Chief-Exec.com

'A war of choice': US Congress opens first Iran war vote amid intensifying debate
As the conflict with Iran widens across the Middle East, the US Senate is preparing for a pivotal vote on President Donald Trump’s decision to launch military action - a rare congressional showdown over a war unfolding without a clear American exit strategy. The legislation, known as a war powers resolution, gives lawmakers an opportunity to demand congressional approval before any further attacks are carried out. The Senate resolution and a similar bill being voted on in the House later this week face unlikely paths through the Republican-controlled Congress and would almost certainly be vetoed by Trump even if they were to pass. Nonetheless, the votes marked a weighty moment for lawmakers. Their decisions on the five-day-old war - which Trump entered without congressional approval - could determine the fates of US military members, countless other lives and the future of the region. France 24, March 4

‘No to war’: Sánchez doubles down after Trump threat to cut off trade with Spain
The Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has responded to Donald Trump’s extraordinary threat to cut off all trade with Spain over his government’s refusal to facilitate the US’s ongoing attacks against Iran, comparing the growing conflict in the Middle East to playing “Russian roulette with the destiny of millions”. Sánchez, who has been one of the most vociferous European critics of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, said his government’s position on the widening instability could be summed up in three words: “No to war”. In a section of the speech that appeared to directly address Trump’s threats to end all trade with Spain, the prime minister said his country would “not be complicit in something that is bad for the world - and that is also contrary to our values ​​and interests - simply out of fear of reprisals from someone”. The Guardian, March 4

Israel threatens ‘elimination’ of next Iranian leader
Israel’s defence minister vowed that “any leader” chosen by the Iranian regime would be a “clear target for elimination” amid reports that officials were close to naming a successor to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Any leader appointed by the Iranian terrorist regime to continue leading the plan to destroy Israel, to threaten the United States and the free world and the countries of the region and to suppress the Iranian people will be an unequivocal target for elimination,” Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday, adding: “No matter what his name is or where he hides.” Financial Times, March 4

'All red lines have been crossed': Gulf states weigh response to Iranian strikes
Gulf states have found themselves on the front line of the Middle East's newest war, and they are angry. Iran has retaliated to US-Israeli air strikes by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at its Arab neighbours - targeting American military bases on their soil, but also civilian and energy infrastructure. In doing so it is targeting the Gulf's image as a safe, prosperous hub for travel, tourism and finance, and disrupting the oil and gas industry at its core. This is a war that the Arab governments didn't want and tried to prevent. The question is whether they'll be drawn into it by what they've called the "treacherous" Iranian attacks. "All the red lines have already been crossed," said Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al Ansari at a press briefing on Tuesday. "The attacks on our sovereignty are constant," he told journalists. BBC news, March 4

Mahmood bans visas for Afghans to halt asylum system exploitation
Britain will impose visa bans on four countries after ministers concluded that student and work visas were being systematically exploited to gain entry to the asylum system. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will announce on Thursday that she has enacted an “emergency brake” to halt study visas being issued to applicants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, and that she will suspend work visas for Afghans. Asylum claims from students from those countries rose by 470 per cent between 2021 and last year, making them among the most likely nationalities to seek protection after arriving lawfully in Britain. Home Office officials believe the routes have been used as a de facto backdoor into Britain’s asylum system. Since 2021, almost 135,000 people have entered the country legally on visas before subsequently lodging asylum claims, a pattern ministers say has placed intolerable pressure on the system. The Times, March 3

Iran executes Khamenei’s plan to spread regional war
Iranian forces have launched a plan devised by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s top commanders to sow chaos across the Middle East, create upheaval in global markets and raise the stakes in the hope of pressuring the US and Israel to halt their attack. A regime insider told the FT that the supreme leader - who was killed in the first wave of strikes on Tehran on Saturday - and his lieutenants began working on a “detailed” plan after Israel’s devastating 12-day war against the republic last June. This plan included attacks on energy facilities and strikes that would cause disruptions to air travel in the region, he said. “We had no choice but to escalate and start a big fire so everyone would see,” the regime insider said. “When our red lines were crossed in violation of all international laws, we could no longer adhere to the rules of the game.” The plan has been implemented despite Khamenei’s death and that of at least half a dozen top Iranian military and intelligence officials, including the defence minister and head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, in the US’s and Israel’s massive bombardment. Financial Times, March 3

