44143
Join our channel for breaking news stories from around the globe, exclusive analysis & opinions. Website: sputnikglobe.com 💬 You can always reach us via @sputnikint_bot
🔥 🇷🇺 Ground robot evacuates wounded Russian soldier from the front lines near Konstantinovka
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
📑 US temporarily lifts sanctions on Russian oil
US Treasury issued a 30-day waiver allowing the sale of Russian crude and petroleum products loaded on vessels as of March 12.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control's license permits the delivery and sale of stranded Russian oil until April 11.
🗣 "Russian energy is indispensable to easing the world's largest energy crisis. EU bureaucrats will soon be forced to recognize this reality, acknowledge their strategic blunders, and atone," Russian special presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev wrote on X, reacting to the move.
🚨 US loses refueling aircraft over Iraq
CENTCOM has confirmed that a KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq while conducting operations against Iran. The second aircraft involved landed safely.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed responsibility for the downing.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
💬🇦🇲🇷🇺 Armenian refusal of Russian aid suspicious – Russian MFA
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has criticized Armenia's rejection of humanitarian aid for refugees from the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
"Armenian authorities are attempting to erase any mentions of Russia ahead of the elections by refusing humanitarian aid that is being offered without any underlying political message," Zakharova charged.
"They are only causing harm to their own citizens."
🚨🇮🇶 Six French soldiers were wounded in drone attack on joint base in Iraq
A drone struck a Peshmerga-French base in the Makhmour area, Erbil Governor Omed Koshnaw confirmed.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨US–Israel war against Iran: Overview
Explore our map tracking the exchange of fire between the opposing sides on March 11.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🟠 Iran’s Supreme Leader: ‘All US bases should be closed, we will continue to attack them’
🟠 UN resolution on Iran 'unbalanced' and ignores US/Israeli strikes - Russian MFA spox
🟠 Madrid & Rome: EU's voices defending the Middle East
🟠 Hezbollah strikes back: Israel's Iron Dome overwhelmed
🟠 New probe against China: US trade penalties poor strategy for investment and growth – expert
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨Hezbollah strikes back: Israel's Iron Dome overwhelmed
Hezbollah has delivered a powerful message with massive rocket barrages that reportedly penetrated Israel's vaunted Iron Dome defenses, with only about half of ~100 projectiles intercepted in a single day (per NY Post citing IDF sources).
Was it a one-off lapse, or the beginning of a new Hezbollah tactic?
📉 Why did the Iron Dome fail?
"Unlike in 2024—when Israel provided maximum dense coverage for the northern regions—now Israel has dispersed a significant portion of these anti-aircraft systems across various parts of the country to protect against Iranian drone attacks and the like. As a result, the defensive density in the north is generally weaker," Yury Lyamin, veteran Russian military observer tells Sputnik.
Much of Israel's air force is committed to operations on the Iranian front, leaving fewer resources for the Lebanese theater, he adds.
📊 Can IDF budget sustain current war?
Regarding the Tamir interceptor missiles, they are produced by Israel's Rafael in collaboration with the American corporation RTX, with much of the manufacturing based in the United States, explains Lyamin.
"At the end of last year, an additional new facility was opened in Arkansas for producing Tamir interceptors, and their production is largely funded through US military aid to Israel."
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🔥 🇷🇺 They launched drones. They don't anymore
Russia’s Geran teams eliminate Ukraine army’s UAV operator base and depot.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran strikes US-owned vessel Safe Sia
The ship under the flag of the Marshall Islands was struck after ignoring warnings and threats from the IRGC Navy
The vessel was identified as one of the assets of the US army in the northern Persian Gulf
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨 Ukraine’s attempt to hinder the peace process finds support in European countries – Kremlin
Other statements by Dmitry Peskov:
🟠 European capitals show no desire to facilitate the search for ways to peacefully resolve the conflict in Ukraine
🟠 Russia continues its special military operation and at the same time remains open to finding paths to a peaceful settlement in Ukraine
🟠 Ukraine’s attempts to attack the Russkaya compressor station are absolutely reckless
🟠 Kirill Dmitriev is returning to Russia today and will brief Putin on his negotiations in the US
🟠 It is too early to speak of effective cooperation between Russia and the US in the energy sector, but the topic is certainly being discussed
🟠 Interaction between Russia and the US, including in energy markets, could become an important factor in stabilizing the situation in these markets
🟠 Russia expects that the North-South transport corridor project will be implemented; a great deal has already been accomplished.
🟠 Russia, Iran, and a group of regional states are still interested in the North-South corridor project
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🪖🇮🇷🇮🇱 Iran launches strikes on Israel's Palmachim and Uvda air force bases, Shin Bet security service HQ - Iranian military
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🇪🇺 📉 Europe’s ammunition stocks could run out in days – Rheinmetall CEO
💬 “The greatest need is for ammunition. Almost no one in Europe has enough ammunition. In a crisis, the stockpiles would be exhausted within a few days,” Rheinmetall chief executive Armin Papperger told Neue Zurcher Zeitung.
