March 5, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this day: in 1974, Israeli forces withdraw from the west bank of the Suez Canal.

QOTD: “We have learned after decades of effort that there is not a criminal justice solution to the cartel ‌problem," ⁠Miller, White House homeland security advisor, told Latin American defense leaders gathered at the U.S. Southern Command headquarters.

US/LATAM/MIL/SEC - US tells Latin America: Military force is the only way to defeat cartels
https://www.reuters.com/world/cartels-can-only-be-defeated-with-military-power-white-houses-miller-says-2026-03-05/

White House official Stephen Miller told a ‌gathering of Latin American military leaders on Thursday that drug cartels can only be defeated with military ​force.

The comments make explicit a shift ​in U.S. policy under President Donald Trump ⁠that has seen the Pentagon regularly blowing up ​suspected drug boats, seize the president of Venezuela ​in January and aid Mexico last month in its operation to capture that country's most wanted cartel boss […].

"The reason why this is a conference with military leadership ​and not ​a conference ⁠of lawyers is because these organizations can only be defeated with military ​power."

Legal experts and Democrats have questioned ​the ⁠legality of the U.S. strategy, disputing Trump administration policy that equates drug traffickers with members of ⁠terrorist ​organizations like al Qaeda and Islamic ​State.

CHINA/FUEL/ENERGY/IRAN/MIL - China Tells Top Refiners to Halt Diesel and Gasoline Exports
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-05/china-tells-top-refiners-to-suspend-diesel-and-gasoline-exports

China’s government has told the country’s top oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline as an escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf disrupts the arrival of crude from one of the world’s largest producing regions.

While the country is only the third-largest supplier of oil products into the region — its vast refining sector primarily serves domestic demand — China’s curbs just six days into a war reflect a scramble across Asia to prioritize domestic needs as the crisis in the Middle East deepens.

Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, called for a temporary suspension of refined product shipments that would begin immediately, according to people familiar with the matter. They asked not to be named as the discussions are not public.

At a meeting earlier this week, refiners were told to stop signing new contracts and to negotiate the cancellation of already-agreed shipments, the people said. An exception was made for jet and bunker fuel held in bonded storage and supplies to Hong Kong and Macau, they added.

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WORLD/TRADE/SEC - The Cost of Air Cargo Is Rising Amid Mideast War Disruptions
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-03-05/air-cargo-disruptions-and-the-iran-war

Air cargo rates are climbing and ocean container networks are showing signs of stress amid mounting capacity constraints during the first week of the US and Israel’s war with Iran.

According to the Freightos Air Index, rates to Europe from Southeast Asia have risen more than 6% to $3.82 per kilogram since last Friday — the day before the bombing started. Mideast-to-Europe rates increased 8% to $1.62 a kilo, and China-to-US prices jumped 15% to $6.90.

The price pressure stems from airspace that remains closed around the Persian Gulf region, leaving Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad providing limited freight service. Combined, those three make up about 13% of global capacity. Their hubs in airports like Dubai’s account for about a quarter of all China-to-Europe capacity, according to Aevean data cited by Freightos.

UK/CHINA/SEC/THIS SAGA IS UNENDING - Britain Arrests a Lawmaker’s Husband on Suspicion of Spying for China
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/world/europe/uk-spying-china-arrests.html

The husband of a British lawmaker was one of three men arrested on Wednesday by the British police on suspicion of spying for China, deepening concerns about the possible extent of Chinese espionage in Western nations.

A statement from the Metropolitan Police in London said that three men had been taken into custody on suspicion of “assisting a foreign intelligence service, contrary to Section 3 of the National Security Act.” The release confirmed that the country in question was China.

The statement did not name the men, in keeping with British police practice. But later on Wednesday, Joani Reid, a Labour Party lawmaker, issued a statement referencing a police investigation into her husband, David Taylor, which said that she had “never seen anything to make me suspect my husband has broken any law.”

Chinese spying has been a sensitive topic in Britain recently, following various accusations that Beijing has engaged in extensive information gathering. At the same time, the Labour government has been trying to improve its economic ties with China after years of frosty relations, and in January approved a contentious Chinese “mega-embassy” in the heart of London.

Ms. Reid, who represents East Kilbride and Strathaven in Scotland, said that she had never visited China, had not spoken on matters related to it in Parliament or “as far as I am aware,” met Chinese businesses, diplomats or government employees.

“I am not part of my husband’s business activities and neither I nor my children are part of this investigation,” she said in her statement to Britain’s P.A. news agency.

