394 stories · Page 8 of 40
On 11 March 2026, U.S. Central Command conducted precision strikes that destroyed 16 Iranian vessels suspected of deploying naval mines, marking Washington’s first large-scale kinetic action to keep the Strait of Hormuz open since the war began two weeks earlier.
On 11 March 2026 the White House refuted Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s deleted post that the U.S. Navy had escorted a tanker through the still-shuttered Strait of Hormuz, reversing a rapid $10-plus drop in Brent crude and wider market swings.
On 11 Mar 2026, U.S. forces under Operation Epic Fury destroyed 10-16 Iranian mine-laying vessels hours after President Trump warned Tehran to clear newly-reported mines from the Strait of Hormuz or face "consequences at a level never seen before."
On 10 March 2026, Ankara and NATO activated and emplaced a single U.S.-made Patriot air-defense battery in Malatya to reinforce Turkey’s skies after two Iranian ballistic missiles had been shot down over Turkish territory in the preceding eleven days.
Between 8 and 11 March 2026, Israel executed its first strikes inside downtown Beirut—first a precision drone hit on the Ramada Raouche Hotel that assassinated alleged IRGC-Quds Force officers, then a missile strike on a nearby apartment block—signaling a geographic expansion of the Israel-Iran/Hezbollah conflict beyond Lebanon’s south.
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.
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