TOP STORIES
Pentagon Officials Weigh Deployment of Airborne Troops for Iran War | New York Times
Senior military officials are weighing a possible deployment of a combat brigade from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and some elements of the division’s headquarters staff to support U.S. military operations in Iran, defense officials said. . . . The combat forces would come from the 82nd Airborne’s “Immediate Response Force,” a brigade of about 3,000 soldiers capable of deploying anywhere in the world within 18 hours. These forces could be used to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub.
Israel Launches New Strikes on Tehran as Trump Pauses Iran Energy Attacks | Guardian
The Israeli military said it had launched a new wave of strikes on Tehran, after Donald Trump signalled a pause in US attacks against energy infrastructure after what he said were productive talks with Iran. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said it would continue operations in line with Israeli government directives until told otherwise. . . . The IDF told the Guardian that energy infrastructure would be spared, suggesting Israel may follow Washington in suspending any targeting of Iranian power plants and related sites.
President Donald Trump hailed on Monday, March 23, “very good” talks with an unidentified Iranian official after abruptly shelving plans for fresh attacks, even as Washington's ally Israel vowed to keep up strikes on the Islamic republic. The surprise disclosure—denied by Tehran, which accused Trump of manipulating energy markets—came ahead of a Monday night deadline imposed by Trump for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane or see the US “obliterate” its power plants.
UANI IN THE NEWS
Ex-US ambassador Mark Wallace, now CEO of United Against Nuclear Iran, told The Sun: “We have long said that Iran’s ballistic missile programme threatened an area much wider than conventional wisdom had us believe. The attack on Diego Garcia is the first instance of the demonstration, albeit unsuccessful.”
Two India Tankers Pass Through Hormuz as Trump-Iran Standoff Simmers | Reuters
At least 14 Iran-flagged loaded oil tankers have reached Asian waters around the Singapore Strait since February 28, according to analysis from U.S. advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which monitors Iran-related tanker traffic. It’s "business as usual" for Iran, UANI senior adviser Charlie Brown said.
“I think that there’s definitely a method to the president’s decision-making here,” Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against Nuclear Iran, told Fox News Digital. “He is testing to see what concessions the Iranian regime would be prepared to make,” Brodsky said. “The president can be testing diplomacy. The president can also be buying time. . . . All these things can be true at the same time. It’s not either-or. . . . I remain skeptical that we’re anywhere near a point where the Iranian regime will make significant concessions,” he said.
Charlie Brown, senior advisor to United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) and a former US Navy officer, said the enhanced risks to ships caused by interference would figure into risk assessments for the owners of commercial ships, operators and insurers. “The result to shipping, which depends on [GPS] for routine operations, causes extra confusion and hampers safe navigation. It’s not impossible for shipping to navigate without GPS... The men and women on the ship can still navigate. It’s just harder and they need to be more aware of what they’re doing,” he told The Independent. Mr Brown explained that there have been efforts in recent years to ensure that mariners are not overly reliant on their GPS navigation systems and are still using multiple sources and cross-checking data for when automatic systems fail. “It is serious. It adds complexity. It adds risk. And it adds inconvenience both to the people on the ships, but also the people ashore trying to understand what’s going on at sea.” “Both sides are doing it for offensive reasons, and both sides are doing it for defensive reasons,” he added.
Ukraine Diplomat Urges Strikes on Russian Drone Production over Iran Shipments | Jerusalem Post
[PHOTO CAPTION]: Officials from Ukraine, Britain, Poland, and the US pose pose beside a Shahed-136 drone used by Russia amid its attack on Ukraine and believed to be built in Iran, during an event organised by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) in the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, October 14, 2025.
MILITARY MATTERS
Ending Iran War Now Would Cede Hormuz to the Enemy, Trump’s Former Defense Secretary Says | Politico
“Iran right now, if we declared victory, they would now say they own the strait,” [former Defense Secretary James] Mattis said . . . “You’d see a tax for every ship that goes through.” “We’re in a tough spot, ladies and gentlemen,” Mattis said. “I can’t identify a lot of options.”
Amid Trump administration demands for Tehran to keep the free flow of commerce in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. officials have told CBS News that there are at least a dozen underwater mines through the vital passageway, according to current American intelligence assessments.
