🚨 Mass casualties feared after strike on Minab school

Up to 160 people may have been killed after a school in southern Iran was struck during Israeli and US missile attacks, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi vowed the attack on the girls’ elementary school in Minab would not go unanswered.

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🇬🇧 Protest against strikes on Iran held in central London

A demonstration against the strikes on Iran is taking place in central London, with hundreds of participants chanting “Hands off Iran” and “No justice, no peace, hands off the Middle East.”

Many protesters are holding signs reading “No war with Iran” and “Stop Trump’s wars.”

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🚨 Strait of Hormuz is currently being closed by IRGC forces in response to recent aggression against Iran - IRGC Commander Brigadier General Ibrahim Jabari

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🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran’s retaliation against US military bases in Middle East

Iranian strikes launched in response to a US-Israeli aggression on February 28 hit targets in eight countries in the region.

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🇮🇷 Iran launched over a thousand missiles in immediate retaliation against US-Israel aggression

Iran has fired around 1,200 missiles at multiple targets in response to US-Israel strikes, launching them in different directions immediately after the aggression began, Brigadier General Ebrahim Jabbari of the IRGC told Al Mayadeen.

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🗣 Closing the Strait of Hormuz spells doom for energy markets – expert

💬 “Analysts already warn of a 10–25% geopolitical premium even without a full blockade, with prices potentially moving toward $100–120 if disruption deepens,” Dr. Hriday Sarma, a professional specializing in international affairs and energy geoeconomics, tells Sputnik.

🟠 For countries that import most of the crude they use, Dr. Sarma explains: “This translates into higher fuel and food inflation, widening current account deficits, and currency depreciation risks.”

🟠 A surge in insurance costs, freight rates and hedging expenses is also expected, and “sustained volatility” in the markets is almost guaranteed at this point.

🟠 None of the oil trade routes out there can provide a “real substitute” to the Strait of Hormuz, he adds.

💬 “Any reliance on escorted convoys or partial rerouting will slow flows, inflate insurance premiums and embed a structural price premium into oil and LNG markets,” Dr. Sarma notes. “Global stakeholders should prepare for tighter supply, higher costs and prolonged volatility.”

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🇺🇸🇮🇱⚔️🇮🇷 US-Israel attack on Iran: LATEST

🔥 Tensions continue to rise across the region as military strikes and retaliatory actions expand. Here are the main developments at this hour:

🔸 Iran’s Interior Ministry confirmed the creation of a national crisis management headquarters

🔸 Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is at the operational command center overseeing the course of military operations - Al-Mayadeen

🔸 Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the US and Israel struck military and civilian sites, “grossly violating” the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity

🔸 According to the IRGC, Iran targeted 14 US bases across eight countries: Iraq, Israel, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan.

🔸 The Strait of Hormuz is currently being closed by IRGC forces in response to recent aggression against Iran - IRCG commander

🔸 An emergency UN Security Council meeting on the situation around Iran is scheduled for Saturday at 16:00 EST

🔸 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and condemned what he called the unprovoked US-Israel attack

🔸 The Israeli army announced the start of a new wave of strikes on Iran

Ayatollah Khamenei’s son-in-law and daughter-in-law were reportedly killed

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🗣 'A reckless, lawless act': Ex-CIA officer warns US-Israel attack on Iran was catastrophic miscalculation

Retired CIA intelligence officer Larry Johnson delivers a stark warning about the US-Israeli attack on Iran, comparing it to Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland and predicting devastating consequences for America.

(00:14) This attack ranks with the Nazis' attack on Poland in 1939

(00:38) Complete intelligence failure — missile defenses will be rapidly depleted

(02:49) This war ends on Iran's terms

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🗣 Strait of Hormuz closure: Expert outlines three scenarios for oil markets

📍 There are ways the oil markets may react to the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, Lebanese energy policy researcher Marc Ayoub tells Sputnik.

🔸 If there are no major disruptions in the flow of oil and in oil production, things could go down the same way they did during the attack on Iran last year, with the price of oil increasing to about $80 per barrel

🔸 If the strait gets closed, thus severing the flow of oil and LNG, that would cause a major increase in the oil price, up to $100 per barrel

🔸 If the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is accompanied by attacks on oil production facilities in the Gulf, however, oil price could shoot up all the way to $130 per barrel

👉 The problem, Ayoub explains, is that it is difficult for the Gulf states to quickly find alternative routes to ship their oil, which would make a disruption of oil flow and a surge in oil price almost inevitable if the Strait of Hormuz is shut down.

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🗣 Trump on Iran strikes: 'I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in 2 or 3 days'

The president confirms US operation against Iran has multiple off-ramps, with timeline could shift based on developments — including the fate of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

"In any case, it will take them several years to recover from this attack," he told Axios.

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🇬🇧🇫🇷 UK-France nuclear push threatens to derail US-led Ukraine talks — analyst

👉 Transferring nuclear arms to Ukraine could backfire badly, analyst at the Asian Century Philippines Strategic Studies Institute, Daniel Hugo Santos, tells Sputnik.

💬 "Trust in France and the UK as nuclear states will drop due to non-compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Western allies within the EU and G7 may not support this move, as it threatens global nuclear stability," Santos notes.

📍 He also points out the risk of a strategic split in Europe amid US reassessment of allied priorities, including closer ties with Hungary and Slovakia, as well as domestic political pressure in France and the UK, influencing adjustments to their course.

💬 "There's a high probability this strategy aims to sabotage US-led negotiations. London and Paris still maintain leverage over Ukraine as alternative partners to Washington."

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💬 Iran's Supreme Leader 'steadfast and firm in commanding the field' — Tasnim

Iranian media quotes a close source to the Leader's office tells Tasnim that Ayatollah Khamenei is alive and directly overseeing operations, contradicting Israeli claims of his death.

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🎥🎥 UN Security Council holds emergency meeting on escalating conflict between US, Israel, and Iran

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📹 Iranian missiles reach Tel Aviv after crossing southern Lebanon

Sputnik correspondent on the ground reports missiles successfully evading Israeli Iron Dome defenses.

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