Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a U.S.-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises in the sky in Tehran, Iran, March 8, 2026
IRAN launched fresh waves of strikes at Israel and US and energy assets in the Gulf states today as it continued to retaliate against devastating US and Israeli air raids.
Sirens warned of incoming missiles in Dubai and in Bahrain, authorities said an Iranian attack hit a residential building in the capital, killing a woman and wounding eight others.
Saudi Arabia said it destroyed two drones over its oil-rich eastern region and Kuwait’s National Guard said it shot down six drones.
Later in the morning sounds of explosions could be heard in Tel Aviv.
“We are definitely not looking for a ceasefire,” Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf wrote on X.
“We believe that the aggressor should be punched in the mouth so that he learns a lesson so that he will never think of attacking our beloved Iran again.”
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Starmer said it here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) speaks at a town hall event on February 20, 2026 in Stanford, California. (Photo by Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)
As evidence of US war crimes mounts, critics around the world argue that “Trump and Hegseth should be sent straight to The Hague to face prosecution.”
As President Donald Trump on Tuesday made what one critic called “the most blasé admission of a war crime by a US president in history,” claiming the Navy sunk an Iranian ship and killed over 100 sailors because it was “more fun” than capturing both, Sen. Bernie Sanders tore into him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over their illegal war on Iran.
“The attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel are unraveling international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the legitimacy of the United Nations. This is extremely dangerous for the future of the planet and humanity,” Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement.
While both the Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives have refused to pass a war powers resolution to stop the assault, experts worldwide have argued the assault violates the US Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to declare war, and UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force against another state unless it is a “necessary and proportionate” act of self-defense or is authorized by the Security Council.
“If the United States and Israel have the right to launch a unilateral attack against Iran, what is the moral or legal argument against China invading Taiwan, Russia attacking Poland, or North Korea launching missiles into South Korea? There is none,” warned Sanders, who has supported war powers resolutions on Iran, Venezuela, and the president’s boat bombing campaign. “In Trump’s world, any nation has the ‘right’ to go to war against any other nation for any reason.”
“After the horrors of World War II, the international community came together to establish international law—a system of rules designed to prevent aggressive wars and hold nations accountable for violating basic human rights,” said the senator, whose father lost relatives in the Holocaust. “Trump and Netanyahu are destroying that effort and are pushing the global community back into international anarchy—a world that produced 10 million dead in World War I and 50 million dead in World War II.”
Sanders argued that “we cannot go back to a world where might makes right—where any nation can invade, bomb, or destabilize another country for any reason they choose. That mentality leaves all of us, and future generations, increasingly unsafe.”
In addition to opposing Trump’s violence at home and abroad, the senator has railed against US complicity in Netanyahu’s genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip, where the death toll continues to rise despite an October ceasefire deal. He even forced multiple unsuccessful Senate votes to cut off some US weapons to Israel over the bloodshed in the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu not only bombed and starved the Palestinians of Gaza after the Hamas-led October 2023 attack on Israel, he also bombarded Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah. While a ceasefire agreement to protect the Lebanese people was reached in November 2024, Israel has returned to attacking the country since launching the assault on Iran last month.
More than 1,300 Iranians are now dead, including multiple political leaders as well as around 175 people, mostly children, killed in what increasingly appears to have been a US strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that Tuesday would “be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.”
Meanwhile, Jostein Hauge, an assistant professor at the UK’s University of Cambridge, noted on social media Tuesday that “the Minab school massacre in Iran—carried out by the US government—is one of the deadliest school massacres in modern history.”
He put the US president and Pentagon chief in a class with not only Netanyahu but also former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who are all wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court.
“Trump and Hegseth should be sent straight to The Hague to face prosecution for war crimes, alongside Netanyahu, Gallant, Putin, and al-Bashir,” Hauge said.
While the American public is already enduring some economic fallout of Trump’s war on Iran, at least seven US troops have paid with their lives. Eight more “remain listed as severely injured,” according to chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. “Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, approximately 140 US service members have been wounded over 10 days of sustained attacks.”
Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Cory Booker (NJ), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), and Adam Schiff (Calif.)—with whom Sanders caucuses—have launched a renewed effort to force new votes on war powers resolutions if Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) refuses to hold committee hearings on Iran.
“Now is the time for Democrats to use all the leverage we have to try to stop this unnecessary war,” they said Monday in a joint statement to Semafor. The senators added that Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio “must immediately come before Congress for a public hearing and explain why we’re in this war, how it will end, and why they are prioritizing billions of dollars on an open-ended war instead of lowering costs for American families.”