US embassy in Riyadh hit by Iranian drones as Israeli troops enter southern Lebanon
Iranian drones hit the US embassy in Riyadh as Tehran continued to launch waves of retaliatory strikes at the Gulf and Israel, while Israeli soldiers began operating in southern Lebanon on the fourth day of an increasingly regional war in the Middle East. The drone attack on the US embassy in Riyadh caused a minor fire, prompting the diplomatic mission to tell Americans to distance themselves from the compound. The attack followed an earlier Iranian drone strike on the US embassy in Kuwait, as Iran continued to target US bases, facilities and personnel in Arab Gulf states. The pro-Iran group Hezbollah also continued to target Israel, saying it launched two missile salvoes overnight targeting military bases in northern Israel. In response, Israel continued to carry out strikes and issue evacuation orders for villages in south Lebanon, virtually emptying out the country south of the Litani River and turning the southern suburbs of Beirut into a ghost town. The Guardian, March 3

‘To be free, we have to be feared,’ Macron says in keynote nuclear speech
France will increase its nuclear warheads for the first time in decades, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Monday, saying that “to be free, we have to be feared”. Macron delivered the update on the country’s nuclear strategy in a keynote speech from the military base hosting the nation's ballistic missile submarines. Macron said France was entering a new phase in its nuclear deterrence strategy, one that would complement Nato's nuclear mission and he invited European allies to participate in nuclear deterrence exercises. "What I'd like is for Europeans to regain control of their own destiny," Macron said. France is poised to increase its nuclear warheads for the first time in decades. Macron emphasised that the country's nuclear power would be in the service of peace. However, he warned of the country's capacity to potentially draw on its significant nuclear arsenal in a way "that no country, no power, however strong, could recover". France 24, March 2

Trump’s ambassador to UK rebukes head of medicines watchdog over drug pricing
Donald Trump’s ambassador to the UK summoned the head of England’s medicines watchdog to rebuke him over his resistance to higher drug prices. Ambassador Warren Stephens called in Jonathan Benger, chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, to criticise Britain’s “anti-growth policies” and express displeasure at his defence of the UK cost control system, according to people briefed on the meeting. US diplomats are said to have been angered by an interview with the FT in January in which Benger warned that giving in to Trump’s demands for higher drug payments by weakening the role of Nice would be a “huge backwards step”. The US administration is pushing for further increases in the amount the NHS pays for medicines after Starmer last year agreed to raise spending on new drugs by 25 per cent to avoid tariffs threatened by Trump. The leaders of some of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies will tell the prime minister at a virtual meeting scheduled for Wednesday that Britain needs further policy changes to raise spending by more than already announced if they are to increase investment in the UK. Financial Times, March 3

UK ministers to ban violent and degrading pornography online
Ministers will ban online pornography depicting violent and degrading acts such as rape and incest, The Times understands. Websites will be held to the same standard as pornographic videos sold in sex shops and will be forced to remove illegal, harmful or abusive content. Ministers are expected to “accept as a point of principle” that the same rules which apply offline must also apply online and will set out plans in the Lords on Monday. It will commit the government to coming up with a plan on how to regulate the sites within six months. Currently the British Board of Film Classification is responsible for checking and licensing pornographic videos sold in sex shops - but has no responsibility for online material. Bringing the two into line was one of several recommendations made by a task force set up to investigate so-called “extreme porn”, which has become increasingly prevalent online. The Times, March 2

Rembrandt painting worth millions rediscovered after 65 years
A long lost painting by Rembrandt has been rediscovered and authenticated by experts, after its whereabouts were unknown for decades. Rembrandt's Vision of Zacharias in the Temple, from 1633, was excluded from a list of the Dutch master's works in 1960 and disappeared after being sold to a private collector the following year. But it resurfaced when its owners presented it for tests at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, which undertook a two-year examination. BBC news, March 2