““Get used to the new order in the region,” IRGC Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani said in a post on X on Monday. He said that attacks by Iran-aligned groups had undermined what he described as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to expand a regional security belt, warning that a new regional order was emerging. “Netanyahu dreamed of expanding a security belt in the region, but the smart and courageous fire of our brothers in Hezbollah in the north and Ansar Allah in the south exposed the regime’s false assurances,” he wrote. “The dream of the martyred commanders of the resistance has been realized: the war room of the axis of resistance is one.””  See “World must get used to new Mideast order, IRGC-QF chief says,” Iran International, 3-30-26.  The U.S. and Israel have been hunting for Qaani.

“Rubio says ‘people of Iran are incredible’ but leadership is the problem,” Iran International, 3-30-26.  “US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States distinguishes between the Iranian people and their leadership, and expressed hope for change, while warning Washington was prepared if that does not happen.  …  Rubio said the US was engaged in indirect contacts with Iranian figures through intermediaries and was testing whether they could deliver change.  …  Rubio said Iran would not be allowed to control the Strait of Hormuz, calling such a move unacceptable.”

Notice the end of the article.  Spain apparently has a pay-off, or has not forsworn it.  And this payment of free passage would really be surprising for Spain to accept because it sits at the Gibraltar Strait and remembers the demands of the Barbary Pirates.  Here is the end of the article—“ … the Iranian embassy in Spain said Tehran would be receptive to requests from Madrid concerning transit through the Strait of Hormuz because Spain was “committed to international law”.  See “Spain closes airspace to US aircraft involved in Iran war,” BBC, 3-30-26.

“Turkey says NATO defences down missile from Iran,” Reuters, 3-30-26.  “There was no immediate comment from Tehran which has denied specifically targeting its neighbour Turkey ⁠during the conflict and has said it was not involved in the previous three missile launches, which were all downed by NATO defences.”  Do we believe the reports from Turkey and NATO or from Iran?  Remember, there are radars, visuals, and debris.  Because of such, Reuters should follow up and report which side is accurate.  (the NYT certainly has done the same with the school in southern Iran hit by most likely a new type of U.S. missile).

“How Russia and China are winning the war in Iran,” Peterson Institute for International Economics, 3-30-26.

“How the US could try to seize Iran’s Kharg Island,” BBC, 3-30-26.

“He Helped Stop Iran from Getting the Bomb,” New Yorker, 3-30-26.  “A former C.I.A. officer says that he recruited scientists as part of the United States’ effort to disrupt Iran’s nuclear program.”