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On 8–9 Mar 2026 Iran’s 88-member Assembly of Experts elevated 56-year-old Mojtaba Khamenei—son of the slain Ayatollah—to supreme leader, after which U.S. President Donald Trump publicly condemned the choice and, per a 9 Mar Wall Street Journal leak, told aides he would back killing Mojtaba if Tehran ignores U.S. demands.
Within hours of President Trump claiming the 11-day U.S.–Israeli campaign against Iran was “very complete,” Brent crude erased Monday’s panic spike, tumbling roughly 20 % to the low-$90s on 10 March 2026.
On 9 March 2026, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump held their first phone call of the year—lasting about an hour—in which Putin offered rapid diplomatic fixes for the U.S.–Israel war on Iran and linked them to ending the Ukraine conflict, prompting Washington to hint at easing Russian oil sanctions and sparking a 7% overnight drop in WTI crude.
On 9 March 2026 the Assembly of Experts formally elevated Mojtaba Khamenei to Iran’s third Supreme Leader, four days after U.S. President Donald Trump publicly demanded veto power over the choice following the U.S.–Israeli strike that killed his father.
In an emergency pre-dawn vote on 9 March 2026, the 88-member Assembly of Experts elevated Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei—son of the late Ali Khamenei—as Iran’s third supreme leader, consolidating hard-line control while bombs still fell on Tehran.
On 7–8 Mar 2026, Israel and the U.S. opened a new phase of Operation Roaring Lion by bombing roughly 30 fuel storage sites around Tehran—the conflict’s first direct hit on Iran’s energy infrastructure—hours after the IDF reported it had put 75 % of Iran’s ballistic-missile launchers out of action.
On the war’s fifth day (4-5 Mar 2026), a U.S. submarine sank Iran’s IRIS Dena near Sri Lanka while the IDF launched a declared “broad wave” of strikes on Tehran, marking the conflict’s sharpest escalation and first naval loss since hostilities began.
On 6 March 2026 U.S. officials confirmed that, since the joint U.S.–Israeli strikes of 28 February, Moscow has been transmitting satellite-derived location data on American warships, aircraft and bases to Iran, marking Russia’s first overt operational support in the expanding conflict.
On 7 March 2026 Israeli helicopters inserted commandos into Nabi Chit in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley to exhume a grave believed to hold missing pilot Ron Arad (lost 1986); Hezbollah and residents opened fire, Israel launched supporting air-strikes, and the force withdrew without finding any remains.
In less than a week of joint U.S.–Israeli attacks that began 28 Feb 2026, over 50,000 U.S. troops and massed air-sea power have destroyed much of Iran’s air defenses and navy, driving a 90 % collapse in Tehran’s missile and drone launches.
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