NATO is preparing for the possible invocation of its collective defense clause amid the escalating war over Iran, Rutte says. NATO Secretary General Marke Rutte also stated that the current pressure on Iran could weaken its ability to assist Russia in its war against Ukraine. “We have prepared ourselves. What we are currently doing within NATO is ensuring the defense of every inch of the Alliance’s territory,” he said in an interview with Newsmax.
Mark Rutte: “We support Trump for destroying Iran’s nuclear and missile capabilities,” he said. The bloc leader noted that Iran was close to becoming a threat to Europe. The Secretary General noted that the alliance is deliberately withholding the timing of the clause’s possible invocation. “We maintain this uncertainty because we don’t want our enemies, our adversaries, to know more,” he explained. NATO will not invoke Article 5 of its charter in relation to the Iranian missile incident in Turkey, Mark Rutte said.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would not rule out the participation of the Canadian Armed Forces in military operations against Iran. When asked by reporters during a briefing whether there were any plans to do so, he replied in the negative.
The Senate vote to block Trump’s attacks on Iran fails: 48-52. The Pentagon’s preliminary estimate of the cost of the war in Iran is $1 billion a day, according to congressional representatives quoted by the media. The United States and at least one other Persian Gulf country are in talks to purchase Ukrainian interceptor drones for use in Operation Epic Fury against Iran, the Financial Times reports.
According to Kurdish sources, the CIA’s support for Iranian Kurdish groups has been ongoing for at least several months. Large-scale attacks by Israel and the United States have also occurred in Kurdish-majority areas of Iran, aiding separatist groups attempting to attack the Iranian government and security forces.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US war with Iran could last up to eight weeks ($56 billion). Donald Trump told reporters that things were going well on the “war front” with Iran, noting that on a scale of 1 to 10, he would rate the situation as “about a 15,” before stating, “I think if we hadn’t done it first, they [Iran] would have done it with Israel and given us a chance, if they could.”
The United States is not currently planning to use ground forces in Iran, but has not ruled out the possibility, the White House said. At the Pentagon, not everyone understands what objectives Washington is pursuing with its military operation “Epic Fury” against Iran, Bloomberg reports, citing knowledgeable sources. According to the agency, some US War Department officials are questioning the operation’s strategy, amid growing concerns about the depletion of already limited stocks of key munitions and uncertainty about the campaign’s ultimate objectives.
Meanwhile, Trump and Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth have previously stated that the United States has virtually “infinite” munitions reserves and is prepared to continue the operation as long as necessary to win.
The US Central Command, responsible for parts of Africa and the entire Middle East, has submitted requests to the Pentagon for the urgent deployment of military officers and headquarters staff to CENTCOM headquarters in Tampa, Florida, citing the acute need for additional “coordinating” command, as well as support for “continued and extended operations in the region through September 2026.”
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albarez said: “Our positions on the war in the Middle East and the use of our bases have not changed.” The United States is considering visa restrictions to put pressure on Spain, ABC reports.
Italian Defense Minister: “In collaboration with Spain, France, and the Netherlands, we will send military ships in the coming days to protect Cyprus.”
Macron: “I spoke with Netanyahu and asked him to refrain from a ground offensive in Lebanon.” Seventy-three percent of National Rally/Republican voters in France support US intervention in Iran.
Germany, based on its experience, warns the United States and Israel that “military force alone will not help resolve conflicts.”
Moscow has not received any request from Tehran for the necessary assistance, a statement from the spokesman for the National Rally/Republican.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi: “The United States has committed mass murder on the high seas, 2,000 miles off the coast of Iran. The Indian Navy’s host warship, Dena, with approximately 130 sailors aboard, was attacked in international waters without warning. Listen carefully: the United States will deeply regret the precedent it has set.” At least 87 people were killed in a US submarine attack on an Iranian frigate. The Iranian sailors were hospitalized in southern Sri Lanka. Iran denied a New York Times report about its alleged willingness to discuss a ceasefire, Tasnim reports.
Iran’s military denied reports of a missile launch into Turkish territory and said Tehran respects Turkey’s sovereignty. The Iranian military denies launching drones toward Azerbaijan, the General Staff of the Islamic Republic said.
The UAE Ministry of Economy: “We encourage everyone to purchase only according to their needs and take advantage of the wide range of alternatives available.” Emirates, the UAE’s largest airline, has announced the extension of the suspension of scheduled flights to and from Dubai until March 7, inclusive, the airline said in a statement.
Aden, Yemen, has sent a message to Arab countries in recent days, urging them not to consider direct action against Iran.
