California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Netanyahu:

What I can't accept today though is what Bibi Netanyahu is doing in Israel. And I just can't countenance that.

I don't like the direction he's going.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Iran:

I'm very angry about this war.

Not because I'm angry the Supreme Leader is dead — quite the contrary. I'm not naive about the last 37 years of his reign, 47 years since the 1979 Revolution.

But I'm also mindful that you have a President who still is incapable of giving us the rationale of why — why now, what's the endgame?

We've got a regional war. We have allies shooting down our planes. We have six Americans, including a young man from Sacramento, California, who just died.

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Ethiopia accuses Eritrea of supporting militant groups and infiltrating Tigray as tensions rise along the Ethiopia-Eritrea border. Military movements & local reports raise fears of renewed conflict after the 2020-2022 war that killed at least 600,000.

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Saeed Khatibzadeh, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister:

Trump is asking for change in the leadership of Iran… he cannot even appoint the Mayor of New York.

German Chancellor Merz:

We are aware that we have to make progress in energy policy as a whole.

Even independent of such external shocks, energy in Germany is still too expensive, and that’s why we are working very hard to bring energy prices down in Germany too.

We need energy production capacities; this applies above all to electricity, but we also need new sources for gas and oil.

German Chancellor Merz on Iran:

We are urging strongly that Iran’s statehood be preserved.

We do not want to see a Syrian scenario here, but rather we want this state to become functional from within itself.

And that is why I also appeal, both in Washington and in all talks with the Israeli government, to create the conditions as quickly as possible for this country to be stabilized, for it to get a democratically legitimized government, and for it to be able to continue to exist as a state.

It is a country with over 90 million inhabitants, and we naturally also have a high self-interest in this in order to avoid new refugee flows from the region.

German Chancellor Merz on Iran:

At the moment, we see the economic effects as practically negligible.

But if this conflict were to last longer, if it were to possibly extend to larger parts of the Middle East, then it could of course have much more far-reaching consequences.

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez on Iran:

The military escalation is a threat not only to world peace, but also to the prosperity of businesses and families in our countries (Spain and Portugal), due to the rise in the cost of living they are going to face.

A crashed Israeli Hermes drone is being transported on a tractor with an Iranian flag hanging from it.

CAR Seeks Russian Energy Support After Security Partnership

During his visit to the Kremlin in Moscow, Central African Republic President Faustin-Archange Touadera asked Vladimir Putin for help in solving the country’s energy crisis.

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Situation in Beirut’s Dahieh district after Israeli bombings.

Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei:

We don’t know if the models are conscious.

We are not even sure what it would mean for a model to be conscious. But we’re open to the idea that it could be.

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez on Iran:

Between allied countries, it is good to support each other when one is right, and also to point out when a mistake is being made, as is the case with this war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi:

This mother never left her child… she brought her son into this world, and has now joined him in the next world...

Our Brave and Powerful Armed Forces will avenge each and every Iranian mother, father, and child who has been targeted by hostile forces.

White House:

The US military has more than enough munitions, ammo, and weapons stockpiles to continue demolishing the Iranian regime and finish Operation Epic Fury, no matter how long it lasts.

Nevertheless, President Trump has always been intensely focused on strengthening our military, which is why the meeting with defense contractors was scheduled weeks ago.

The President will continue to call on these US companies to more speedily build American-made weapons, which are the absolute best in the world.

U.S. and Israeli forces are bombing Ilam, Iran.

A drone targeted Basra International Airport, an Iraqi security source told Al Jazeera.

Trump is scheduled to meet Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the White House on Friday at 2:30 p.m. (1930 GMT).

The closed-door meeting will last about an hour, after which Trump is expected to travel to Miami.

BREAKING: Trump on Iran:

There will be no deal with Iran except UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!

After that, and the selection of a GREAT & ACCEPTABLE Leader(s), we, and many of our wonderful and very brave allies and partners, will work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before.

IRAN WILL HAVE A GREAT FUTURE. “MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN (MIGA!).”

The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February.

Source: WSJ

Kuwait has begun cutting oil output at some fields after storage tanks filled up due to disruptions to exports through the Strait of Hormuz.

The country may soon reduce production further to levels needed only for domestic use.

Source: WSJ