🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡- Vice President JD Vance has voiced concern over getting dragged into a prolonged conflict with Iran, and has hoped for a diplomatic resolution, Axios reports.

🇺🇸⚡- "On Feb. 23, at the direction of SOUTHCOM commander Gen. Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.

Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.

Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed," - SOUTHCOM.

🇺🇸🇱🇧⚡- "On February 23, 2026 the Department of State ordered the departure from Lebanon of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of government personnel due to the security situation in Beirut.

The Travel Advisory for Lebanon remains at Level 4 – Do Not Travel," - Department of State.

🇺🇸🇨🇳🇷🇺⚡- "A US delegation is set to discuss nuclear weapons with Chinese counterparts in Geneva this week as the Trump administration attempts to start a new round of arms control talks with both Russia and China," - Bloomberg.

🇺🇸🇮🇶🇮🇷⚡️- Kata'ib Hezbollah spokesperson Abu Ali al-Askari has issued a warning to Kurdish groups in Iraq, stating that they must not become involved in a conflict between Iran and the United States.

He also warned Iran that the United States was escalating its military readiness in Syria and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq along a “land-based track.”

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️- President Trump posts about Iran and says that stories claiming General Dan Caine is skeptical about going to war with Iran are false.

🇪🇬🇪🇹⚡- "Egypt is prepared to work with African allies to help secure Ethiopia access to the Red Sea if Addis Ababa shows flexibility in its water dispute," - Egyptian sources tell The National News.

🇺🇸🇩🇰⚡️- The Pentagon has not received orders to deploy medical vessels or other ships of the U.S. Navy to Greenland, despite President Trump’s claim Saturday that a hospital ship was “on its way” to Greenland, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal.

🇺🇸🇮🇶⚡️- A first Stratotanker entered Iraqi airspace a few hours ago. A second one is about to enter it as well. A third Stratotanker took off from Crete a few minutes ago and is currently headed the same way as the first two.

There are also two active Stratotankers in the Pacific, with one taking off from Japan less than 20 minutes ago.

🇺🇸⚡️- “Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company xAI has signed an agreement to allow the military to use its model, Grok, in classified systems,” a Defense official confirmed to Axios.

🇰🇵⚡️- The Workers’ Party of Korea, the ruling party of North Korea, has unanimously reelected Kim Jong Un as the party’s general secretary.

🇺🇸⚡️- BREAKING: Secretary of State Marco Rubio will brief House and Senate leaders tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. at the White House.

The topic to be discussed is currently unknown.

🇺🇸⚡️- Over the last 14 days, U.S. military cargo flights have continued to increase as the deadline for Iran during negotiations approaches.

In the 15 days between February 9th and February 23rd, Rerum Novarum tracked 363 military cargo flights going to and from the Middle East and European regions across 110 unique aircraft, involving 96 C-17s and 14 C-5 Galaxies.

🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️- ABC now confirms that Secretary Rubio will brief the “Gang of Eight” tomorrow afternoon on Iran.

🇮🇷⚡- Iranian military training helicopter crashed in Khomeini Shahr, Isfahan region, killing both the pilot and co-pilot.

Two civilians were also killed in the crash which occurred at a fruit market.

🇷🇺🇺🇦 - On this day four years ago, Russia launched what was initially supposed to be a 'Special Military Operation', but has turned into a prolonged, deadly war of attrition.

With both sides suffering hundreds of thousands of casualties, Russia has taken approximately 20-22% of Ukrainian territory.

In the course of the four years, Russia has captured only two cities (Melitopol and Mariupol), but several large towns (including Pokrovsk, Severodonetsk, Volchansk, Berdiansk and Bakhmut).

🇷🇺⚡- Russia's FSB has launched a criminal investigation into Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram, under the charges of 'aiding terrorism' in Russia.

🇺🇸🇾🇪⚡- "SM-2, SM-3 and SM-6 defense missiles have been rapidly consumed as the Navy had protected vessels in the Red Sea against Iranian-proxy forces in Yemen [Ansarullah] and defended Israel against ballistic missiles [early last year]," - The Washington Post.

🇺🇸🇬🇧⚡- A batch of the 12 F-22s have begun departing RAF Lakenheath, UK, for the Middle East.

🇺🇸🇮🇷🇮🇶⚡️- Iran is building a six-foot-tall wall spanning more than six miles along the border with the Penjwen district of Iraqi Kurdistan. This comes amid concerns about an attempted infiltration by Kurdish separatist groups or the possibility of a U.S. ground force intervention.