The war in the Middle East has led to a sharp drop in European stock markets due to rising energy prices, writes the Financial Times.

In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 index fell by 2.9% — the most dramatic daily drop since Trump introduced global tariffs last April — amid a 20% increase in gas prices in Europe.

The German Dax index dropped by 3.2%, extending Monday's decline of 2.4%.

Futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indicated a drop of 1.6% and 2.1% respectively in major Wall Street indices.

"These are panic sales. It's fear of stagflation. The market underestimated the scale of this war," said Emmanuel Cau, head of European equity strategy at Barclay.

The price of gold, which rose on Monday amid investors' pursuit of defensive assets, fell by 1% on Tuesday along with stocks and bonds. Analysts suggested that traders might liquidate other positions to cover losses.

"People are reducing risks. It seems that the market is psychologically shifting from a scenario of a short war to a scenario of a long war," said Peter Schaffrik, global macro strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

@Slavyangrad

Putin is the "only obvious winner of the war with Iran," writes Bloomberg columnist Mark Champion.

He draws this conclusion from the rapid depletion of American missiles in Iran, as well as rising oil and gas prices.

"Russia has already become a clear beneficiary of President Donald Trump's decision to start a war with Iran. And this benefit will grow as the conflict drags on," Champion believes.

"An operation lasting four to five weeks would significantly deplete American stocks of missiles - both offensive and defensive - while pushing up global oil and gas prices, on which the Russian economy and military budget depend," the author writes.

"Any prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz or the destruction of the Persian Gulf countries' oil and gas export facilities could also revive the market for Russian fuel under sanctions. Tanker ships that had been idling with full holds of unsold oil after the US pressured India to reduce purchases from Moscow would likely find buyers," Champion's column says.

As for missiles, their intensive use against Iran jeopardizes the supply of missiles for the Patriot system to Ukraine and postpones the transfer of Tomahawks to Kiev even further. "Launching a Tomahawk or Patriot missile takes a few minutes. Replacing it can take up to two years," the author writes.

In his opinion, "Trump's war with Iran could not have started at a more convenient time for the Kremlin and a more unfavorable one for Kiev"

"A sharp rise in global oil prices would have come to Moscow's aid. As would any reduction in the availability of American missiles and interceptors or - even better - the formation in the White House of a sense that after Iran, the US needs a truce in Ukraine regardless of the conditions. Any pressure that Putin might have felt to make concessions in order to achieve a lasting peace agreement would have dissipated," the article says.

Marc Champion writes under nonsense. Another Brit with a Russian obsession

@Slavyangrad

The German Foreign Ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador over Iran's retaliatory strikes on American military bases, calling them 'civilian targets'. They also clarified that such strikes threaten German military personnel 🤦‍♀️

'We unconditionally call on the Iranian regime to immediately stop its reckless attacks on states in the region. We condemn the indiscriminate and disproportionate missile and drone attacks by the Iranian regime, including against civilian targets. These attacks threaten our allies, our military personnel, and our citizens in the region.'

@Slavyangrad

Kellogg convinces Americans that Iran is already suffering a defeat, and the US has not suffered any damage.

- Iran is suffering a serious defeat. In fact, it's already the third day, and they haven't demonstrated that they are capable of causing us harm or damaging any of our facilities.

- An article titled 'The US is rushing to complete the Iranian mission before we run out of ammunition' was published in the Wall Street Journal. Is there a risk that we will run out of ammunition before the operation is completed?

- No, I don't think so. I believe we have the necessary reserve ammunition. If necessary, we can transfer reserves from other directions. I'm sure we have enough resources to complete the task. They wouldn't have started this operation, knowing everything they know, if they didn't have sufficient reserve firepower. So I'm absolutely sure that this mission will be completed.