Strait of Hormuz Remains Blocked by Iran While Zombie Ships Sail Through | ABC News (Australia)
Zombie ships brought back from the dead appear to be sailing through the Strait of Hormuz, where thousands of other vessels have avoided travelling out of fear. . . . over the past week, two anomalies appeared to sail in and out of the Gulf through the strait—a Japanese-owned tanker carrying liquefied natural gas, and a vehicle carrier. . . . What the data shows is that the vessels were broadcasting the unique identifier codes assigned to two ships that had been scrapped for parts long before the war started.
Less than 48 hours before the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran began, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone to President Donald Trump about the reasons for launching the kind of complex, far-off war the American leader once had campaigned against. Both Trump and Netanyahu knew from intelligence briefings earlier in the week that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his key lieutenants would soon meet at his compound in Tehran, making them vulnerable to a “decapitation strike”—an attack against a country's top leaders often used by Israelis but traditionally less so by the United States. But new intelligence suggested that the meeting had been moved forward to Saturday morning from Saturday night, according to three people briefed on the call. . . . Netanyahu, determined to move forward with an operation he had urged for decades, argued that there might never be a better chance to kill Khamenei and to avenge previous Iranian efforts to assassinate Trump, these people said. . . The three sources briefed on the call said they believed it—along with the intelligence showing a closing window to kill Iran's leader—was a catalyst for Trump’s final decision to order the military on February 27 to move ahead with Operation Epic Fury.
Iran Is Trying to Defeat America in the Living Room | Karim Sadjadpour in the Atlantic
Over the decades, Iran gained repeated proof that it didn’t need to defeat America on the battlefield; it just had to make the American people feel the war in their living room. And now, in a war for its survival, Tehran is attempting the same play. . . . If Iran’s strategy depends on Peoria, Trump’s presidency depends on the Strait of Hormuz. Trump cannot withdraw so long as Iran controls it, but securing it risks the kind of mass American casualties that ended Reagan’s and Bush’s resolve. If Trump reopens it, his appetite for regime change may grow. If he doesn’t, the economic pressure on his base will mount. This is ultimately a war between a democracy’s impatience and a theocracy’s ruthless endurance. The question is whether, for the first time since 1979, Tehran has finally met a U.S. president more committed to destroying the regime than the regime is to destroying him.
DIPLOMACY
Trump Says There Are ‘Major Points of Agreement’ in Talks with Iran | Reuters
“We have had very, very strong talks. We’ll see where they lead. We have points, major points of agreement, I would say, almost all points of agreement . . . we’ve had very strong talks, Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner had them,” Trump told reporters in Florida. In comments later in Memphis, Tennessee, he played up the chances of a deal. “With Iran, we’ve been negotiating for a long time, and this time, they mean business,” Trump said. “We’re giving it five days, and then we’re going to see where that takes us. And I would say at the end of this period, I think it could very well end up being a very good deal for everybody.”
Witkoff Travels to Pakistan in Hope of In-Person Talks with Iran | Times of London
The Times has been told that Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, has travelled to Pakistan, which has offered to host in-person talks. There is, however, so far no sign of any meaningful Iranian figure joining him there.
Iran has received a message from the United States through mediators as a potential precursor to talks between the two warring countries, a senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official told CBS News on Monday, after President Trump suggested a deal is possible. The Iranian official said “we received points from the U.S. through mediators and they are being reviewed.”
The Trump administration is quietly weighing Iran’s parliament speaker as a potential partner—and even a future leader—as the president signals a shift from military pressure toward a negotiated endgame. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the 64-year-old who has repeatedly threatened the U.S. and its allies with retaliation, is seen by at least some in the White House as a workable partner, who could lead Iran and negotiate with the Trump administration in the war’s next phase, according to two administration officials. But the White House isn’t ready to commit to any one person, hoping to stress test multiple candidates as they look for someone willing to make a deal, said the two people, both granted anonymity to describe internal thinking.