CONGO/MINING - Mine collapse in eastern Congo leaves 200 dead, authorities say. But rebels dispute the number
https://apnews.com/article/congo-rubaya-collapse-7b1e24f3d071a20b4865832bfec122f1

A mine collapse at a major coltan mining site in eastern Congo left at least 200 dead, according to Congolese authorities, a number disputed by the rebel group that controls the mine.

The collapse took place Tuesday at the Rubaya mines, which are controlled by the M23 rebel group, Congo’s Ministry of Mines said in a statement on Wednesday. It was the latest such tragedy in the mineral-rich and rebel-controlled territories of the country.

But senior M23 official Fanny Kaj disputed the figure, saying that the collapse was caused by “bombings” and only five people had been killed.

“I can confirm that what people are publishing is not true. There was no landslide; there were bombings, and the death toll isn’t what people are saying. It’s simply about five people who died,” Kaj said.

Ibrahim Taluseke, a miner at the site, said that he had helped to recover more than 200 bodies from the area.

POLAND/GOLD/ECON/MIL - Poland’s Central Bank Chief Weighs Gold Sales to Finance Defense
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-05/poland-s-central-bank-chief-weighs-gold-sales-to-finance-defense?srnd=phx-politics

Poland’s central bank chief laid out a proposal to generate as much as 48 billion zloty ($13 billion) from the sale of gold reserves to finance defense spending as part of a plan backed by the nation’s president, according to people familiar with the matter.

Governor Adam Glapinski outlined the proposal in a meeting with President Karol Nawrocki on Wednesday as the head of state announced he’d seek an alternative to a European Union program that’s opposed by the US. Nawrocki and his aides have criticized the EU’s €150 billion ($174 billion) loans-for-weapons project as a costly endeavor that would jeopardize ties with Washington.

But the funding initiative would face legal and political hurdles in Warsaw. The central bank is prohibited from funding the government — and Prime Minister Donald Tusk is firmly committed to tapping Warsaw’s €44 billion share of the Security Action for Europe program.

Glapinski told the president that the National Bank of Poland could generate the profit by selling down some of its roughly 550 tons of gold reserves, which it could then buy back, the people said, on condition of anonymity as discussions take place behind closed doors.

GIFT LINK: Iran’s Underground ‘Missile Cities’ Have Become One of Its Biggest Vulnerabilities
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-underground-missiles-59b3492c?st=QPYTgT&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

ran spent decades constructing underground bunkers to shield its vast missile arsenal from destruction. Less than a week into the war with its two most powerful adversaries, the strategy is beginning to look like a blunder.

U.S. and Israeli war planes and armed drones are circling over the dozens of cavernous bases, striking missile-carrying launchers when they emerge to fire. Meanwhile, waves of heavy bombers have dropped munitions on the sites, apparently entombing the Iranian weapons below ground in some locations.

Satellite imagery taken in recent days shows the smoldering remains of several Iranian missiles and launchers destroyed in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes near entrances to the “missile cities,” as Iranian officials call the subterranean sites.

Tehran managed to shoot more than 500 missiles at Israel, at U.S. bases and at other targets in the Persian Gulf region since the conflict began this past Saturday, although many have been intercepted, according to governments in the region. There have been fewer large salvos since the first days of the conflict, a sign that the U.S.-Israeli attacks are degrading Tehran’s ability to strike back.

“We’re hunting Iran’s last remaining ballistic missile launchers to eliminate what I would characterize as their lingering ballistic missile capability,” Adm. Brad Cooper, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, said in a video briefing Tuesday. “We’re seeing Iran’s ability to hit us and our partners is declining.”

Tehran appears to have moved some of its missiles and truck launchers out of the bunkers before the war began, hoping to protect them from attack by dispersing them. Cooper said the U.S. and Israel have destroyed hundreds of missiles, launchers and drones. 

U.S. Central Command, which is conducting the air campaign, said Wednesday that Iran’s missile launches have dropped 86% in four days.

Analysts said it is likely that much of Tehran’s remaining stockpile of thousands of medium- and short-range missiles remains in underground bases whose locations are mostly known to the U.S. and Israeli militaries.

That underscores a fundamental flaw in the missile-city concept: “What was once mobile and difficult to find is no longer mobile, and easier to hit,” said Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, a research organization in Monterey, Calif.

With Iranian air-defense batteries largely neutralized, the U.S. and Israel are keeping slow-moving surveillance aircraft flying over known missile bases in some locations—and only attacking, using manned jet fighters or with armed drones, when they see signs of activity, analysts said.

