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IRIS Dena warship [Fars Media Corporation/Wikipedia]
Iran’s army said Sunday that 104 crew members of the Iranian warship IRIS Dena were killed and 32 others injured in a US attack last week, Anadolu reports.
According to the state news agency IRNA, the army said the vessel was attacked by the US Navy on March 4 in the water off Sri Lanka as it was returning from the Milan Peace 2026 naval drills in India.
Washington confirmed that an American submarine launched a torpedo attack on the Iranian vessel.
Sri Lanka said it launched a joint rescue operation after receiving a distress call from the ship, off the southern coast of Galle city. It added that 32 crew members were wounded and rushed to a local hospital.
The attack occurred as the US and Israel continued large-scale airstrikes on Iran that began on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,200 people, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and injuring over 10,000 others, according to Iranian authorities.
Tehran retaliated with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, Iraq, Jordan and Gulf countries that are home to US military assets.
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Keir Starmer explains that UK is defensively bombing Iraq in support of Israel’s genocidal expansionism. He explains that while his bombs still kill people that they are especially called defensive for the gullible and to be harder to convict of war crimes.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 Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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Martin Pfister on 11 March 2025 [Bundeskanzlei/Wikipedia]
Swiss Defense Minister Martin Pfister criticized the United States and Israel for airstrikes against Iran, saying their actions, along with those of Tehran, violated international law, Sonntags Zeitung newspaper reported on Sunday, Anadolu reports.
“The Americans and Israel have attacked Iran from the air. In doing so, they, like Iran, have violated international law,” Pfister said, calling on the warring parties to cease violence and protect the civilian population.
He also warned that Europe could be drawn into the conflict, not only through conventional military engagement but through asymmetric warfare such as terrorist attacks.
“There is a risk of terrorist attacks in Switzerland. In addition, the war could trigger a wave of refugees that will also reach us,” Pfister said.
While he does not believe Switzerland is directly threatened by Iranian long‑range missiles, Pfister said the possibility of collateral damage cannot be ruled out.
“We currently have nothing to defend against long-range attacks,” he said.
He stressed the need for a comprehensive approach to security that goes beyond purely military preparedness, citing the importance of police and intelligence services.
The minister said that threat assessments had been underestimated in recent decades, adding: “Our perfected society with its prosperity is still a long way from the current conflicts… This war, as bad as it is, could also trigger a rethink in this country, which is urgently needed.”
Tensions in the Middle East have soared since the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,200 people to date, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, over 150 schoolgirls, and senior military officials.
Iran has retaliated with sweeping strikes targeting US bases, diplomatic facilities, and military personnel across the region, as well as multiple Israeli cities.
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 defensively bombing Iraq in support of Israel’s genocidal expansionism. He explains that while his bombs still kill people that they are especially called defensive for the gullible and to be harder to convict of war crimes.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 Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
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Protesters wave flags and banners reading “Stop Bombing Iran” and “Stop Bombing the Middle East” as they gather at Victoria Tower Gardens before marching toward the United States Embassy to protest the war in the Middle East in London, United Kingdom, on March 07, 2026. [Stuart Brock – Anadolu Agency]
Thousands of anti-war demonstrators on Saturday marched through central London, calling for an immediate halt to US and Israeli military operations against Iran and an end to arms sales to Israel, Anadolu reports.
According to the Manchester Evening News, the protest drew between 5,000 and 6,000 participants, based on estimates from the Metropolitan Police.
The rally began at Millbank near Victoria Tower Gardens at noon and was organized by a coalition of activist groups, including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Stop the War Coalition and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Protesters marched toward the US Embassy carrying placards reading “Stop Trump’s Wars” and “No War on Iran,” while others waved Iranian and Palestinian flags.
Some demonstrators also carried portraits of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Organizers described the military strikes as “illegal” and warned that escalating conflict could place millions of civilians at risk across the Middle East.
Chris Nineham, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, said the situation represented one of “the most dangerous global moments in decades.”
“(US President Donald) Trump and (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu are creating murder and mayhem across the Middle East. They are risking spreading war across the Middle East, and they are creating the conditions of volatility and instability around the world, and what is disgraceful is that our government is allowing British bases to be used to promote this mayhem,” Nineham said in a video posted on social media from the protest.
He added that many people in Britain opposed the war and called for a broad and vocal movement to mobilize against the conflict and advocate for peace.
Tensions in the Middle East have escalated since the US and Israel launched a large-scale attack on Iran on Feb. 28, killing more than 1,000 people, including Khamenei and over 150 schoolgirls, and senior military officials.
Iran has retaliated with sweeping barrages of its own that have targeted US bases, diplomatic facilities, and military personnel across the region, as well as multiple Israeli cities.
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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio talks to reporters ahead of a congressional briefing about strikes on Iran at the Capitol in Washington, DC on March 2, 2026. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“This is the most insane and absurd definition of an ‘imminent threat’ I have ever heard in my life,” said one journalist.