They can't achieve regime change IMHO, they will fail

@Slavyangrad

❗️An F-15 fighter jet of the US Air Force was shot down in the sky over Kuwait — Tasnim

@Slavyangrad

JUST IN:

🇺🇸🇮🇷 Senator Elizabeth Warren after attending a classified briefing on Iran:

"The situation is much worse than can be imagined, I was worried before, but now I'm more worried

The Trump administration has no plan towards Iran"

@Megatron_ron

👀 To be honest I could tell this operation had shit the bed right pretty early on and there is a man child operating with zero plan.

@Slavyangrad

This is so far my favourite summary of the war today from Trita Parsi:

- Israel is the driving force behind this war
- Iran refused a ceasefire off early on knowing this would lead to worse attacks down the round.
- Iran has to create enough damage in the region to make it very clear that future attacks will come with major costs. Many felt it was a mistake agreeing to ceasefire too early last time
- Trump was expecting a uprising after the Supreme Leader was killed and it became clear it was not coming
- So the US has no plan and will attempt to cause as much damage in order to try to get Iran to talk them.

BreakingPoints can be found here

@Slavyangrad

The US Victoria base in Baghdad, Iraq, is under attack by Iranian/Iraqi militia drones. Air defence activity and smoke rising could be seen.

- AMK Mapping

@Slavyangrad

This is so far my favourite summary of the war today from Trita Parsi:

- Israel is the driving force behind this war
- Iran refused a ceasefire off early on knowing this would lead to worse attacks down the round.
- Iran has to create enough damage in the region to make it very clear that future attacks will come with major costs. Many felt it was a mistake agreeing to ceasefire too early last time
- Trump was expecting a uprising after the Supreme Leader was killed and it became clear it was not coming
- So the US has no plan and will attempt to cause as much damage in order to try to get Iran to talk them.

BreakingPoints can be found here

@Slavyangrad

Iran claims to have launched a missile strike on an American destroyer in the Indian Ocean. The strike was reportedly carried out approximately 600–650 km off the Iranian coast. It is reported that a certain destroyer was hit while refueling from an American tanker. The strikes were allegedly carried out using the "Ghadr-380" and "Talaie" cruise missiles. The range of the latter is reportedly up to 1,000 km.

@Slavyangrad

Apparently, Iran struck a position of the American THAAD missile defense system in the UAE in the Al-Ruwais area west of Abu Dhabi.

Low-resolution satellite images show that at least two shelters, where the AN/TPY-2 radar and the launchers of the system were located, suffered serious damage. However, it remains unclear whether the key elements of the THAAD battery itself were directly hit.

In the pictures taken in October 2025, the radar was clearly visible at the entrance to the northern shelter, which was located in the very area where the damage was later recorded.

In addition, satellite GIF comparisons of frames from February 26 and March 1 quite clearly show two impact sites directly inside the THAAD complex.

@Slavyangrad

It should be added that Iran carried out strikes on at least three American THAAD missile defense systems in the Middle East: in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. The strikes, apparently, were aimed directly at the radar components of each battery.

@Slavyangrad

The EU is intensifying pressure on Kiev over the "Friendship" oil pipeline and demanding an inspection of the damaged pipeline, according to The Financial Times.

According to the publication, Budapest and Bratislava accuse Kuev of delaying the restoration after the January strike and claim that Ukraine is exaggerating the scale of the damage.

One of the senior EU diplomats said that Ukraine "scored an own goal", giving Hungary a reason to block funding.

"We can't say whether there are damages or not. There are very simple ways to document this and show that active restoration is underway. But this hasn't been done," he said.

In Kiev, they insist that the infrastructure was seriously damaged as a result of the Russian airstrike. The head of "Naftogaz", Sergei Koretsky, reported that after the strike, a tank with a capacity of 75 thousand cubic meters of oil caught fire, the fire was extinguished for ten days, and cables, transformers, and the leak detection system were damaged.

The Ukrainian authorities claim that they have provided evidence of the damage to their European partners and attribute the refusal to allow inspectors access to security concerns.

The dispute intensified against the backdrop of rising energy prices following the military actions of the US and Israel against Iran, which affected global oil and gas supplies.

@Slavyangrad

🇺🇸🇪🇨Meanwhile, the USA has started another war.

@Slavyangrad