MORE: Israel to attack Iran's underground missile sites in second phase of war, sources say
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/israel-attack-irans-underground-missile-sites-second-phase-war-sources-say-2026-03-05/

Israel's war in Iran is entering a second phase that will see its fighter jets attacking ballistic missile sites buried ​deep underground, two sources familiar with Israel's military campaign said.

The joint air assault with the U.S. in Iran is ‌nearing the end of its first week after opening salvos killed the country's leaders and set off a regional war with Iranian attacks in Israel, the Gulf and Iraq, and Israeli attacks in Lebanon.

Israel's military says it has hit hundreds of Iranian missile launchers above ground that could target Israeli cities. The second phase will include ​bunkers storing ballistic missiles and equipment, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the ​subject.

One said Israel aimed to neutralise Iran's ability to launch aerial attacks at Israel by the end of the war, ⁠which was also focused on taking out the Islamic Republic's leadership.

A military spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its ​attack plans. The military has previously asserted that it and the U.S. military took control of much of Iran's airspace in the opening days of ​the attacks.

IRAN/GULF/ENERGY - More tankers come under attack as US-Iran conflict spreads in the region
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/more-tankers-come-under-attack-us-iran-conflict-spreads-region-2026-03-05/

More tankers came under attack in Gulf waters on Thursday as the U.S.–Iran war escalated, and Iranian drones entered ​Azerbaijan, threatening to spread the crisis to more oil producers in the region.

A Bahamas-flagged crude oil tanker was targeted by an Iranian ‌remote-controlled boat laden with explosives while anchored near Iraq's Khor al Zubair port, according to initial assessments. A second tanker at anchor off Kuwait was taking on water and spilling oil after a large explosion on its port side.

Nine vessels have come under attack since the conflict broke out between the U.S., Israel and Iran on Saturday. Iran ​launched a wave of missiles at Israel early on Thursday and also sent drones into Azerbaijan, injuring four people.

The escalation comes after a ​motion to halt the U.S. attacks was blocked in Washington and as the son of Iran's slain supreme leader ⁠emerged as a frontrunner to succeed him, suggesting Tehran was not about to buckle under the pressure.

Around 200 ships, including oil and liquefied natural ​gas tankers as well as cargo ships, remained at anchor in open waters off the coast of major Gulf producers, according to Reuters estimates based ​on ship-tracking data from the MarineTraffic platform.

US/IRAN/KURDS/TO BE ENTIRELY HONEST, IM A LITTLE SHOCKED AT THE GALL OF CALLING ON KURDS TO JOIN YOUR EFFORT IN WAR AFTER SUMMARILY ABANDONNING THEIR COMPATRIOTS IN TURKEY, SYRIA AND IRAQ BUT HERE WE ARE - Trump calls on Kurds to aid U.S. effort in Iran, offers support
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/05/trump-iran-kurds-iraq/

The Trump administration, bracing for more U.S. casualties and considering whether to put troops on the ground in Iran, has begun reaching out to Tehran’s domestic opposition as potential allies to foment an uprising against the regime.

In calls this week to Kurdish minority leaders in Iran and neighboring Iraq, President Donald Trump offered “extensive U.S. aircover” and other backing for anti-regime Iranian Kurds to take over portions of western Iran, according to multiple people familiar with the effort.

“The American request to the Iraqi Kurds is to open the way and not obstruct” Iranian Kurdish groups mobilizing in Iraq, “while also providing logistical support,” said a senior official of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of two major political parties that govern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region.

“Trump was clear in his call” Sunday to PUK leader Bafel Talabani. “He told us the Kurds must choose a side in this battle — either with America and Israel or with Iran,” said the official, one of several Kurdish and U.S. officials who discussed sensitive matters on the condition of anonymity.

IRAN/AZERBAIJAN - Iranian drones strike Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan international airport
https://www.euronews.com/2026/03/05/iranian-drones-strike-azerbaijans-razi-airport-in-nakhchivan

In a major escalation of the ongoing Iran war, Tehran's drones have targeted the passenger terminal of the airport in Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan and a school near the village of Shakarabad, close to the border with Iran. Tehran has since denied involvement in the incident.

At least two people were injured after Iranian drones targeted the passenger terminal of Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan International Airport on Thursday, authorities told Euronews.

According to a statement from Azerbaijani authorities, one drone struck the airport's terminal building, while another fell near a school in the village of Shakarabad.

"We strongly condemn these drone attacks launched from the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in damage to the airport building and injuries of two civilians," the statement said.

Videos from the scene acquired by Euronews show a drone flying towards the airport, damage to its main terminal and emergency crews on site.