🚨 🇺🇸 US military personnel housing in Kuwait struck - Press TV
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨 🇷🇺 US and other nations start to acknowledge Russia’s key role in global energy stability - Dmitriev
Russian special presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev visited the US, where he held a meeting with the leaders of the working group on economic cooperation between Russia and the US.
The parties discussed both promising projects that could contribute to the restoration of Russian-American relations and the current crisis situation in global energy markets.
💬 "Today, many countries, primarily the US, are beginning to better understand the key, foundational role of Russian oil and gas in ensuring the stability of the global economy, as well as the inefficiency and destructive nature of sanctions against Russia," he wrote on Telegram.
⚔️ IRGC announces wave 44 of the True Promise 4
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced the 44th wave of strikes, targeting northern Israel, Kiryat Shmona, Hadera, Haifa, the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, and other US bases in the region.
According to the IRGC's statement, Iran used Khorramshahr, Kheibar, Shekan, Fattah, Emad, and Qadr missiles, as well as drones.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
💬 Ukrainian attacks on energy hubs threaten to escalate conflict – Turkish expert
Ukraine Targeting Russian energy infrastructure is a dangerous and reckless tactic, Turkish foreign policy expert Levent Ersin Oralli tells Sputnik.
"The attempted attack on the Russkaya compressor station in southern Russia once again underscores this point," Oralli says. "Reports of 12 attempted strikes on energy facilities by Ukraine in just the past two weeks show that the conflict is increasingly shifting into the realm of energy security."
"These facilities are critically important for the operational continuity of the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines, which supply gas across the Black Sea to Europe and Turkiye," Oralli says.
🔥 🇷🇺 Precision and power
The Russian MOD releases footage of Onyx missile launches from the Kazan nuclear sub.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🔊 US will escort tankers through Hormuz 'as soon as militarily possible'
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confirmed long-term plans for a scenario in which the US or a coalition would open the Strait by force.
"That was always in our planning—the chance that the US Navy, or perhaps an international coalition, would be escorting tankers through," he told CNBC.
🔊 Iranian strategy built on lessons of US wars, faith and homegrown tech – Marandi
Iran has learned from decades of US wars in the Middle East and beyond and has been preparing for war for at least 25 years, Iranian-American international affairs analyst Mohammad Marandi tells Sputnik.
🇮🇶 Iraq War, spring 2003:
👉 Rationale: Toppling Saddam Hussein in Iraq under the pretext of non-existent weapons of mass destruction
👉 Key Events: The US invaded Iraq on March 20; Baghdad fell in April; president George Bush declared "mission accomplished" on the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1
👉 Aftermath: The initial victory gave way to a guerilla war, years of occupation, terrorist attacks and eventual US withdrawal
🇱🇾 Libya War, spring 2011
👉 Rationale: Toppling Muammar Gaddafi under the pretext of protecting civilians under UN Security Council Resolution 1973
👉 Key Events: NATO, led by the US, intervened in Libya; US-backed rebels seized Tripoli in August and killed Gaddafi in October
👉 Aftermath: Victory without a postwar plan left a power vacuum, civil war, the 2012 Benghazi killing of the US ambassador, a refugee crisis in Europe and Libya’s slide into anarchy
What lessons did Iran learn?
Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iranians have suffered enmity from the US, its allies and client regimes, says Marandi.
The US has imposed sanctions against Iran for nearly 47 years and has supported anti-Iranian factions.
"Iran began a project for its defense," the pundit notes. "It developed indigenous technology. It focused on building drones and missiles and creating underground bases to protect its drones and missiles."
"I think all of these together have created an environment in which resistance in Iran becomes far more effective. And that is why this Epstein coalition has failed," Marandi highlights.
💥⚔️ Written off too soon: Hezbollah returns to exact revenge
Israel's Iron Dome intercepted only half of the 100 rockets Hezbollah launched on March 11. The strikes came despite 10,000 Israeli ceasefire violations recorded since October 2024.
📍 Peace was never an option
"Hezbollah was preparing for a new war, recognizing its inevitability," Russian analyst Yury Lyamin tells Sputnik.
The group understood it "would be targeted regardless and thus intended to defend itself."
"Iran has so much firepower. Add Hezbollah's firepower, and that's going to take a very heavy toll on Israeli defenses," Beirut analyst Ali Rizk tells Sputnik.
"Now Hezbollah is going back to its original self—guerrilla tactics, more secrecy, fewer targets for Israel," Rizk explains.
🇪🇸🇮🇹🇪🇺 Madrid & Rome: EU's voices defending the Middle East
The once-united European Union is visibly fracturing over the the US-Israeli attack on Iran.
Leading the pushback are Spain's Pedro Sánchez and Italy's Giorgia Meloni.
