Pentagon’s preliminary estimate puts the cost of the Iran war at about $1 billion per day.

Source: The Atlantic

NEW: Meloni says Italy intends to send defensive aid to the Gulf.

AI Targeting System Guided Iran Strike Planning

Washington Post said the Pentagon used Anthropic’s Claude AI integrated with Palantir’s Maven system to identify nearly 1,000 targets during the Feb. 28 U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran, highlighting the growing role of artificial intelligence in modern military planning.

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The Iran war is pushing Europe toward a new energy crisis.

Gas prices in Europe have jumped about 53% in just a few days, driven by disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian strikes affecting Qatar’s LNG production.

Competition for LNG is intensifying as Asian buyers outbid Europe, even causing tankers originally headed for Europe to reroute to Asia.

At the same time, EU gas storage is under 30% full, far below the normal ~45% for this time of year, raising concerns about refilling supplies before next winter.

If the conflict continues, energy costs, inflation, and economic pressure could rise across Europe, particularly in Germany and Italy, which rely heavily on LNG imports.

Source: FT

NEW: Sri Lanka says an Iranian vessel named “Bushehr” is currently in international waters near its maritime border, and the government is providing maximum assistance to safeguard those onboard.

Earlier, a U.S. submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena near Sri Lanka.

Trump administration is scrambling to manage the fallout of the Iran war.

The Pentagon is requesting additional intelligence officers for at least 100 days, suggesting the war could last far longer than the initially suggested four-week timeline.

Officials say planning was limited.

A State Department source said “too few people were read in on the war plans,” which slowed evacuation preparations and travel alerts for Americans in the region.

Critics say the response looked improvised, with one former U.S. diplomat calling it “a completely ad hoc operation… like they woke up on Saturday and decided to start a war.”

Source: Politico

Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan Barzani says the region “will not be part of any conflict or military escalation.”

Iraq's KDP leader Masoud Barzani:

We will do everything possible to keep Iraq’s Kurdistan Region out of the war.

BREAKING: Iranian drone hits Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.

This marks the first time Iranian drones have targeted Azerbaijan.

WATCH: Iranian Shahed-136 kamikaze drone visible on Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan attack.

WATCH: IDF releases footage showing an Iranian Yak-130 jet shot down over Tehran by an Israeli F-35I “Adir.”

BREAKING: Reuters reports, citing a source close to the Azerbaijani government, that missiles and drones launched from Iran fell near Nakhchivan Airport.

Zelensky says Ukraine is ready to exchange its interceptor drones for Patriot missiles in cooperation with Middle Eastern countries.

Iranian sailors from the frigate Dena, who were guests of the Indian Navy, and were later killed after the ship was sunk by U.S. submarine with a torpedo.

Senate Rejects War Powers Bill on Iran

The U.S. Senate rejected a war powers resolution aimed at halting U.S. President Donald Trump’s Iran conflict, with a 47–53 vote, signaling congressional support for ongoing strikes.

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Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry:

We strongly condemn the drone attacks launched from Iranian territory.

This attack on Azerbaijan violates international law and increases regional tensions.

Azerbaijan reserves the right to take appropriate response measures.

Iran’s General Staff issued a statement asserting that it did not fire any missile toward Türkiye. “We respect the sovereignty of our neighboring and friendly country Türkiye and deny any missile launch toward it,” the statement said.

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Turkish MoD:

We emphasize that we reserve the right to respond to hostile actions regardless of where they originate, and we are closely monitoring developments in close coordination with NATO and our other allies.