And now a look at the ongoing military scenarios in the Middle East and Western Asia, updated at 3:00 PM on March 5. In Sri Lanka, rescuers have found 87 bodies of victims of the Iranian frigate that sank off the coast of Sri Lanka, according to the Ada Derana portal.
The U.S. Department of State’s Middle East Affairs Department is urging citizens stranded in the Middle East to contact them for evacuation. The Pentagon released video of the destruction of the Shahid-class corvette Soleimani. During a closed-door briefing with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on March 4, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Kaine acknowledged that Iran’s Shahid-class attack drones pose a serious problem, a greater threat than anticipated, adding that air defenses will not be able to intercept them all, two sources present at the briefing told CNN.
A U.S. military source told The Insider that an Iranian missile attack on Turkey occurred around 11:40 p.m. ET at the NATO air base in Incirlik. A U.S. Navy ship in the Mediterranean Sea shot down the missile with an SM-3 missile.
The Cyprus Ministry of Interior is implementing an emergency SMS alert system. It has been revealed that the British destroyer will not reach Cyprus for another two weeks. Tests for the sirens have begun. The plane from Athens, which failed to land in Larnaca this morning and returned to Greece due to the drone interception incident, has taken off again, but about half of the passengers refused to fly.
Photos of Israeli F-16I fighter jets, published by the IDF press office, show the Euphrates River in Syria, near Deir ez-Zor. The Israeli Air Force is using Syrian airspace to strike Iran.
According to the Lebanese Ministry of Health: 72 dead and 347 wounded in IDF strikes. Hezbollah released a video of a Merkava tank destroyed by an anti-aircraft missile. The Lebanese government will open its airspace to a British aircraft flying between Cyprus, the Persian Gulf, and Iran. An IDF video shows soldiers in southern Lebanon: forces from the 91st Division are operating in eastern southern Lebanon, forces from the 210th Division are operating in the Mount Dov area, and troops from the 146th Division are operating in western southern Lebanon.
IDF Spokesperson: No intelligence information confirms coordination of military action between Hezbollah and Iran. IDF Arab Spokesperson Avichai Adraei issued another warning to residents of southern Lebanon: you must move immediately north of the Litani River. The warning also applies to residents of the towns of Sur and Bint Jbeil. Attacks began in southern Lebanon starting at 10:00 a.m. The occupation army is threatening residents of Dahieh: residents of the Burj al-Barajneh and Hadath neighborhoods are urged to move east toward Mount Lebanon on the Beirut-Damascus axis. Residents of the Haret Hreik and Chyah neighborhoods: north towards Tripoli on the Beirut-Tripoli axis and east towards Mount Lebanon on the Metn Highway. Travel south is prohibited. Hezbollah targeted another Israeli Merkava tank on the Lebanese border; Hebrew media described it as a “serious security incident.” Hezbollah reports deaths.
Red alert in Tel Aviv overnight, impact in Bnei Brak. Israeli interceptors attempt to shoot down Iranian missiles. At 2:00 a.m. Italian time, another salvo of missiles against Israel, sirens in Tel Aviv. Rockets fired at Kiryat Shimona in northern Israel. The intensity of Israeli attacks against Iran significantly exceeds that observed during the 12-day war of 2025. IDF pilots are now flying three combat sorties per day (for comparison: during the 12-day war, they were at most two per day). At 9:30 a.m. on March 5, new Iranian missile launches against Israel began.
Difficult times for the Iraqi region: Iraq’s main power grid is indefinitely out of service, and authorities are urging the population to use backup power sources and portable chargers. Israeli hacker attacks followed. Drone attacks on Erbil were subsequently reported. Pumping of Iraqi oil from Kirkuk to the Turkish port of Ceyhan resumed after a one-day suspension. Kurdish forces from Iraq launched a ground offensive in Iran against the Iranian government. Thousands of Kurdish fighters crossed into Iranian territory and took up combat positions since Monday, March 2. The Kurds have been reporting conflicting reports. A senior Kurdish official told Israeli media: an Iranian-Kurdish operation has begun. We’re talking about several groups launching the offensive. In the afternoon, the Kurds also denied the offensive against Iran.
U.S. troops are sending reinforcements to Victoria Air Base, near Baghdad Airport, ahead of a ground attack on the base. Attacks were recorded over the Iraqi province of Maysan. American drones flew over Iraq, heading toward Iran. An explosion struck near the port of Khor al-Zubair in Iraq. An unidentified vessel approached the targeted tanker off the Iraqi coast before the explosion. The Rumaila oil field, where British Petroleum (BP) extracts oil, was targeted in southern Iraq.
