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President Donald Trump on Wednesday rated the US performance in the war with Iran as a 15 on a scale of 10, saying the Islamic republic’s leaders were rapidly being killed, and vowing to push on.Trump’s comments came as the conflict expanded on its fifth day, with a US submarine sinking an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka and fresh blasts across the Middle East. “We’re doing well on the war front, to put it mildly. Somebody said on a scale of 10, where would you rate it? I said about a 15,” Trump told a gathering of...

Russia is one of the biggest winners in the early days of the largest U.S. military confrontation in decades, as Iranian missiles deplete stocks of Patriot interceptors that Ukraine needs for its defense. Even before the Iran campaign, production bottlenecks in the U.S.-made Patriot system had drained Ukraine’s reserves and left European allies on yearslong waiting lists. Those shortfalls have allowed Russia to punch through gaps in Ukraine’s air defenses, devastating its power infrastructure and casting Ukrainian cities into blackouts.

The White House said on Wednesday that Spain has agreed to cooperate with the US military against Iran after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off trade, but Spain denied making such a deal. Trump on Tuesday had vowed to sever trade with Madrid over its stance against the US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Asked about the issue on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said she had been told that Spain had relented. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. “I think they heard the president’s message yesterday loud and clear....

Doha on Wednesday rejected Tehran’s claim that Iranian attacks on Qatari territory were aimed at American targets rather than Qatar itself. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi repeated the claim during a phone call with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Qatar’s state news agency reported. For all the latest headlines follow our Google News channel online or via the app. Sheikh Mohammed, who also serves as Qatar’s foreign minister, “categorically rejected these claims,” saying the facts on the ground show the attacks struck civilian and residential areas in Qatar. He said the strikes hit areas near Hamad...

Intense waves of airstrikes have hit dozens of military positions, frontier posts and police stations along northern parts of Iran’s border with Iraq in what appears to be preparation by US and Israel for a new front in their war. A US official with knowledge of the discussions between Washington and Kurdish officials said the US was ready to provide air support if Kurdish peshmerga fighters crossed the border from northern Iraq. A spokesperson for Israel’s military said the air force had been “heavily operating in western Iran to degrade Iranian capabilities there and to open up a way to...

Iran threatened harsh retaliation in the wake of the American-Israeli attacks that killed the country’s supreme leader and many of its senior commanders. Its response consisted of a barrage of missiles aimed at Israel. So far, so predictable. Yet, at the same time, Tehran chose to direct its firepower at neighbouring Gulf states, countries that have been encouraging diplomacy and warning against war. Iran’s actions are an object lesson in how to alienate your friends and neighbours. The Iranians targeted Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Jordan. Explosions rocked the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh....

Many commentators are already claiming that the war with Iran is ‘spiralling out of control.’ I try not to be uncharitable: I am a Catholic, after all, and the Church tells me it is a sin. But if I were tempted, I should say that the only thing spiralling out of control is cliché. Iran said it would hit out wildly if it were attacked. It also made clear that direct attacks on the leadership of the Islamic Republic would be treated as an existential threat. So why anyone is now surprised that Iranian missiles are hitting targets, some clearly...

EU Commissioner Stéphane Séjourné on Wednesday presented a strategy shutting Beijing out of EU public funding by introducing a European preference in strategic sectors. Countries which limit access to their own markets through local content rules would also be cut off. The European Commission on Wednesday unveiled its long-awaited industrial plan, rolling out a “European Preference” that shuts China out of European public funding and tightens the screws on Beijing’s future investments in the European Union. The move comes after 200,000 European jobs were wiped out in energy-intensive industries and the automotive sector since 2024, with 600,000 losses projected this...

WASHINGTON — The United States expects to have "complete" control of Iranian airspace in the coming hours, the White House said on Wednesday, the fifth day of U.S.-Israeli operations against the Islamic republic. "We expect to have complete and total dominance over Iranian airspace in the coming hours," Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said. ...

Companies in the U.S. that paid tariffs invalidated by the Supreme Court in February are legally entitled to refunds, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. Judge Richard Eaton of the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York said that U.S. importers were "entitled to benefit" from the high court's February 20 decision that President Trump lacked the authority to impose sweeping tariffs last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Eaton was ruling specifically on a case brought by Atmus Filtration, a Nashville, Tennessee, company that makes filters and other filtration products, claiming a right to a...

Senate Republicans voted down an effort Wednesday to halt President Donald Trump’s war against Iran, demonstrating early support for a conflict that has rapidly spread across the Middle East with no clear U.S. exit strategy. The legislation, known as a war powers resolution, failed on a 47-53 vote tally. The vote fell mostly along party lines, though Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted in favor and Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against. The war powers resolution gave lawmakers an opportunity to demand congressional approval before any further attacks are carried out. The vote forced them to take...

