johnson has an vital article on how The Trump Administration is Mendacity About American Casualties within the Persian Gulf Area:
Regardless of the Trump administration’s efforts to downplay US casualties after seven days of battle within the Persian Gulf, clues are showing on the web that point out the US has suffered extra fight losses than reported. The primary clue is that this Xhitter (pronounced SHITTER) from Stars and Stripes.
Ok-City refers to Kaiserslautern, a US Military base in Germany, which is situated 13 miles east of the Landstuhl Regional Medical Middle. So what? Effectively, on March 4, 2026 the Landstuhl Regional Medical Middle (LRMC) in Germany—the biggest US Division of Protection hospital outdoors america and the first abroad trauma/evacuation hub for injured service members from Europe, the Center East, and Africa—despatched out a memo asserting the short-term suspension of its labor and supply companies “till additional discover.” The memo didn’t explicitly outline the “main goal,” however LRMC’s core position is treating combat- and training-related accidents. It is also the primary medical evacuation level for wounded troops from ongoing operations.
A educated buddy who supervised DOD’s Wounded Warrior Program in the course of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and labored with personnel on the LRMC, discovered right now that there’s a flood of casualties arriving on the hospital. The numbers are so giant that the hospital might now not proceed to spend assets on birthing infants.
Then this image popped up on Telegram just a little bit in the past:
Contemplate additionally:
MORE POSSIBLE EVIDENCE THAT THE US GOVERNMENT IS HIDING THE CASUALTIES OF US TROOPS IN THE WAR WITH IRAN:
The hospital in Landstuhl Germany has closed down its complete labor and supply ward to probably accommodate US Troops.
Please watch the video beneath, and drop any supply… https://t.co/256CALmTOK
— Godfroy (@g0dfr0y) March 6, 2026
Understand that Johnson is discussing casualties, a few of which can flip into fatalities. However current Military Ranger Greg Stoker has identified that the armed companies have a course of for informing members of the family of deaths in fight. They don’t embrace these losses in official counts till these notifications have been made. Stoker believes that this process makes it arduous for the army to lie a lot about deaths. However accidents are in a very totally different class.
Johnson on this article and each Larrys within the speak on Dialogue Works additionally took up the subject that the Trump Administration seems to be to be scrambling to ship forces to the theater. We identified yesterday that Max Blumenthal had argued that the purported Kurdish marketing campaign the US was making an attempt to mount was doubtless a method for introducing particular forces.
Extra rumors:
The USS George H.W. Bush service strike group is to be deployed within the Jap Mediterranean, off the coast of Israel, because the US prepares for the deployment of troops into Iran.
Comply with: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/taFrxwSbOp
— AF Publish (@AFpost) March 7, 2026
Telephone has been ringing off the hook. A LOT extra items have simply been activated for deployment than the general public is aware of about… https://t.co/qax3F23lwM
— Mike Prysner (@MikePrysner) March 6, 2026
Former ambassador Chas Freeman and Daniel Davis additionally had an informative speak, extra of the large image kind. Freeman burdened that he expects Iran to get a nuclear weapon and in addition described their technique as rope-a-dope, to maintain taking Western punishment as they exhaust themselves, after which land a knockout blow.
Hopefully it is a sufficiently big info dose for right now. Again tomorrow.
