. . . reporting in The Guardian:
US compares opening strikes to ‘shock and awe’ of Iraq war: what we know on day five of Iran conflict
US-Israeli attacks have killed at least 787 people in Iran, according to the Red Crescent Society; global markets spooked. What we know on day five of war
Guardian staff
Tue 3 Mar 2026 22.51 EST
The US military has claimed that the number of strikes carried out on Saturday in the first 24 hours of its war on Iran was nearly double that of the “shock-and-awe” strikes on Iraq in 2003, and that
nearly 2,000 targets had been hit so far in Iran. Cooper also said the US was also sinking “all of the Iranian navy” and had already destroyed 17 Iranian ships.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/04/us-israel-iran-war-update-latest-news-day-five
And by reporting in
The Hindu, Sri Lanka just rescued 30 of 180 from a sinking Iranian frigate near Sri Lanka:
Sri Lanka rescues sailors from sinking Iranian ship
Herath said two Sri Lankan navy vessels and an aircraft were deployed for the rescue operation, but did not say what caused the Iranian warship to sink
March 04, 2026 12:39 pm IST - Colombo
AFP
Sri Lanka rescued 30 sailors aboard the Iranian frigate Iris Dena, which was sinking on Wednesday (March 4, 2026) just outside the island's territorial waters, Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath said.
No information was immediately available on the cause of the vessel's problems, but Herath told parliament that the injured sailors were taken to a hospital in the island's south.
The 180-crew frigate had issued a distress call at dawn.
...
https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/sri-lanka-rescues-sailors-from-sinking-iranian-ship/article70702468.ece
If anything, this is more likely to get worse with the talk of deploying soldiers to the region for combat. From PBS NewsHour, the following is from Sen. Blumenthal after a briefing:
If Iran succeeds in keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed or maintaining a credible threat to the shipping there, I don't think that there will be anything left for Trump to do in the face of economic ruin but to commit forces there fully, and Congress will probably begrudgingly go along with him. This all could play out before the fall elections.
But, yes, you are correct that the credibility of the US as an ally (with all of the threats that the Trump Admin/Regime has issued to our allies) has been greatly diminished: Spain, Greenland, Denmark, etc.
None of this should ever have been started.
As someone online noted, the GOP (in the last 35 years or so) does three things consistently when controlling the US government--they cut taxes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations; they wreck some aspect of the economy; and they start a war in the Middle East.
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