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Starmer said it here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of PeaceOrcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
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U.S. President Donald Trump gives a speech in Washington, United States, on March 02, 2026. [Kyle Mazza – Anadolu Agency]
US President Donald Trump said the war with Iran is “very complete”, claiming that the country’s naval, air and communications capabilities have been destroyed, and revealing that he has someone in mind to replace the new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei if he is assassinated.
Speaking in remarks reported by US media, Trump said: “I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, no air force.”
He added that he has “somebody in mind to replace Mojtaba Khamenei”, but did not reveal the person’s identity.
Separately, Western media reported that Trump had told his advisers he would be ready to support the assassination of the new Iranian Supreme Leader if he refuses to meet US demands.
According to The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials on Monday, Trump told aides he would back the killing of Khamenei if he declined to comply with American demands, including ending Iran’s nuclear programme.
However, the newspaper said that Israel — not the United States — would be expected to carry out any direct assassination of the Iranian leader.
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Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”.Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.
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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks in front of a map of the Middle East during a press conference at the Government Press Office (GPO) in Jerusalem on September 4, 2024. [Photo by ABIR SULTAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images]
The military spokesperson for the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades said he welcomed what he described as the “heroic action” by fighters of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon in confronting Israeli forces and inflicting heavy losses on them, as well as striking what he called significant targets deep inside Israel.
In a message issued on Monday, the spokesperson said: “We stand with the resistance fighters as they exercise their right to defend their land and the sovereignty of their country in the face of aggression that has not stopped for a single moment.”
He added that the group offered condolences for those martyred in Lebanon and wished a speedy recovery for the wounded, and safety for the country’s people.
Al-Qassam spokesperson also referred to the late Hassan Nasrallah, saying he “took a moral and courageous decision to stand with Gaza and its people, and gave his life along with many of his brothers on the road to Jerusalem,” according to the Palestinian news agency Ma’an News Agency.
He continued: “We call on the people of our nation to unite and stand together against the plans of the Zionist enemy and its intentions to expand the aggression to more Arab and Islamic countries, as it no longer hides its ambitions to establish what it calls ‘Greater Israel’.”
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Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”.Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.
Iran is pursuing a multi-layered strategy—military, economic, political, and diplomatic—to raise the cost of war and prevent regime change.
Iran’s strategy in the current war
As the war on Iran continues to expand across multiple fronts, Tehran appears to be pursuing a complex strategy that combines military escalation, economic leverage, domestic mobilization, and diplomatic signaling.
Rather than relying on what Iranian officials once described as “strategic patience,” the current approach suggests that Iran is attempting to fundamentally reshape the battlefield by increasing the costs of the war for the United States, Israel, and any regional actors that choose to participate.
The strategy appears to rest on several interconnected pillars designed not only to respond to military attacks but also to prevent the broader objective that Iranian leaders believe lies behind the war: regime change.
Overwhelming the battlefield
The most visible element of Iran’s strategy has been its attempt to expand the battlefield geographically and operationally.
Rather than focusing solely on Israeli territory, Iran has targeted a wide range of US and allied assets across the region. These include military bases, intelligence facilities, radar systems, and logistical infrastructure that support American operations.
The aim appears to be twofold.
First,
Iranian strikes are intended to impose a form of “strategic blindness” on opposing forces by degrading radar systems, surveillance networks, and early-warning capabilities.
Such attacks reduce the ability of the United States and Israel to monitor Iranian movements and respond effectively to missile launches or other military operations.
Second,by targeting US bases in multiple countries across the region, Iran is sending a clear message that the conflict will not remain geographically contained.
In practical terms, this means that any country hosting American military facilities risks becoming part of the battlefield.
Iranian officials have repeatedly emphasized that these strikes are directed at US military infrastructure rather than the sovereignty of host nations. Nevertheless, the message is unmistakable: if regional territory is used to launch attacks on Iran, that territory may also become a site of retaliation.
This approach reflects a major shift away from Iran’s previous policy of measured responses and limited escalation.
Instead, Tehran appears to be pursuing a strategy designed to overwhelm the enemy on multiple fronts simultaneously, raising the political and military cost of continuing the war.
Economic warfare
Alongside its military operations, Iran is also leveraging one of the most powerful tools at its disposal: the geography of global energy supply.
