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By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON, March 11 (Reuters) - Nearly every U.S. Senate Democrat signed a letter sent to U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday requesting a "swift investigation" of airstrikes on a girls' school in Iran that killed scores of children and any other potential U.S. military actions causing civilian harm. Reuters reported on March 5 that U.S. military investigators believe it is likely that U.S. forces were responsible for the strike on the school on February 28, as U.S. and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran.

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Donald Trump’s mixed messages on Iran leave questions unanswered  The Guardian

Lack of public appearances prompted speculation about new leader’s mortality after multiple family members perished The confirmation that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was injured in the first wave of Israeli attacks underlines how desperate the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (ICRG) was to ensure their wounded choice was elevated to high office, and how confident it is that the wartime machinery can operate almost on automatic pilot without him. The full scale of Khamenei’s injuries and speed of his recovery remain unclear, but a broken leg and facial injuries are the minimum. It is not a medical bulletin on which the authorities are seeking to dwell, although Ali Larijani, the secretary of the supreme national security council, chose his words carefully in saying “his condition has not been reported as critical”, a phrasing that suggests he has not personally seen him. Continue reading...

Will the Iran War Be Netanyahu’s Undoing?  The Atlantic

Iranian officials warn of a long ‘war of attrition’ and global economic chaos as energy supplies from the region are throttled Iran dramatically escalated its strategy of striking civilian infrastructure and transport networks across the Gulf on Wednesday, attacking commercial ships travelling through the Gulf and targeting Dubai’s international airport, as US and Israeli warplanes launched new waves of strikes on the Islamic Republic. Senior Iranian officials struck a defiant tone, warning of a long “war of attrition” that will threaten global economic chaos as energy supplies from the oil and gas rich region are throttled. Continue reading...

Trump's approval rating low as Iran war continues: See numbers  The Providence Journal

Why hasn’t the US learned the lessons of two Gulf wars? Plus Iran’s supreme statement of defiance Get the Guardian Weekly delivered to your home address When news breaks that dominates the agenda to the extent of the US-Israeli attack on Iran, one challenge for the Guardian Weekly team is how to keep the magazine’s covers feeling fresh, week after week, while remaining focused on the same story. For this week’s edition, in response to Patrick Wintour’s must-read essay on how the US has ignored the lessons of two previous Gulf wars, we asked illustrator Doug Chayka to play with the idea of a Middle East that the US either cannot, or refuses to, see. Doug’s artwork neatly captures the dilemma of a Trump administration that now finds its Iran exit strategy – assuming there was one – cut off by chaos. Continue reading...

Campaigners fear Iranian authorities are intent on launching a new crackdown on opponents even under wartime conditions, after the police chief threatened to shoot protesters and treat them as enemies. The war between the Islamic republic and the United States and Israel erupted just weeks after unprecedented protests against the clerical establishment peaked in January. But rights groups say those demonstrations were put down in a crackdown that left thousands of people dead and tens of thousands arrested.

After narrowly escaping death in her border village, Myriam Nohra is among the people in south Lebanon imploring the army for protection from the war between Israel and Hezbollah. In Christian-majority Qlayaa, which overlooks a vast green plain separating Lebanon and Israel, hundreds of people buried their parish priest Father Pierre Rai on Wednesday, two days after he was killed by Israeli shelling while inspecting the site of an attack.

Dan Johnson hears from Iranians at a crossing in north-west Iran about their thoughts on the war and regime.

Red Cross mourns Lebanese medic killed in Israeli strike The International Committee of the Red Cross said it is mourning a Lebanese Red Cross volunteer killed while carrying out a rescue mission in the southern city of Tyre. It identified the medic as Youssef Assaf and offered condolences to his family, Lebanon’s health ministry earlier confirmed.  “It is deeply alarming that first responders in Lebanon continue to risk their lives while carrying out a humanitarian mission,” the group said in a statement. Assaf was killed after an Israeli air attack struck his ambulance while he and a colleague were heading to assist wounded civilians, the Lebanese Health Ministry confirmed earlier.

Unesco condemned the attack in Minab, Iran, as a ‘grave violation of humanitarian law’ - a preliminary investigation is said to have blamed a ‘mistake’ by the US military. Bryony Gooch and Maira Butt report

Thailand searches for crew members as ship attack reported near Oman Thailand is searching for three crew members missing from a cargo ship that caught fire off the coast of Oman. Twenty others were rescued by the Omani navy, according to Thailand’s Marine Department. Thailand’s foreign ministry called for de-escalation and renewed negotiations as tensions rise during the US-Israeli war on Iran.  In a statement, the ministry stressed the importance of respecting the UN Charter and international law, including the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure. At least 12 incidents involving vessels in or near the Strait of Hormuz have been recorded since the war began, according to maritime trackers, while the International Maritime Organisation says at least seven sailors have been killed.

The Pentagon has not permitted photographers to cover Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's last two briefings on the war in Iran, and hasn't explained the change in longstanding policy

The Iran war is not a religious war — stop making it out to be one  The Hill

The world doesn’t have enough ammo for the Iran War  Vox

Alan West recalls a high-level meeting prior to the Iraq war. Plus letters from Spencer Hines and Margaret Squires At the final meeting prior to the invasion of Iraq between UK chiefs of staff (of which I was one), the then prime minister Tony Blair, the defence secretary, senior Ministry of Defence officials and the foreign secretary, in the Old War Office building in March 2003, I asked what the plans were for phase four of the war that was about to start (ie what were the plans for actions after we had won). We were told by the prime minister that the Americans had this all in hand. I asked if we could see their plans and was told we would. I saw nothing before or after the war started. Beating Iraq was clearly going to be relatively easy – what happened then was much harder and not clear. The same seems to be true of Donald Trump’s war against Iran. Alan West Labour, House of Lords Continue reading...

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U.S. at Fault in Strike on School in Iran, Preliminary Inquiry Says  The New York Times