“What the fuck happened to America First?” US Sen. Ruben Gallegoasked on social media Monday in response to a video of Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempting to justify President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s war on Iran.
As the death toll climbed above 550 in Iran, with at least six US service members killed, Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill that “there absolutely was an imminent threat, and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us. And we were not gonna sit there and absorb a blow before we responded.”
According to Rubio, the US Department of Defense assessed that “if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked… by someone else—Israel attacked them, they hit us first, and we waited for them to hit us—we would suffer more casualties and more deaths. We went proactively, in a defensive way, to prevent them from inflicting higher damage. Had we not done so, there would’ve been hearings on Capitol Hill about how we knew that this was gonna happen, and we didn’t act preemptively to prevent more casualties and more loss of life.”
In a follow-up post, Gallego (D-Ariz.), an Iraq War veteran, added: “So Netanyahu now decides when we go to war? So much for America First.”
The senator wasn’t alone in ripping Rubio’s remarks. Congresswoman Sarah Jacobs (D-Calif.) said that “Secretary Rubio says the quiet part out loud: This is an unnecessary war of choice. Israel forced our hand—there was no imminent threat to the United States. And instead of talking Israel out of going to war, President Trump went along with it and put US lives at risk.”
Stanford University political science professor Michael McFaul said: “Such strange logic. We had to go to war because Israel was going to attack Iran? So Bibi gets a say as to whether the US goes to war but the US Senate and the American people do not?”
Zeteo editor-in-chief Mehdi Hasan declared: “This is the most insane and absurd definition of an ‘imminent threat’ I have ever heard in my life. Our ally and proxy, Israel, that we arm and fund, was about to illegally attack Iran so we joined in the attack because that illegal attack would have led to an attack on us.”
Progressive organizer and attorney Aaron Regunberg also weighed in on social media: “Quite literally—and I’ve used that word too freely in the past, but in this case I mean literally—Rubio is saying they’ve made America into Netanyahu’s bitch. We go where Bibi points, regardless of the American blood it will cost. Trump is an absolute cuck. Pathetic.”
While critics of Trump’s “Operation Epic Fury” have slammed it as illegal and clearly motivated by regime change, Rubio claimed that the Trump administration would welcome a new government in Iran, but the war—which has taken out top Iranians, including the supreme leader, Ayatollan Ali Hosseini Khamenei—is about preventing the Middle Eastern nation from developing a nuclear weapon.
A year ago, a US intelligence report said that “we continue to assess Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and that Khamenei has not reauthorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003, though pressure has probably built on him to do so.” Despite that conclusion, the Trump administration bombed the country’s nuclear facilities a few months later—and, as CNN‘s Aaron Blake pointed out last week, Trump has repeatedly said that his June airstrikes “obliterated” Iran’s program.
There are now mounting calls for the Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives to end Trump’s assault on Iran by passing a war powers resolution. Despite the US Constitution giving Congress clear authority to declare war, several presidents have taken military action without any such declaration.
The Constitution does not require the president to notify Congress; it requires the president to get permission from Congress. https://t.co/IyAbNOygTi
Discussing the administration’s interaction with Congress about Iran, Rubio said Monday that “we notified the Gang of Eight,” which is made up of the Senate and House leaders for both major parties, as well as the chairs and ranking members of each chamber’s intelligence panel. Before taking on his current role, the secretary was the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“There’s no law that requires us to do that. The law says we have to notify them 48 hours after beginning hostilities. We’ve done that,” Rubio said, referring to a requirement in the War Powers Act of 1973. “But we can’t notify 535 members of Congress.”
“If they want to take a war powers vote, they can do that. They’ve done that. They’ve done that a bunch of times,” he added. “There’s no law that requires the president to have done anything with regards to this… No presidential administration has ever accepted the War Powers Act as constitutional—not Republican presidents, not Democratic presidents.”
Congressman Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) responded: “Dear Secretary Rubio: There is a law. It’s called the frickin’ Constitution of the United States.”
Separately on Monday, the State Department urged Americans to leave a list of Middle Eastern countries.
The @SecRubio@StateDept urges Americans to DEPART NOW from the countries below using available commercial transportation, due to serious safety risks. Americans who need State Department assistance arranging to depart via commercial means, CALL US 24/7 at +1-202-501-4444 (from… pic.twitter.com/vdplAik2Sq
— Assistant Secretary Mora Namdar (@AsstSecStateCA) March 2, 2026
Lieu responded: “Dear Secretary Rubio: You told Americans to depart now via commercial means when you know many airports/airspace are closed. YOU MUST IMMEDIATELY SCHEDULE US GOVERNMENT EVACUATION FLIGHTS FOR THE STRANDED AMERICANS IN DANGER. Maybe you should have thought of a frickin’ plan first.”
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of PeaceOrcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.