Pedro Sánchez: Confronting Netanyahu & Trump
🟠 May 2024: Spain recognizes Palestine (formalized May 28)
🟠 Oct 2024: Calls for EU to suspend association agreement with Israel
🟠 Accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza; vows to enforce ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu
🟠 May 2025: At Arab League summit – "Palestine is bleeding before our eyes. Stop the slaughter in Gaza"
🟠 Sep 2025: Enacts royal decree for full arms embargo on Israel; closes Spanish airspace/ports to Israeli military shipments.
Post-Feb 28, 2026 US-Israel strikes on Iran:
🟠 Urges immediate end to hostilities "before it's too late"
🟠 Slams war as "smoke screen" to hide domestic failures and enrich elites
🟠 "No to war" – four words that sum up Spain's stance
🟠 Rejects Trump's pressure to use Spanish bases for strikes on Iran: "We will not be complicit in what harms the world and contradicts our values"
🟠 Opposes French push for stronger European nuclear capability: "We do not want a more nuclear world or a nuclear Europe"
Giorgia Meloni: Italy Condemns US & Israel
🟠 Mar 11, 2026: In Rome parliament speech, denounces US-Israeli campaign in Iran as part of "unilateral interventions outside international law"
🟠 Declares Italy "does not accept and will not participate" in the conflict
🟠 Strongly condemns the Minab school strike (≈170 killed, mostly girls), expresses solidarity with victims' families, and demands accountability
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🗣 🇮🇷 Iran’s Supreme Leader: ‘All US bases should be closed, we will continue to attack them’
Highlights of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei’s first message:
🟠 The lever of blocking the Strait of Hormuz must continue to be used
🟠 The Islamic Republic does not seek domination or colonial influence in the region. We remain fully prepared for unity and warm, mutual relations with all neighboring countries.
🟠 However, we will obtain compensation from the enemy by any means necessary. If they refuse, we will seize their assets to the extent we deem appropriate. Should that not be possible, we will destroy an equivalent amount of their property.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: HUGE GAINS AND DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES
🟠 Russian air and missile firepower obliterated energy infrastructure supporting the Kiev regime’s forces
🟠 Air defense superiority: 447 UAVs were shot down by Russian air defense systems over the past 24 hours
🟠 Ukrainian losses: around 1,325 troops killed or wounded
Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨🇮🇷 Newly-appointed Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei 'injured but fine'
💬 "I don't know when [Mojtaba Khamenei] will give his first speech. There were three or four names for the leadership, but the majority of the Assembly of Experts chose him, in accordance with the Constitution. This shows that our system isn't governed by one man," Iranian FM spokesman Esmail Baghaei told the Italian newspaper Corriere Della Serra.
🚨 Ukraine attacked Russkaya compressor station at night - MoD
The facility is located in the Russian Krasnodar region, it ensures gas supplies via the TurkStream.
Ten Ukrainian aircraft-type strike drones were destroyed.
No damage was reported to the station, according to the Ministry of Defense.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🇺🇸🇮🇱⚔️ 🇮🇷US–Israel war against Iran: Latest updates
🔸 The UN Security Council has passed an anti-Iran resolution.
🔸 Iran's Ambassador: Our response to the actions of the US and Israel is lawful and proportional.
🔸 The IRGC announced the 40th wave of Operation True Promise 4.
🔸 Trump believes the US has nearly destroyed Iran during the operation.
🔸 7 dead and 21 wounded in an attack on the White Sands area in Beirut, according to Lebanon's Ministry of Health.
🔸 Israel’s railway system has been crippled due to a cyberattack.
🔸 Russian Envoy to the UN Vassily Nebenzia called the UNSC vote on the Russian resolution for resolving the Middle East conflict a disgrace and a theater of absurdity.
🔸 A building in Kuwait, housing US military personnel, was attacked.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🚨 UNSC resolution urges Iran to stop strikes on Gulf states as Russia calls document unbalanced
The resolution, passed by 13 votes with two abstentions from Russia and China, does not mention US and Israeli attacks on Iran, and instead demands the immediate cessation of all strikes by Tehran against Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan.
📄 The document also condemns any actions or threats by Iran aimed at closing, obstructing, or interfering with international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
🔊 Iran's Permanent Representative to the UN Amir Saeid Iravani criticized the resolution, noting that "some [UN Security] Council members are attempting to reverse the roles and positions of victim and aggressor." He added that Iran does not recognize the document.
Russian Envoy to the UN Vassily Nebenzia for his part slammed the resolution as a “highly unbalanced” document that “does not serve the aim to maintain international peace and order.”
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt
🗣 Iran does not recognize Israel as a party to talks — Diplomat
Iran does not need mediators with Israel because it does not consider it a party to negotiations, Iranian Ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali told Sputnik.
"In the recent series of events, Iran has responded on the battlefield and is not seeking mediation," he added.
🔍 US intel admits Iran's government is not collapsing — report
Despite nearly two weeks of relentless bombing and the killing of Supreme Leader Khamenei, US intelligence say the regime is "not in danger," sources told Reuters.
Israeli officials also acknowledged there's no certainty the war will bring down the clerical government.
📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt