Force Majeure.
“People are loving what’s happening".
1. Critical Threats Project brief:
> The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has continued strikes targeting Iranian ballistic missile infrastructure in order to degrade Iranian missile capabilities. The IDF reported on March 5 that Israeli aircraft had struck hundreds of missile launch sites across Iran and rendered over 300 ballistic missile launchers inoperable since February 28. Degrading Iranian air defenses allows US and Israeli aircraft to operate with less risk and greater freedom of operation over Iranian airspace.
> The US and Israeli combined force has advanced to the next phase of their campaign, which will focus on targeting Iranian defense industrial assets, especially missile production facilities. The first phase of the campaign suppressed Iranian air defenses, decapitated its command and control, and limited its ability to retaliate with ballistic missiles and drones. The IDF issued an evacuation warning on March 5 for the Abbas Abad Industrial Zone and Shenzar Industrial Zone in Pakdasht, Tehran Province, likely in preparation to target Iran’s defense industrial base.
> The combined force continues to conduct airstrikes targeting key internal security sites in and around Tehran City as well as Kurdish-populated areas of northwestern Iran. These targets range from regional Law Enforcement Command (LEC) and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) headquarters to local police stations in areas that have been hotspots for unrest.
> The combined forces have continued to strike the IRGC Ground Forces’ special forces and rapid response units in southwestern Iran. The combined force has not yet struck other IRGC or Artesh special forces bases or infrastructure at scale across the country. The internet shutdown may be affecting ISW-CTP’s ability to observe these strikes, however. (Source: understandingwar.org)
2. The Israeli military said it pounded Hezbollah targets in the densely populated southern suburbs of Beirut earlier this morning while also pummeling Tehran, after the U.S. military said its campaign was sharply degrading Iran’s ability to retaliate. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps also launched a wave of drones and missiles at targets in Tel Aviv on Friday, according to a statement from the force reported by IRNA, the country’s state news agency. Air-raid sirens went off in the city, and the Israeli military said that it had detected missile launches from Iran. In Beirut, Israel blasted Dahiya, a densely populated commercial and residential area that is a stronghold of Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy force based in Lebanon. It was the most intense attack in the area since a cease-fire in late 2024. (Source: nytimes.com)
3. Iran fired a barrage of missiles and drones targeting countries across the Persian Gulf overnight, while Israel renewed airstrikes on the Islamic Republic in a war that’s entered a seventh day with no end in sight. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain were among those that came under renewed attack from the Islamic Republic, while Israeli airstrikes hit Tehran and Beirut. (Source: bloomberg.com)
4. Politico:
President Donald Trump is on the warpath: In an interview Thursday, he dismissed concerns about the Iran war, told POLITICO the United States would help choose Iran’s next leader, predicted the downfall of the Cuban regime and attacked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the tech giant Anthropic.
The president is facing domestic political backlash on numerous fronts, including criticism of the Iran war from within the MAGA coalition and unrelenting attacks from Democrats over the cost of living.
But speaking in a phone call Thursday, Trump was entirely on offense. He brushed off worries about the impact of the Iran war on gas prices and U.S. ammunition reserves, and he insisted that the military onslaught was popular with voters. Many recent public polls show the opposite is true, although a survey released Thursday by Fox News found voters have mixed opinions on Iran.
“People are loving what’s happening,” Trump insisted. He predicted that Iran’s government would not be the last to buckle in a Trump-initiated confrontation: “Cuba’s going to fall, too.” (Source: politico.com)
5. President Trump told Axios in an interview Thursday that he needs to be personally involved in selecting Iran’s next leader — just as he was in Venezuela. Trump revealed this exclusively in an eight-minute phone call — his second conversation with us to explain his war planning. Trump acknowledged that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of assassinated supreme leader Ali Khamenei, is the most likely successor — while making clear he finds that outcome unacceptable. Trump's comments represent an extraordinary claim of American power over Iran's political future, further muddying the objectives of the massive U.S. military campaign he launched on Saturday. (Source: axios.com)
