🚨🇮🇷Military Command warns Iran will strike oil industry assets across the Middle East in response to US-Israeli attacks on its energy infrastructure

The warning follows recent strikes on the Shahran oil depot in Tehran, a key fuel storage site supplying the capital, where large fires and thick black smoke were reported after the facility was hit.

Meanwhile, a video circulating online shows gasoline pipelines exploding on Shahran Boulevard in Tehran after Israeli strikes hit fuel infrastructure.

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🇮🇷🇺🇸🇮🇱 Iran–US–Israel conflict: Key developments

◻️ Iran’s army said drones from its air and naval forces struck Israeli targets in Haifa and Tel Aviv, as well as US bases and facilities in Kuwait

◻️ A large blaze continues at the Shahran fuel storage facility in Tehran following overnight strikes, with thick black smoke covering the sky

◻️ The head of commercial airline Iran Air said four passenger aircraft have already been attacked by US forces

◻️ Iran launched Qadr, Emad and Kheibar Shekan missiles in the 28th wave of Operation True Promise-4

◻️ Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran will not allow any country to interfere in its internal affairs

◻️ Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei called US strikes on the country's energy infrastructure and release of toxic substances a crime against humanity

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🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran war reveals US drone inadequacy – US military veteran

🗣 US drone warfare tech turned out to be either outdated or lacking, military analyst and retired US Armed Forces officer Stanislav Krapivnik tells Sputnik.

👉 For example, he notes, even the specialized Switchblade kamikaze drones performed so badly (their range was too short and the explosive charge carried by them wasn’t enough to even penetrate body armor) that the US military refrained from using them and shipped them off to Ukraine.

🔊 “The US military-industrial complex became the victim of its own success,” Krapivnik explains. “After the wars in Iraq where the US prevailed easily over the outdated Soviet hardware, the elites in Washington decided that they rule the world and that Russia will never get back on its feet.”

💬 “Because of that feeling of exceptionalism, the US stopped developing its tanks and air defense system as early as the mid-2000s, simply because it did not recognize any worthy threats.”

🟠 Whereas Russia was able to quickly adapt and overcome its weaknesses, the US war machine turned out to be too rigid to do the same, Krapivnik remarks.

🟠 Now, the United States is trying to compensate these shortcoming by copying other countries’ tech, with some of their new drones bearing striking resemblance to Iranian UAVs.

🟠 Meanwhile, the war with Iran dealt a huge blow to the United States’ image as the entire Arab world realized that the US is incapable of protecting its allies, he points out.

🟠 The potential drone tech deal between the US and Ukraine isn’t going to change the dynamics of the Ukrainian conflict as the West is still set on destroying Russia, Krapivnik adds.

🟠 According to him, Western powers will keep weapons and intelligence flowing to Ukraine as Washington is stalling until European states are ready for war with Russia.

🟠 Instead of trying to resolve the conflict, Krapivnik suggests, the US wants to freeze it before throwing the “European meat” into battle while the United States would remain on the sidelines.

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🇺🇸⛽️🇮🇷 US wants to turn Iran into servile ‘gas station’ to be sucked dry of oil - Iranian affairs expert

🗣 The US’ attack on Iran is aimed at foiling Russia and China’s plans for multipolar global architecture, Iranian and Middle Eastern affairs expert Farkhad Ibragimov tells Sputnik.

🟠 By being a part of both BRICS and SCO, Iran fit into this architecture nicely – a fact that angered the EU, Britain and especially the US which were powerless to influence Iran.

🟠 For 47 years, the US tried using different methods to bring Iran to heel, imposing sanctions and trying to isolate the country on the global stage, only to fail miserably.

🟠 US efforts to foment an uprising in Iran or to create a prominent pro-US Iranian opposition leader were equally fruitless.

💬 “If the US could have handled Iran by using ‘soft power’ methods, it would not have to resort to starting this war,” Ibragimov points out.

📍 The US’ goals are simple: turn Iran into a subservient, unstable state that does not have any national interests of its own and has no role in geopolitics, he says.

🟠 If the US succeeds, Iran would become a US-controlled “gas station, to be sucked dry of every drop of oil and gas it has.”

🟠 The US’ plans, however, have already started to unravel: Iran did not fall apart after the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, thus defying Washington’s expectations.

🟠 The absolute majority of the people of the Middle East also support Iran’s actions, Ibragimov notes, adding that the US clearly did not expect that Iran would dare to attack US bases in the region.

🔊 And if the US were to launch a ground invasion of Iran, it would turn into a bloodbath, he adds.

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🚨🇮🇱IDF says it targeted IRGC Air Force HQ

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🔸 US targets Iran in bid to conquer Middle East – Iranian affairs expert

🔸 Gas prices can skyrocket to $1.5K per thousand cubic meters due to Iran war — expert

🔸 First week of war with Iran cost US $6B — NYT

🔸 Ukraine can’t help US beat Iranian drones – military analyst

🔸 War against Iran could be catastrophic for environment in Persian Gulf — expert

🔸 Explosion outside US embassy in Oslo may be linked to Middle East tensions

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🚨 Casualties from the US-Israeli attack on Iran continue to rise

Explore Sputnik's infographic for a breakdown of the latest figures and key developments as of March 8 👆

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🚨🇺🇸 US death toll in its attack on Iran rises to 7 — CENTCOM

A US service member has died from injuries sustained during Iran’s initial retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, CENTCOM said.

The soldier was seriously wounded during an attack on US troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1 and later died of those injuries.

The death brings the total number of US service members killed in action during US-Israeli aggression against Iran to seven, according to CENTCOM.

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🤐 Media may keep quiet on Gulf crisis to avoid economic destabilization - ecologist

🔊 The ongoing conflict in the Persian Gulf creates a clear risk of environmental disaster due to oil spills, ecologist Artem Akshintsev tells Sputnik.

The Gulf War of 1991 - when up to 8 million barrels of oil ended up pouring into the sea - is a textbook example of what damage a massive oil spill could cause, he explains.

💬 “The effect on the ecosystem was catastrophic: fish, shellfish and crabs were dying, sea flora was degraded,” Akshintsev says. “Over 30,000 birds perished on land; on some beaches, there was an oil film up to 13 centimeters thick, while the total length of polluted beaches measured in hundreds, even in thousands of kilometers.”

🔸 The cleanup effort back then cost about $13 billion, but much of the spilled oil was never collected.

🔸 The fact that the Persian Gulf is relatively shallow, small and has little water exchange with the open sea further complicates matters, the ecologist notes: the diffusion rate of pollutants is low while oil can end up accumulating in the sediment and remain there for a long time.

🔸 Attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz create serious risks for Gulf states such as Iran, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar and Oman, Akshintsev observes.

🔸 Many of these countries, he points out, depend on drinking water produced through desalination, and their desalination plants are not designed to purify water polluted by oil.

🔸 Regarding the apparent media silence, Akshintsev suggests that it may be deliberate.

🔸 After all, he argues, any official confirmation that the Persian Gulf – a vital energy artery – is on the verge of collapse could cause panic on energy markets, and the ensuing price spike would hit Western economies hard.

💬 “The media may deliberately avoid stoking tensions to avoid economic destabilization,” he says.

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🚨🇮🇷 Mojtaba Khamenei elected Iran’s Supreme Leader — reports

Seyed Mojtaba Khamenei has been elected Iran’s Supreme Leader, Fars News Agency reported.

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📹🇮🇷 Iranians celebrate election of new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei

Footage from social media

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🇮🇷 IRGC pledges allegiance to new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) congratulated Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei on his election as the new Supreme Leader, according to a statement published by IRNA.

💬 The Guards described the decision by the Assembly of Experts as the start of “a new phase in the revolution and the Islamic Republic,” following the martyrdom of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The IRGC declared its “respect, devotion, and obedience” to the new leader and said it stands ready for “full obedience and self-sacrifice” in carrying out the orders of the Supreme Leader.

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