UK - The Iran conflict will trigger the biggest spike in food prices since the invasion of Ukraine, the president of the National Farmers’ Union has claimed. His warning comes as ministers will promise for the first time to hold food production at present levels, as part of a government blueprint for land use this week. Tom Bradshaw told The Times that while food inflation was unlikely to surpass the 19.1 per cent rise in the year to March 2023, the conflict had triggered an “inflationary wave” that would probably peak in the autumn. He also said that profiteering by fuel and fertiliser suppliers may also be worsening inflation. By targeting tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian forces have disrupted trade in two of the biggest agricultural necessities: oil and fertiliser. Before the US and Israel bombed the Islamic Republic, a fifth of the world’s seaborne trade in oil and gas flowed through the strait, along with a third of that in fertiliser, which is made from gas.

ISRAEL - The IAF has carried out over 400 waves of airstrikes across Iran since the war began. Israel will continue its campaign against Iran for at least three more weeks, IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin told CNN on Sunday. “We have thousands of targets ahead,” Defrin said. “We are ready, in coordination with our US allies, with plans through at least the Jewish holiday of Passover, about three weeks from now." "We have deeper plans for even three weeks beyond that,” Defrin added. The IDF Spokesperson's statement came as US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said he expects US operations against Iran to end within "the next few weeks."

MIDDLE EAST - The central question now confronting Washington and Jerusalem is no longer whether Iran can be weakened militarily. It is whether the United States and Israel are prepared for what may come next: a prolonged war of attrition with the Iranian revolutionary regime. How this war unfolds and how long it lasts will depend on the war aims of the United States and Israel. Is the ultimate objective regime collapse and the possibility of positive political change in Tehran? Is the goal to weaken the regime enough to create conditions for a future uprising by the Iranian people? Or is the aim more limited, degrading Iran’s nuclear and missile programs sufficiently for the president to declare victory and end the war? Where those objectives land will determine whether this conflict lasts weeks, months, or far longer.

CHINA - Beijing is directly mediating a ceasefire between Pakistan and Afghanistan, neighboring countries that have been engaged in intense fighting since February, the Chinese Foreign Ministry has said. Foreign Minister Wang Yi has had phone conversations with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts during the past week, the ministry’s spokesperson Lin Jian said in an X post on Monday. Making it clear that China will continue to facilitate reconciliation and ease tensions between the neighboring countries, the spokesperson said, “China hopes Afghanistan and Pakistan will remain calm and exercise restraint, engage face to face ASAP, achieve a ceasefire at the earliest opportunity, and resolve differences and disputes through dialogue.”

CUBA - US President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against Cuba on Monday, saying he expected to have the "honor" of "taking Cuba in some form" and that "I can do anything I want" with the neighboring country. The threatening statements come even as Cuba and the United States have opened talks aimed at improving their largely adverse relations, which have reached one of their most contentious moments in the 67 years since Fidel Castro overthrew what had been a close US ally. "I do believe I'll be ... having the honor of taking Cuba. That's a big honor. Taking Cuba in some form," Trump told reporters as the island faces an unprecedented economic crisis, exacerbated by an oil blockade the US imposed after capturing former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. "I mean, whether I free it, take it. Think I can do anything I want with it. You want to know the truth," Trump told reporters at a signing event in the Oval Office.

MIDDLE EAST - The American collective memory is scarred by Persian misadventures. Voters recall the charred remains of helicopters in the desert during the 1979 hostage rescue shambles; they remember the IEDs of Iraq and the 'forever war' of Afghanistan. The moment the first US helicopter clips a rotor, or a warship is scuttled by a mine, and American lives are lost by the dozen, public support will shrivel. For a President who promised to bring troops home, placing boots on Iranian soil is a hard sell that could cost him the House and the Senate.

USA - A top advisor to Donald Trump admits he is worried about Israel "contemplating using a nuclear weapon" in the Middle East conflict. David Sacks, the czar for artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency in the Trump administration, warned that if Israel came under concerted attack it could use the nuclear option. He has spoken about the risks of an “escalatory approach” in the conflict with Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. “Israel could get seriously destroyed,” he said, before adding: “And then you have to worry about Israel escalating the war by contemplating using a nuclear weapon.” Israel and the United States have been pummelling Iran but despite the triumphalist tone from Trump, there does not appear to be any clear end in sight.

CHINA - China's most dangerous technology has already been deployed, and you're likely already within the system's database, according to a new book. Social media giant TikTok and AI behemoth DeepSeek - both Chinese-made applications - are 'Trojan Horses' employed by the Chinese Communist Party to scrape up sensitive data on Americans, writes Wynton Hall in his forthcoming book 'Code Red: The Left, the Right, China, and the Race to Control AI.' The AI and social media companies track users' keystrokes, IP addresses, habits, browser history and more - a threat that could help China build profiles on US citizens for things like espionage, influence campaigns, or surveillance.

UK - Sharia Patrols on Horseback Rampage Through Manchester Streets as Police Stand Idly By – Starmer’s Two-Tier Tyranny Accelerates Britain’s Surrender to Islam. In a scene straight out of a dystopian nightmare, self-styled “Sharia patrols” on horseback charged through Manchester’s streets on March 4, 2026, chasing down peaceful demonstrators celebrating the end of Iran’s brutal Islamic Republic regime. These vigilantes, reportedly wearing armbands emblazoned with “Sharia Law,” terrorized anti-regime protesters — many from the Iranian diaspora and local Jewish communities — who gathered to mark the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in recent US-Israeli strikes.

ISRAEL - The Israel Defense Forces said they 'destroyed' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's private plane, while his successor Mojtaba Khamenei is reportedly in Moscow for treatment of 'serious' injuries. In a statement on X on Monday morning, the IDF claimed the plane, which was targeted at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport, was used by Ali Khamenei and other senior officials of the regime to 'advance military purchases and manage communications with the Axis countries through domestic and international flights.' Meanwhile, new reports have claimed the late supreme leader's son Mojtaba is in Moscow receiving treatment for injuries sustained during a joint US-Israeli airstrike. Meanwhile on Sunday, an Israeli security official told the Daily Mail bluntly: 'We know where he is.' The security official added: 'I recommend not following every report Iran puts out.'