Considerable Success.
The Tao of Dogs.
News Items is the first thing I read every morning. — Katie Couric.
1. Institute for the Study of War:
> The combined US-Israeli force has designed its campaign to destroy Iran’s ballistic missile capabilities before the force depletes its interceptor stockpiles. The destruction of missile launchers mitigates the risk that either the United States or Israel will run out of interceptors by limiting Iran’s ability to launch missiles in the first place. The decrease in Iranian missile attacks against Israel and the UAE strongly suggests that the effort to destroy ballistic missile launchers has had considerable success.
> The IDF struck key decision-making institutions on March 3, including the Assembly of Experts building in Tehran, as part of an effort to disrupt senior decision-making. The Assembly of Experts is an 88-member clerical body that is responsible for appointing and supervising the Supreme Leader, according to the Iranian constitution. Strikes that disrupt or prevent the Assembly of Experts from fulfilling its constitutional duty to select the next Supreme Leader would undermine the legitimacy of the regime. The regime is based on the principle of Velayat-e Faqih, in which a jurist, the Supreme Leader, controls Iran.
> Iranian leaders have devolved powers to lower-level officials in response to the combined force’s strikes targeting senior officials and central decision-making institutions, likely to ensure continued state functions despite disruptions to central Iranian leadership.
> The IDF continued to strike sites associated with Iran’s nuclear program, including facilities linked to weaponization research conducted by Iranian nuclear scientists.
> Iran continued to conduct drone and ballistic missile attacks targeting US forces and sites in Gulf countries, which has prompted two US embassies to close.
> The United States and Israel continued to strike Iranian-backed Iraqi militias on March 2 and 3 to degrade their ability to conduct retaliatory attacks against US forces and Israel. (Source: understandingwar.org)
2. Israel’s military is targeting the Iranian police state that brutally suppressed protests and killed thousands of people, with the hope of clearing the way for a popular revolt to overthrow the Islamic government. Israeli airstrikes have targeted people responsible for internal security, from members of the Basij paramilitary force to senior intelligence officials, the Israeli military said. The U.S. has also hit some domestic-security agencies, including the Tehran headquarters of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp, the powerful group responsible for defending and perpetuating the regime. The Revolutionary Guard and Basij militants were the main perpetrators of the bloody crackdown against antigovernment protesters in January. (Source: wsj.com)
3. Israel and the US intensified their attacks on Iran on Tuesday, launching waves of strikes targeting command and control facilities, strategic state offices and missile launch sites as President Trump said he had rejected what he claimed was an attempt by Tehran to restart negotiations. Iran retaliated with hundreds of missile and drone attacks against Israel and across the Gulf region, targeting US military bases, embassies and civilian infrastructure. Despite acute international fears, there appeared little chance of any de-escalation of the conflict as violence and chaos continued across a fast-widening swath of the Middle East for a fourth day. (Source: theguardian.com)
4. President Trump’s (and Israel’s) war with Iran threatens to deal a severe blow to a global economy still grappling with the impact of his historic tariff hike. For Europe, sustained higher energy prices would take the economy to the brink of recession. For the US, they would place the Federal Reserve in an impossible position — stuck between a war that pushes inflation higher and a president demanding that interest rates come down. For China, the end of discounted Iranian oil imports adds to strain from Trump’s tariffs and a real estate collapse. In the first days of the fighting, the intensity is high and the endgame uncertain. Bloomberg Economics has modeled scenarios for what lies ahead, and what they mean for oil prices, major economies, and the future of Iran. It is, of course, possible that Washington and Tehran find an off-ramp, oil settles back at its pre-escalation average of $65 a barrel, and the global economy dodges a blow. The latest signs, though, suggest there’s worse to come. (Source: bloomberg.com)
5. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps has claimed “complete control” of the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran has warned that any vessel passing through the waterway, a vital shipping route for the world’s oil and gas trade, would be “set on fire”, bringing traffic to a halt. Iran has targeted some tankers in the Gulf since the US-Israeli operation began on Saturday. However, its navy has also been heavily depleted, with its naval headquarters destroyed and several warships sunk. Mohammad Akbarzadeh, an IRGC naval official, said: “Currently the Strait of Hormuz is under the complete control of the Islamic Republic’s Navy.” (Source: telegraph.co.uk)
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