Thousands of Kurdish fighters reportedly crossed Iraq’s border with Iran on Wednesday as part of a ground offensive against the Iranian regime. US and Israeli officials confirmed the military campaign, according to Fox News and The Jerusalem Post. Earlier Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied a CNN report that the Trump administration was planning to arm Kurdish fighters.

Thousands of Kurdish fighters have a launched a ground invasion in Iran, according to a US official. The Kurdish militias, based across the border in Iraq, began the offensive in northwestern Iran on Wednesday. President Donald Trump on Sunday night spoke with the heads of Kurdish militant groups in Iraq to discuss the situation in Iran. The CIA was exploring plans to arm the Kurdish forces with the aim of sparking a popular uprising, CNN reported Tuesday. The Kurdish groups are widely seen as the most well-organized faction of the fragmented Iranian opposition and are believed to have thousands of...

In a major escalation of its air campaign against Iran, the United States just deployed the supersonic B-1 Lancer in a high-profile strike that analysts say signals a decisive shift in air superiority.According to a report published on MSN, U.S. Central Command confirmed that B-1 bombers struck deep inside Iranian territory, targeting ballistic missile facilities and command infrastructure.The announcement was accompanied by a 45-second video released on X by United States Central Command, showing the bombers lifting off under the cover of darkness. The message read bluntly:“Last night, B-1 bombers struck deep into Iranian territory, neutralizing its ballistic missile capabilities....

The California governor made the remarks at an event to promote his new memoir, 'Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery.'California Governor Gavin Newsom compared Israel to an “apartheid state” and questioned future U.S. military support for the country. Speaking on stage at an event to promote his new memoir, Young Man in a Hurry: A Memoir of Discovery, Newsom, who is widely expected to enter the 2028 presidential race, was asked by Pod Save America host Jon Favreau about the U.S.-Israel relationship and whether it should be reconsidered. “It breaks my heart, because the current leadership in...

As the U.S.-led assault on Iran continues, Iranian filmmakers are taking to social media to support the foreign intervention to topple Tehran's theocracy. "The 47-year nightmare has not yet fully ended, but light is slowly entering the frame."Iran‘s large community of diaspora filmmakers has broadly come out in support of the U.S.-led attacks that resulted in the killing, on Saturday, of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In public statements and across social media, Iranian filmmakers are celebrating Khamenei’s death and the international intervention they see as striking a blow against Tehran’s theocracy. “Everybody is extremely happy the dictator is...

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has released the names of four of the six service members who have been killed in the Iran conflict.The Department of War said the four servicemen died in a drone strike in Kuwait. All four Army Reserve soldiers were killed Sunday when a drone hit a command center in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait. The strike also killed two other service members.“These men and women all bravely volunteered to defend our country, and their sacrifice will never be forgotten,” said Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.The drone strike came a day after the United States and Israel launched a military...

Luxembourg just wrote abortion into its constitution. On March 3, Luxembourg’s Chamber of Deputies voted to add the “freedom” to have an abortion to the country’s highest law. The initiative began when MP Marc Baum of déi Lénk introduced the proposal in 2024, then pushed it through the legislative pipeline in 2025, including review by the State Council. Along the way, lawmakers contorted themselves into knots and deliberately shifted the text from a claimed “right” to a “freedom,” a rhetorical dodge that changes the label while keeping the same moral claim: the state should publicly bless the deliberate destruction of...

Mark Carney has backtracked on his support for the US military campaign against Iran.In an initial statement on Sunday, the Canadian prime minister expressed “support” for the attacks and said they were necessary to “prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon”.But speaking in Sydney on Wednesday, he told reporters that the strikes appeared “to be inconsistent with international law”.Mr Carney joined a chorus of world leaders speaking out against the joint US-Israeli operation, which entered its fifth day on Wednesday.Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said on Tuesday that while Iran bore responsibility for the war, the attacks by the US...

Kuwaiti aircraft are suspected to be responsible for the shootdown of three U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles on March 2, people familiar with the matter told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The friendly fire episode occurred around 7 a.m. local time on the third day of the U.S. war against Iran. At least one Kuwaiti F/A-18 is believed to be responsible—Kuwait flies F/A-18s and Eurofighter Typhoons. All six aviators—three pilots and three weapons systems officers—are alive, were recovered safely, and are in stable condition, U.S. military officials said. U.S. Central Command declined comment on the suspected role of the...