🗣 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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🔊 US-Israeli aggression on Iran threatens to spiral beyond region's borders — Nebenzia

Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia addresses emergency Security Council session as strikes continue.

"Aggression that Iran has been subjected to today threatens to lead to escalation in an already escalated region, and it could go far beyond its borders, particularly given the fact that one of the two initiators of this military venture is far from being a state in the region."

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💬 Trump claims Iranian leader is dead

The president announces on Truth Social that Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in a joint US-Israeli operation, calling it "justice for the Iranian people."

"Working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do."

Iranian media previously denied Israeli and US reports of Khamenei's death, stating that, according to their information, he is currently overseeing the situation on the battlefield.

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📹 Burj Al-Arab is on fire after Iranian strikes on Dubai

The 60-story, 321-meter sail-shaped hotel—built on an artificial island and famously dubbed the world's only "7-star" hotel—has been hit.

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🔊 US-Israel strike is 'a crime against humanity' — Iran's UN envoy

Ali Bahreini delivers a blistering address at the Security Council.

Key points:

◼️ The declared goal of regime change is a violation of Iran's sovereignty.

◼️ This is not a war against Iran—it's a war against international law and the UN Charter.

◼️ US-Israeli aggression does not meet the criteria for self-defense. A US-Israel strike on school killed over 100 children.

◼️ Iran will continue defending itself until the aggression stops.

◼️ Response will be aimed exclusively at US government bases and facilities.

"The war waged by the US and Israel is a war against international law."

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🗣 Europeans and Zelensky united in unwillingness to settle Ukrainian conflict — experts

🟠 While for Zelensky prolonging the conflict in Ukraine is about power and physical security, for Europeans it’s a matter of principle, director of the Center for Geopolitical Studies at the Institute for Innovative Development Dmitry Rodionov tells Sputnik.

🟠 Europe has spent too much on Ukraine and that has already backfired, so they back the conflict hoping to compensate for the expenses, expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies Vladimir Bruter notes.

💬 "They are against a peace agreement that would not allow them to declare themselves victors and us the losers," he adds.

🟠 On February 24, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service reported the UK and France have plans to secretly transfer nuclear arms to Ukraine in hopes that it could secure more favorable conditions for ending the conflict if it has a nuclear or at least a "dirty" bomb.

👉 Read more about Ukraine's nuclear blackmail HERE

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🇵🇰🇦🇫 Pakistan & Afghanistan don't want war — expert

💬 "Neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan wants a major conflict. By and large, they are equally concerned about the semi-criminal, semi-tribal enclave on the border. Thus, both sides will likely try to defuse the conflict this time as well," military expert Alexei Anpilogov said.

The two sides are unequal, he noted, with Pakistan being a nuclear power with the ability to buy arms, while Afghanistan is in isolation and uses abandoned US-made weapons.

👉 Late Thursday, Afghanistan announced it had launched large-scale military operations against Pakistani forces along the border, in response to recent bombings.

Early Friday, Pakistan retaliated by carrying out strikes on the Afghan capital, Kabul.

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