The Wire - March 5, 2026

0:00This is the wire for 2300 Zulu, March 5th, 2026. Presidents' routine, information cut off as 2200. Bottom line up front, merchant vessel struck by explosive fastboat in Persian Gulf, drone and missile attacks remained constant among Gulf states. Drone strikes reported the inausal by Jean, beginning with international events, in the Persian Gulf attacks on merchant shipping continue as an oil tanker that was anchored off the coast of Kuwait was struck by Iranian forces overnight. The vessel has been identified as the sonnago Namibe and oil tanker that is currently anchored in the group of vessels that are waiting for the risks in the strait to subside. Analyst comment turns out in such a small waterway, it's just as dangerous to remain at anchor. This strike is also different from the rest as video evidence confirms that this was the result of a possibly remote controlled Iranian fastboat conducting a strike on the vessel. For context, the Iranian navy is split into two parts, the Islamic Republic of Iran navy or IRIN, which is the more traditional navy comprised of line ships, and the Islamic

1:01Republic Guard Corps navy or IRGCN. The majority of the IRIN has mostly been sunk over the past few days, however the smaller or speedboat navy of the IRGCN was created solely for the purpose of conducting asymmetric warfare and is likely the culprit of this attack. As there are a few dozen other tankers parked immediately adjacent to the one that was struck, it is likely that more of these attacks will take place as long as the IRGCN is able to. Within mainland Iran itself, the large-scale bombing of Tehran and other major populations centers continues alongside the bombing of most military bases throughout the country. Yesterday, Israeli forces shot down an Iranian Yak 130 training aircraft, which has somehow managed to get airborne and drone attacks launched by the Iranians continue as before. In Azerbaijan, Iranian forces conducted a drone attack on the airport in the border town of Nakjavan. The main terminal was hit by Shahed type drones, and another undisclosed location in Shikhar abad was also struck, and was comment. This is noteworthy as Azerbaijan was one of Iran's only regional allies. As a result, Azerbaijan has demanded an apology and diplomatic relations are not great as

2:06two people were killed during the strikes at the airport. Officially, the Iranians have denied that they carried out the attack stating that it was a false flag incident. On the home front, in Utah, overnight a killing spree was reported spanning multiple counties and involving multiple casualties. The incident began after an assailant murdered an elderly victim in Lyman. The attackers installed her vehicle and traveled to a hiking trailhead in Wayne County, where he murdered two women on the trail. This prompted a statewide manhunt which located the suspect after he had fled the scene, with the assailant eventually being located and arrested. As the suspect was arrested over the border in the state of Colorado, he has been identified as Ivan Miller. Analysts comment. At the moment, this appears to be a series of random murders as none of the victims nor the perpetrator appears to have any connection to any sort of motive other than random mental illness. More details are expected to emerge as the investigation continues. Analysts comments for this wire. European evacuations of European citizens from the Middle East continues with Spain dedicating military assets to getting some of their citizens out of the region overnight.

3:09So far, zero Americans have been evacuated via American military means which have the capabilities to fly when civilian aircraft cannot, and any American who has managed to get out has done so via commercial means. Commercial flights out of Dubai and Riyadh are occurring they're just slow due to the sheer number of people trying to leave and the few aircraft landing between drone attacks. As of this afternoon, D-plus-6, six days after this war began, the drone attacks have remained constant. All Gulf states have been publishing daily engagement numbers and so far, the drone attacks have not really dwindled that much, despite assurances by many that the attacks have stopped. The drone attacks have not ceased, they are simply being intercepted out over the water. Some drones are making it in through defenses to strike targets with limited success. This afternoon several hotels were struck by Iranian drones in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which has served to remind everyone involved that the threats are real and persistent. Either way, drone sightings and close-in interceptions are enough to ground aircraft for a while, further adding to the evacuation bottlenecks that are stacking up around the region.

4:09Regarding timelines, yesterday evening, the estimates for the length of the operation have changed again with Secretary of War Hegseth stating that the operation is now planned to take an uncertain amount of time, potentially up to eight weeks. The Secretary of War also stated that the United States is planned to achieve uncontested airspace in the skies over Iran within a few days, possibly up to a week. Either way, this confirms that, after nearly a week, the airspace is still somewhat contested, despite the overwhelmingly large bombing raids witnessed so far. This concludes the wire for 2300 Zulu, March 5th, 2026.