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Iran Signals 'Prolonged War' As President Masoud Declares 'No Choice' But To Fight

Here are some of the most critical developments unfolding in the US-Iran conflict: 

  • Iran will target Israeli embassies if its embassy is hit: IRNA

  • Iranian intelligence sends word to US on potential talks to end war, but US officials say no active negotiations: CNN reports

  • Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian says no choice but to fight: Dear esteemed leaders of our friendly and neighboring countries, we have strived, with your assistance and through diplomacy, to avoid war. However, the American-Zionist military attack has left us with no choice but to defend ourselves. 

  • Iran begins shift toward governing for a prolonged war: FARS/BBG

  • Turkey says a ballistic ⁠missile fired Iran was destroyed by NATO systems in the ‌eastern Mediterranean Sea. Hegseth dismisses Article 5 concerns. 

  • Allegations that the ballistic missile was launched "at Incirlik Air Base" - which hosts NATO nukes.

  • US Secretary of State Rubio says well on their way to achieving Iran mission objectives. Did the US just blink here?

  • Putin notes that oil and gas prices are rising related to Mideast crisis.

  • Airline Troubles in Region Compound as Flight Cancellations Surpass 20,000

  • Hegseth floats new timeline up to eight weeks while saying as long as it takes

  • If US and Israel pursue a ‘regime change’ scenario in practice, final effective missiles will target Dimona nuclear reactor and all regional energy infrastructure, via Iran Nuances citing a Senior Iranian military official

  • Senior Iranian Cleric Javadi Amoli: shedding the blood of Israelis and Trump is what is required of devout Shi'ite Muslims", state media

  • Western officials claim Iran could be 'days' from exhausting ballistic missile supply, but Pentagon also concerned about own stockpiles

  • Israel and Hezbollah are now in a ground war in southern Lebanon.

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Update(1310ET): There's been a bit of a back and forth all morning about whether Iran has reached out for potential talks with the US tend the war. Contradictory reporting has claimed there's been some kind of effort behind the scenes, but US officials are making clear that no active negotiations. Given that among the US objectives is full regime change, ending the operation now would be seen as a loss for the US-Israeli side. But Iran is not backing down, having declared via state media it is entering a prolonged war posture, and will govern the country accordingly.

Needless to say, with the earlier ballistic missile flight over Turkey, things are growing more dangerous by the hour:

TEHRAN TONIGHT

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On Day 5 of the Trump-ordered Operation Epic Furry targeting Iran for regime change, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth declared the US is "winning" against Iran, signaling that additional American forces are en route and vowing Washington will take "all the time it needs" to secure 'victory'. But the instances of blowback are piling up at rapid pace.

This comes after President Trump himself suggested an open-ended timeline, but expressed that four or five weeks should do the job. Americans, however, might recall similar pledges were made at the start of the Iraq war, which ended up being a 20 year occupation and bloody quagmire. Recall that in 2002, Bush's then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declared of impending Iraq operations: "Five days or five weeks or five months, but it certainly isn't going to last any longer than that...It won't be a World War III." With that in mind, Hegseth for the first time Wednesday suggested up to eight weeks.

Iranian state media is reporting that the death toll from U.S.-Israeli strikes has climbed to at least 1,045. US losses stand at (at least) six service members killed, with several critically wounded, but CENTCOM has yet to issue a new Wednesday casualty update. It also announced that a planned late-night ceremony in Tehran honoring Iran’s slain supreme leader was abruptly postponed, officially due to "logistical issues".

CNN: Plumes of smoke seen in Isfahan, Iran, on March 4, 2026/ 
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Two major developments impacting markets (also as the question of the Supreme Leader's successor lingers):

  • Iran quietly reached out to the CIA a day after the attacks began to discuss ending the conflict, the NYT reported.
  • The funeral of its late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which was to begin later today, has been postponed.
  • U.S. War Secretary Pete Hegseth says war with Iran could last up to 8 weeks, saying U.S. and Israel expect to achieve “uncontested airspace” over the country “in under a week” and unleash “death and destruction from the sky all day long.”

However, Iran has since denied its intelligence ministry reached out to the CIA for talks, according to semi-official Tasnim.

The regional air war, including Iran's cross-Gulf retaliation has meanwhile intensified: Qatar says it intercepted 10 drones and two cruise missiles fired from Iran, while the UAE reports downing three missiles and 121 drones. But most alarming for the prospect of this war spreading is that Turkey confirmed a ballistic missile launched from Iran was destroyed by NATO air defenses over the eastern Mediterranean before entering Turkish airspace. Debris reportedly fell near Dortyol with no casualties.

