live Iranian Strikes On Israel Leave 2 Dead

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has met Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last shah of Iran. From his X feed:

"We discussed in detail the situation in Iran and the region, as well as the U.S. operation against the terrorist regime."

"The Crown Prince and his team briefed me on signals they are receiving from inside the country."

"I am grateful to the Crown Prince for his clear assurances of support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Our teams will remain in communication."

The Pentagon is sending the USS Tripoli and the 31st MEU (Marine Expeditionary Unit) to the Middle East in a major boost to its military might in the region. Defense sources confirmed the deployment to RFE/RL on March 13, adding that approximately 2,500 US Marines will be accompanying the Tripoli ARG (Amphibious Ready Group). No timeframe was given for when the reinforcements are expected to arrive in the Middle East. According to ship tracking service Cruising Earth, the Tripoli is currently docked in its home port near San Diego, California. RFERL reached out to the White House for comment. It referred all inquiries to CENTCOM, which has not responded to requests for comment.

The bodies of 84 Iranian sailors killed in a US submarine attack on their warship are expected to be repatriated today, Reuters reported, citing a source at the Iranian Embassy in Colombo.

A Sri Lankan court on March 11 ordered that the remains, held at the Galle National Hospital morgue, be handed over to the Iranian embassy.

Local media, citing the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry, also reported that the bodies are expected to be flown home on a special flight from Mattala International Airport.

Iran's IRIS Dena frigate was torpedoed and sunk on March 4 in international waters off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.

The 32 surviving sailors are currently being held at the Welisara naval facility under Sri Lankan supervision. Their future remains uncertain, as Sri Lanka coordinates with Iranian authorities on their return.

Meanwhile, the IRIS Bushehr, a support ship, and its 219 crew members remain in Sri Lanka with temporary entry visas.

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth says an officer from outside of US Central Command has been appointed to investigate a deadly strike on a girls' school in Iran and will take “as long as necessary” to establish what happened.

Hegseth did not name the officer investigating the strike, which hit a girls' elementary school in Minab in Iran's southern province of Hormozgan on February 28.

Local officials say that at least 175 people were killed, including 168 children.

Evidence is building that the strike may be the result of US forces relying on outdated intelligence, according to multiple US officials familiar with the matter, though they cautioned that the assessment remains preliminary.

Turkey's Defense Ministry has said it intercepted a ‌ballistic missile fired from Iran that was headed toward Turkey, marking the third such incident in just over a week.

"A ballistic munition launched from Iran and entering Turkish airspace was neutralized by NATO air and missile defense assets deployed in the Eastern Mediterranean," the ministry said in a statement on March 13.

The statement did not specify the precise location of the interception and said that consultations with Iran are being conducted to clarify all aspects of the incident.

Earlier news reports stated that an explosion was heard overnight near the Incirlik Air Base, a NATO facility in southern Turkey housing US forces, shaking nearby windows, according to a Reuters report and footage circulating on social media.

US Central Command reported on March 13 that four crew members of a KC-135 refueling aircraft died in a crash in western Iraq. "Four of six crew members on board the aircraft have been confirmed deceased as rescue efforts continue," CENTCOM said in a social media post. "The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire."

US President Donald Trump said in a social media post that air strikes have decimated Iran "militarily, economically, and otherwise" since military operations were launched against Tehran on February 28.

"Iran's Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth. We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on March 13.

In the post, Trump also appeared to warn that US and Israeli air strikes on March 13 would again be heavy, saying "watch what happens...today."

"The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] has just begun a wide-scale wave of strikes targeting infrastructure of the Iranian terror regime across Tehran," the IDF wrote in a Telegram post on March 13.

The IDF's Persian-language account warned civilians in parts of Tehran and Qazvin to evacuate areas marked on the maps due to planned strikes on Iranian military infrastructure.

Residents in Qazvin and Tehran were urged to evacuate immediately due to the imminent risk of operations.

A drone attack near Irbil in Iraqi Kurdistan killed one French soldier and injured at least five others, the French military officials said early on March 13.

AFP quoted a member of the French military as saying the troops were "engaged in training activities on counterterrorism with Iraqi partners." It was not immediately clear if the French troops were working with Iraqi Kurdish forces or Iraqi Army troops.

It also was not clear where the drones came from. An Italian base was also targeted, but no casualties were reported there.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that "attacks against our forces are unacceptable." He identified the slain soldier as Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion.

French military officials said the injured soldiers were taken to a nearby medical center. The officials did not disclose the condition of those troops.

The Peshmerga -- Iraqi Kurdish fighters – are based in the semiautonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq.

The Iraqi Kurdish militias are separate from the self-exiled Iranian Kurdish fighters now also based in Iraq. Tehran's forces have targeted the groups amid fears that the militias could join the US-Israeli war against Iran.

France has maintained close ties to the Iraqi Kurdish population. It first sent several dozen soldiers to the region in 2014, although it was not immediately clear how many personnel are now station at the affected site in the Makhmour area.

The United States said it will temporarily allow the sale of Russian oil that is currently at sea in an effort to ease any price pressures caused by shortages linked to the US-Israeli strikes against Iran and Tehran's subsequent retaliatory strikes.

The US Treasury said it issued a license permitting sale of Russian crude oil and petroleum products that have been loaded on vessels on or before 12:01 a.m. March 12 for 30 days until April 11.

"To increase the global reach of existing supply, the Treasury is providing a temporary authorization to permit countries to purchase Russian oil currently stranded at sea," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X.

"This narrowly tailored, short-term measure applies only to oil already in transit and will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government, which derives the majority of its energy revenue from taxes assessed at the point of extraction," he added.

The move comes a day after the Energy Department ‌said the United States would be releasing 172 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve in an effort to ease surging oil prices in the wake of the Iran war. That would be a part of a wider move by the 32-nation International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels of oil.

The Russian oil is "stranded" at sea because of US sanctions on major Russian producers, creating financial risks for potential buyers, putting the crude in transit without landing points.

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Experts estimated that there are more than 100 million barrels of Russia-origin oil at sea globally.

The White House has barred the purchase of Russian oil and threatened massive tariffs on countries that do so, as a way of blocking funds to help finance the Kremlin's war on Ukraine.

Democrats and some Republicans have come out against the possibility easing of sanctions against Russia. Critics have complained that President Donald Trump has favored Moscow and have expressed worries that any additional oil revenue will help President Vladimir Putin extend his attacks on Ukraine.

The White House has denied that Trump favors Russia in negotiations to end Moscow's war on Ukraine.

On March 6, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a 30-day waiver of sanctions so that India could buy Russian oil. Russia’s proceeds from those sales to India are widely estimated at billions of dollars.

In addition to the waiver, Trump and Bessent have said a broader relaxation of sanctions on Russian energy exports are possible.