Trump Began Iran Talks as Allies Warned War Risked Disaster | Bloomberg
Donald Trump’s decision to back down from his threat to destroy Iran’s power infrastructure came after US allies and Gulf countries privately warned the president of the dangers of following through with his threat, according to people familiar with the matter. . . . Pulling back also dovetailed with another interest of the president’s: calming markets rattled by his threats and the ongoing conflict. . . . “This risks confirming, in Tehran’s mind, that if it threatens back especially against energy infrastructure in the region, it can compel the US to back down,” Jonathan Panikoff, former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East at the US National Intelligence Council. “In its mind, Iran is not only winning but this is the type of action that increases its own deterrence.” . . . Saudi Arabia told the US it was ready to strike Iran if its own power and water plants were targeted by the Islamic Republic, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
TERRORISM & PROXY WARS
Golders Green Fire: Iran ‘May Be Behind Jewish Ambulance Attack’ | Times of London
Security services and police are investigating whether Iran could be behind an arson attack on four ambulances serving a Jewish community in north London, after a group linked to Tehran said it was responsible. . . . Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamia, a group that has claimed responsibility for similar recent attacks in Europe, said it had carried out the attack. . . . The Iranian ambassador to the UK, Seyed Ali Mousavi, was summoned by the Foreign Office in response to his country’s “reckless and destabilising actions” in Britain and overseas. Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, warned that the UK faced a “long and sustained threat” from Iran, including a “very relevant and rolling threat” to British Jews.
SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Trump Faces Blowback on Easing Iran Oil Sanctions | New York Times
. . . [T]he Trump administration is on the defensive as it tries to justify temporarily lifting sanctions on 140 million barrels of Iranian oil that is currently sitting at sea. With oil prices hovering around $100 a barrel, the sanctions relief, which is intended to boost global supplies of crude to ease energy prices, could give Iran a $14 billion windfall at the same time the United States is waging a war on the country.
HOSTAGES
British Couple in Iran Prison Say Situation is “Life-Threatening” | BBC News
A British man jailed with his wife in Iran on espionage charges has said they feel frightened by the war and abandoned by the British government. It marks the first time that Craig and Lindsay Foreman have released a public statement via their family since the start of the conflict on 28 February. Mr Foreman said the couple, who were arrested in January 2025 while on a global motorbike journey, felt “let down, alone and completely frustrated”. . . . He also expressed anger at “a serious lack of commitment” for their safety. “We are now in prison in a war zone,” he said. “We have gone from a challenging situation to a life-threatening one. You have chosen to give us zero information on what’s happening to us, what to do and where to go if the prison doors were to open.”
EUROPE & IRAN
Iranian Man Who Allegedly Tried to Enter Nuclear Base Released | BBC News
An Iranian man charged after allegedly trying to enter the Faslane naval base has been released pending further inquiries without appearing in court. . . . He had been expected to appear at Dumbarton Sheriff Court on Monday—but the Crown Office said that “after full and careful consideration of the facts and circumstances of the case” the man had been freed pending further inquiries. Prosecutors said the case against him was still live and under consideration—but that there would be no proceedings against a 31-year-old Romanian woman who was also arrested at the base.
The US and Iran must come to the negotiating table to immediately end the de facto closure of the strait of Hormuz and stop hostilities in the Middle East, the head of the European Commission says. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said Iran’s efforts to block the strategic waterway via attacks on unarmed commercial vessels and critical infrastructure “must be condemned”.
HEZBOLLAH, LEBANON & IRAN
Salam Says IRGC Commanding Hezbollah Operations in Lebanon | L'Orient Today
In an interview with Saudi al-Hadath channel Sunday evening, [Lebanese] Prime Minister Nawaf Salam addressed the consequences of the war in Lebanon, Hezbollah’s responsibility in it and President Joseph Aoun's initiative for direct negotiations with Israel to end the war. “The war was imposed on us,” Salam said. “Each of the six rockets fired by Hezbollah” on March 2 at dawn, marking the start of the war, “has cost the displacement of 10,000 people,” he added, referencing the internal displacement in the initial days. . . . Salam added that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) are commanding Hezbollah’s operations. Referring to the incident in which an Iran-made drone hit a British base in Cyprus earlier this month, Salam said "that was the Revolutionary Guard, which is present and, unfortunately, is managing the military operation in Lebanon.”