🇷🇺🇶🇦 Putin, Qatar’s emir discuss Middle East crisis and de-escalation efforts

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a phone conversation with Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to address the acute crisis in the Middle East, which the Kremlin said was triggered by the US–Israeli actions against Iran.

Key statements:

🔸 Two leaders discussed the escalating situation in the region.

🔸 Both expressed concern over the risk of the conflict expanding and the danger of third countries being drawn in

🔸 They voiced hope that Iran’s retaliatory actions would not harm civilians or civilian infrastructure

🔸 Putin and the emir expressed hope for swift de-escalation and a return to diplomatic settlement efforts in the Middle East

🔸 Qatari emir thanked Russia for its support of regional states amid the current complex situation

🔸 He emphasized that cooperation with Russia across various sectors remains a priority for countries in the region

🔸 Leaders agreed to continue Russian–Qatari contacts through various channels

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🤔 Why Strait of Hormuz closure could strike back at US economy

It could destabilize the US economy now that more countries start to clinch trade deals in national currencies, “accelerating the US to a process of decadence that may make it difficult to remain in global leadership in the future,” Brazilian political scientist Domenique Marques tells Sputnik.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨🇮🇷Ayatollah Khamenei’s wife succumbs to injuries from US–Israeli attack - reports

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 Iranian targeting information is good, exploits US weaknesses: former Pentagon analyst to Sputnik

🔶 "Three weaknesses of all US wars of the past 30 years are dependence on complex centrally managed war management systems, just in time logistics models for very expensive munitions, missiles and platforms, and of course an assumption that if the wars are short, painless and without economic impact back home, foreign and domestic morale and politics are easily managed," said retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski.

🔶 "The IRGC has planned for the one thing the US and Israel cannot handle, and that is a multidimensional defensive war that cost effectively can create and sustain serious tiered costs for the US/Israeli and their allies."

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🛰 "The sound of aircraft flying overhead can still be heard": Sputnik reports from Tehran amid missile strikes

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

📹 Watch: Extensive damage to Tehran’s Gandhi Hospital following US-Israeli attack

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🚨 ISNA: US Embassy in Bahrain has announced its closure

Earlier, reports said the US Embassy in Kuwait was also closed

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇧🇭 Putin and Bahraini King urge immediate halt to Middle East war

📍 Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with King Hamad of Bahrain, who currently chairs the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Kremlin press service said.

Key statements

🟠 The two leaders stressed the need for a ceasefire in the Middle East to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control

🟠 Putin reaffirmed Russia’s readiness to help stabilize the situation in the region

🟠 Putin and King Hamad agreed to stay in contact

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

💸 Away from US dollars and bonds: Why investors and central banks hoard gold in Gulf war

📍 Gold futures jumped three percent to about $5,400 a troy ounce on March 2 – what's behind the rally?

💬 "Whenever there is uncertainty around the world, a simple logic of an investor is that I want to pull out my money from risky assets and I want to put it in asset classes which are safer," Rachana Ranade, a prominent Indian Chartered Accountant, tells Sputnik. "And gold is the obvious choice, be it individual investors or even governments."

🟠 Gold reached record highs near or above $5,600 per ounce in late January 2026 and now it is rising again during the latest war in the Middle East.

💬 "If we are able to sustain above $5,420 for next two, three days, and if the war situation keeps on going like it is right now, it may start moving closer to 5,600," Ranade says.

🟠 If gold prices stay above that level, they may move to $6,000 per ounce by the end of the year, according to the expert.

Why gold and not the US dollars or bonds?

📍 There are at least three reasons for that, Ranade explains:

🔶 Physical gold acts as a hedge against inflation that could be triggered by soaring oil prices amid the Gulf conflict and the closure of the Hormuz Strait

🔶 If the war expands, the dollar could weaken as the US defense spending rises, straining reserves and inflating already bloated debt

🔶 US benchmark 10-year bond yields have fallen 30 basis points over the past month amid geopolitical tensions, with the Gulf conflict adding insult to injury

👉 The shift to gold signals de-dollarization

🗣 "Right now what we have seen is central banks – be it central banks of Russia or India or China – have been aggressively diversifying into physical gold for the past three to four years," says Ranade.

💬 "And that very clearly suggests that the theme of de-dollarization is slowly but steadily accelerating."

Countries no longer want to rely on a single asset and seek to diversify from the dollar — and gold is an excellent choice, the pundit said.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇫🇷 France to expand nuclear arsenal – Macron

📍 France will increase its nuclear arsenal and reinforce its deterrent posture as global instability raises the risk of nuclear war, President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday in a speech from the Ile Longue submarine base in Brittany.

Key statements:

🟠 Macron said the world is entering a period of geopolitical upheaval fraught with risk, requiring a “hardening” of the French nuclear deterrent

🟠 He described a new phase of French nuclear policy as “forward deterrence”

🟠 Decision-making authority over nuclear weapons will remain solely with the French president

🟠 The UK, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Sweden and Denmark will join France’s new “advanced nuclear doctrine”

🟠 Under some circumstances, deployment of strategic weapons among allies would be possible

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇮🇷🔥 Latest Iranian barrage: Over 700 drones and hundreds of missiles target US and Israeli forces

◻️ The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has announced the 11th wave of its True Promise Four operation: acombined, large-scale strike by the IRGC’s navy and air force targeting US and Israeli bases on the third day of the war on Iran.

◻️ US information centers and supply depots in the Persian Gulf, the Israeli army communications network in Be’er Sheva and over 20 targets in Tel Aviv, West Jerusalem and Galilee were hit.

◻️ Since the start of the war on Saturday, Iranian forces have attacked 60 strategic targets and 500 US and Israeli positions, launching over 700 drones and hundreds of missiles – surpassing the number during last-year’s 12-day war in just the last 48 hours.

◻️ The IRGC said the brutal US and Israeli attacks against defenseless Iranian civilians – including attacks on hospitals, schools and civilian infrastructure – have only strengthened Iran’s resolve to wage a total war against its enemies.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🇷🇺🇸🇦 Putin and Saudi Crown Prince discuss escalating Middle East war

Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

They discussed the escalating conflict in the Middle East following US-Israeli attacks on Iran.

Key points:

🔶 The leaders focused on the worsening situation in the region due to US and Israeli bombing of Iran

🔶 Putin stressed the need for diplomacy to resolve the dangerous situation in the Middle East

🔶 Both Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed voiced concern over the potential for the conflict to spread across the region

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt

🗣 US strikes on Iran could ‘erode America's economy’ – expert

💬 "The economic consequences of the escalating conflict are felt both regionally and globally,” Turkish economics expert Hakan Topkurulu tells Sputnik, commenting on the US–Israeli strikes on Iran.

🌏 Global repercussions

📍 He notes that transport flows of energy resources in the region “are in fact paralyzed due to security risks,” with the price of Brent oil surging to $80 per barrel, which could lead to a new wave of global inflation and significant disruptions in supply chains.

💬 “Turning the Indian Ocean and the adjacent trade routes into a combat zone could bring global trade to a standstill,” Topkurulu warns.

🇺🇸🇮🇱 US and Israel ramifications

🟠 As for the US, “the costs of logistics and military supplies in this war, being fought tens of thousands of kilometers away from American borders, are eroding the country’s economy from within,” according to the expert.

🟠 He cautions that “the geographical features of Iran’s location and the moral resilience of its population may draw the US into a prolonged and exhausting war.”

🟠 When it comes to Israel, “due to its demographic and geographic limitations, waging a protracted war of this scale is economically and psychologically unfeasible," Topkurulu sums up.

📌Subscribe to @SputnikInt