The Strait of Hormuz—through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes—has effectively become a war zone. Although Iran has not formally declared a blockade, the conditions created by the conflict have produced a functional shutdown of the waterway.
Missile exchanges, naval deployments, maritime attacks, and the growing threat environment have drastically reduced the willingness of commercial shipping companies to operate in the area. Insurance costs for tankers have surged, while several shipping operators have suspended or rerouted voyages altogether.
In practice, this means that the strait is not closed by decree but by the realities of war.
This distinction is important. Iran does not need to announce a blockade to achieve the strategic effects of one. The instability itself disrupts energy flows, drives oil prices upward, and injects uncertainty into global markets.
The consequences are felt far beyond the Gulf.
European economies—already weakened by energy shocks following the war in Ukraine—are particularly vulnerable to renewed volatility in oil and gas markets. Rising shipping costs, supply disruptions, and market speculation all compound the economic pressure.
For Tehran, this dynamic serves as a powerful form of indirect leverage.
The longer the war continues, the greater the economic consequences for the global system that underpins Western power. In this sense, the Strait of Hormuz functions not merely as a geographic chokepoint but as a strategic pressure valve capable of transmitting the costs of the conflict far beyond the battlefield.
Domestic cohesion
Another key pillar of Iran’s strategy lies within the country itself.
Western analysts had widely speculated that sustained military pressure—or a leadership decapitation strategy—could produce internal instability or even trigger a political crisis within Iran.
The killing of senior political and military figures, including high-ranking officials, appeared to be designed in part to create such a vacuum.
Yet the anticipated fragmentation has not materialized.
Instead, Iranian authorities have focused on projecting unity and political cohesion. Mass rallies and public demonstrations have taken place across multiple cities, with large crowds gathering in public squares to express support for the government and condemnation of the attacks.
These displays serve an important political function.
By filling public spaces with supporters, the government is attempting to pre-empt the emergence of alternative movements that might claim to represent a popular response to the war.
In effect, the strategy denies external actors the ability to argue that military intervention is intended to support domestic opposition or restore democratic governance.
For Washington and Tel Aviv, the assumption that internal unrest could become a decisive factor appears to have been a significant miscalculation.
Calibrated diplomacy
Despite the widening military confrontation, Iran has also sought to maintain a careful diplomatic balance with Arab governments.
Iranian officials have repeatedly emphasized that their strikes are directed at US military installations rather than the countries that host them.
This distinction is important.
Tehran’s broader objective appears to be preventing Arab states from becoming full participants in the conflict. While warning that any government enabling US military operations could face retaliation, Iran has simultaneously signaled that it does not seek confrontation with the region as a whole.
The message to Arab governments has therefore been dual-layered: do not allow your territory to be used for attacks on Iran, but if you avoid direct involvement, Iran does not consider you an enemy.
Such messaging reflects Tehran’s understanding that regional alignment could dramatically reshape the war’s dynamics.
Despite the coherence of Iran’s overall approach, several weaknesses remain.
One of the most significant challenges lies in the realm of communication.
Iranian media outlets, operating under heavy pressure and frequent targeting, have struggled to project their narrative effectively to global audiences. Compared with the sophisticated international media infrastructure available to Western governments and Israel, Iran’s messaging often fails to reach wider international publics.
This limits Tehran’s ability to frame the conflict on its own terms.
A second challenge concerns the global anti-war movement.
While protests against the war have emerged in various cities around the world, they have not yet reached a scale capable of exerting decisive political pressure on governments supporting the conflict.
For Iran, the expansion of such protests could become a critical factor in constraining the military options available to Washington and its allies.
A war of strategy
Taken together, Iran’s actions suggest a leadership attempting to wage war according to a clearly defined strategic framework.
Military escalation, economic disruption, domestic mobilization, and diplomatic signaling all appear to function as parts of a single integrated approach designed to raise the cost of the conflict beyond what its adversaries may be willing to bear.
Whether the strategy ultimately succeeds remains uncertain.
What is increasingly evident, however, is that the war is evolving into a contest not only of military capabilities but also of strategic coherence.
For now, Iran appears to be operating according to a calculated plan, while its adversaries continue to search for a sustainable path forward in a rapidly expanding conflict.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”.Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.
Two women from the Iranian Red Crescent Society stand as a thick plume of smoke from a U.S.-Israeli strike on an oil storage facility late Saturday rises in the sky in Tehran, Iran, March 8, 2026