Azeri troops were put on alert and deployed to the border with Iran. Baku confirmed that Iran struck on two fronts: the terminal at Nakhchivan Airport, and the other near a school in the village of Shekerabad. Two injured, Iranian ambassador summoned to Foreign Ministry for talks. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry: Iranian drone strikes were carried out on Nakhchivan. We reserve the right to respond. The technical specifications of the drones and the details of these attacks are under investigation. The Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Azerbaijan strongly condemns attacks on civilian infrastructure by the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
On the morning of March 5, an attack was carried out on a hotel in Kuwait used to house American soldiers. Iranian forces attacked a British oil tanker flying the Bahamian flag 30 nautical miles southeast of Mubarak Al-Kabeer, Kuwait. The attack was carried out by an unmanned surface vehicle (USV). According to published images, the attack caused water to enter the vessel and an oil spill into the waters at the incident site.
Qatar’s Cabinet: “We consider Iran’s attack on Qatari territory unacceptable, under any pretext or justification, and we condemn it once again. Action is underway to intercept a missile attack from Iran.” Attacks on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
The United Arab Emirates has only four days’ food supplies, and all shops in the country are empty. The Royal Navy reported an attack on a container ship near Dubai. A splash of an unknown projectile was reportedly observed emanating from the container ship in the immediate vicinity. No damage to the ship was reported. On the evening of March 4, explosions were heard in the skies above Dubai, and air defense systems intercepted several objects; there were no casualties, the Emirates press office reported. Six people were injured by debris from a downed drone falling on an industrial area in Abu Dhabi, according to local authorities.
According to Kpler, tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has decreased by 90% due to the war in the Middle East. Approximately 20,000 sailors have been stranded on ships due to the traffic blockage. They are in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Arsenio Dominguez, Secretary General of the United Nations International Maritime Organization.
A charter flight for British citizens wishing to leave Oman, due to ongoing fighting in the Middle East, did not take off from the country’s capital, Muscat, due to confusion and pilot fatigue, Sky News reports.
The Iranians displayed the wreckage of a downed MQ-9 drone. According to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: “We have destroyed seven advanced enemy radars, and the eyes of America and Israel in the region are blinded.” The Guard Corps officially stated that in the coming days, when the enemy’s radars and air defense systems are blinded, Iranian attacks will become more intense and widespread than before.
Attacks in Shiraz. A wave of attacks is underway on Tehran on the night of March 4. Bandar Abbas is on fire as seen from the sea. Regarding the F-15 Strike E that crashed early Wednesday morning during an airstrike in southwestern Iran. The cause of the crash remains unknown; at least one source links it to the Iranian air defense system, with the pilot and the system operator ejecting over Iran. Following the incident, US and Israeli Air Force search and rescue (CSAR) units, which were on standby in the neighboring country, entered Iran about an hour after the F-15 crashed. During the operation, both crew members were safely evacuated without further incident to Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The pilot and weapons operator reportedly suffered minor injuries but were otherwise in “good condition” and were airlifted for further treatment at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Further confirmation and details on the incident are expected later from the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). The number of F-15s lost by the US against Iran has risen to five.
Iran condemns the attack on the Azadi football stadium in Tehran. Iranian opposition sources say the stadium was attacked after large security forces had been deployed inside. Photos do not show any weapons or bodies in the stadium.
Iran denies reports of a ground offensive by Kurdish forces. “The Iranian armed forces have complete control of the situation on the country’s borders,” said Ali Larijani, Secretary of the National Security Council.
In the afternoon, according to Announcement No. IRGC Public Relations, No. 21: “IRGC Aerospace’s Khorramshahr 4 heavy missiles with a 1-ton warhead were launched at dawn on March 5, as part of the 19th wave of Operation True Promise 4, bearing the blessed code “O Hasan ibn Ali (AS),” toward the heart of Tel Aviv, Ben Gurion Airport, and the Israeli Air Force’s 27th Squadron base at that airport.” “The successful passage of these strategic missiles, preceded by attack drones, through the seven layers of regional and internal air defense in the occupied territories, created a veritable hell for the attackers.”
The Khorramshahr-4 ballistic missile is the fourth generation of the Khorramshahr missile series. It has a range of up to 2,000 kilometers and carries a warhead weighing approximately 1,500 kilograms. Its notable features include a speed of Mach 16 outside the atmosphere and Mach 8 inside the atmosphere, as well as the ability to guide and control the warhead during the intermediate phase outside the atmosphere.
Antonio Albanese e Graziella Giangiulio
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