Ankara warned: "We remind you that we reserve the right to respond to any hostile act towards our country," while urging all sides to avoid further escalation. This suggests that NATO, despite Mark Rutte having said NATO will not participate, could eventually enter the conflict.

In Lebanon, a government minister told Al Jazeera that 65,000 people have registered in shelters following intensified Israeli strikes, which has seen the capital of Beirut getting pummeled by Israeli jets once again.

Across the region, escalation continues to spillover. At least ten tankers are reportedly burning in or near the Strait of Hormuz, a kamikaze drone boat strike targeted a Russian shadow-fleet LNG tanker in the Mediterranean, and an Iranian vessel sank off Sri Lanka’s coast in what local officials described as a submarine attack.

Also, the US has closed embassies in three countries, reduced diplomatic staffing across the region, and urged Americans to leave. The UAE announced new emergency air corridors to assist evacuations, and a belated State Dept evacuation of US citizens from the region is currently underway.

According to The Washington Post, a suspected Iranian drone strike hit the CIA station inside the US Embassy compound in Riyadh. While U.S. and Saudi officials confirmed two drones struck the embassy grounds, they did not publicly disclose the CIA facility was among the targets.

The NY Times is detailing, with satellite and open-source image analysis, that the Pentagon's sophisticated radar and comms infrastructure around the Persian Gulf is being steadily reduced and decimated by Iran's response:

Iranian strikes conducted over the weekend and on Monday damaged structures that are part of or near communication and radar systems on at least seven U.S. military sites across the Middle East, according to a New York Times analysis of satellite imagery and verified videos.

Visuals show damage on or close to mechanisms used to track incoming ballistic missiles, satellite dishes and radomes, which are weatherproof covers that protect sensitive equipment used by forces to communicate over long distances.

U.S. military communication infrastructure is highly classified, making it difficult to determine which exact systems may have been affected. But the targeted locations appear to indicate Iran was aiming to disrupt the U.S. military’s ability to communicate and coordinate. Iran has attacked the U.S. military’s communication capacity as recently as last June, when it struck a Qatari base it hit again over the weekend.

Strikes potentially affecting these systems also occurred on military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Inside Iran, an attack on a manufacturing site in Alvand wounded 23 people, with six killed across Qazvin province, according to local officials.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said satellite imagery shows "no damage to facilities containing nuclear material in Iran and therefore no radiological release risk at this time." It added: "Near Isfahan nuclear site, damage is visible at two buildings. No additional impact detected at Natanz… and no impact at other nuclear sites, including Bushehr NPP."

Israeli officials are framing the war as a leadership decapitation campaign, arguing Iran should be treated like a non-state actor. Israeli military sources now expect at least two more weeks of bombardment aimed at "softening the ground" for potential internal unrest in Tehran. Israel and the US are already warning that they will take out the next Ayatollah.

The US Joint Chiefs announced in a Pentagon briefing with Hegseth stands ready to strike deeper into Iranian territory, and that forces are shifting to from large to more precision strikes across Iran.

US Department of War issued the below map showing "The first 100 hours" of the operation:

Israel and the US are noticeably blowing up border installations and striking IRGC and government facilities particularly in places where Iran's minority Kurdish population is dominant. This appears to be in preparation for a reported CIA-Israel plan to back the Kurds who are being prodded to foment civil war in Iran.

This suggests some covert planners have a Syria/Libya sectarian divide plan in mind to further weaken and destabilize the Islamic Republic, also as Washington and Tel Aviv's proxy 'boots on the ground' in the fight.

US officials are skeptical of either Iran's or the US' willingness to off-ramp in the short term, relating to Iran's Intelligence Ministry reportedly reaching out to the CIA indirectly a day after the conflict started with an offer to discuss terms, NYT reports.

However...

Meanwhile some Democratic lawmakers blasted Trump's justification for the strikes, warning the US risks sliding toward a ground invasion and an "open-ended engagement with no end in sight."

Israel continues to get hit hard, as Iranian ballistic missiles - and reportedly some hypersonics - continue to slip past anti-air defenses. As a result, Israel's Finance Ministry estimates economic damage from the war could reach some 9 billion shekels ($2.9 billion) per week.

Meanwhile, there's been widespread criticisms and questions surrounding the administration's emphasis on protecting Israel, and all the while Congress has yet to formally debate or vote on war, per the Constitution...

Clearly, what was initially touted by Washington as an attack that would be 'limited' is is now metastasizing across multiple theaters - including Gulf energy routes, Eastern Mediterranean shipping lanes, and NATO airspace - with both sides signaling they are prepared for a long fight.

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