Welcome to CFR’s Daily News Brief. Today we’re covering ongoing efforts to investigate casualties in the Iran war, as well as... - A coordinated release of emergency oil reserves
- A step toward new U.S. tariffs
- An international operation targeting environmental crime
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The human costs of the early days of the Iran war are becoming clearer through probes by media, rights organizations, and militaries. In what appears to be one of the deadliest civilian casualty events in recent U.S. military history, the United States struck an Iranian elementary school on the first day of the war, the New York Times reported yesterday based on preliminary findings from a U.S. military investigation. At least 175 people were killed, according to Iranian state media. The conflict’s death toll continues to rise across the wider region.
The school incident. Outdated targeting information appears to have led the United States to launch a Tomahawk missile at the school, multiple outlets reported. Asked for comment, the White House press secretary said yesterday the investigation was still ongoing. U.S. President Donald Trump, who previously blamed Iran for the strike, said yesterday he did not know about the preliminary findings. His administration has slashed 90 percent of Defense Department teams responsible for reducing civilian casualties in military operations.
Additional casualties. Reports suggest more than 1,300 people have died in Iran, at least 570 in Lebanon, and 15 in Israel, the World Health Organization said yesterday. At least twelve additional people have been killed across Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, according to officials in those countries. Meanwhile, CBS News reported yesterday that dozens of U.S. troops wounded by Iranian drones in Kuwait at the start of the war remain hospitalized with injuries such as brain trauma, shrapnel wounds, and burns.
Duration outlook. The UN Security Council yesterday condemned Iran’s “egregious attacks” against its neighbors and demanded they stop. It marked the body’s first resolution related to the war and passed by a vote of thirteen to zero, with Russia and China abstaining. While Trump yesterday told Axios the war would end “soon,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on social media yesterday it would only end by “recognizing Iran’s legitimate rights, payment of reparations, and firm [international] guarantees against future aggression.”
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“A grinding regional war marked by energy price spikes, U.S. casualties, and uncertain objectives will cause disquiet at home…By widening the theater and prolonging the war, Tehran is shifting the contest from a battle of military capabilities to one of political endurance.”
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| Toufic Rmeiti/Middle East Images/AFP/Getty Images |
Aid workers are already underfunded and under threat as the humanitarian consequences of the Iran war come into focus, CFR International Affairs Fellow Sam Vigersky writes in this Expert Take. |
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Oil stockpile release. Member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed yesterday to release four hundred million barrels of oil reserves in an effort to address rising oil prices and market chaos. That’s more than double the amount released after Russia invaded Ukraine. Yet the danger to shipping continues, with oil tankers coming under fire in the Strait of Hormuz overnight and oil prices again spiking to one hundred dollars per barrel. Despite Trump claiming yesterday that “the straits are in great shape,” the IEA warned today the war is causing “the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.”
Trump v. Spain. Trump yesterday renewed a threat to cut off all trade with Spain, telling reporters the country was “not cooperating” with the United States. Trump first issued the threat last week after Spain said it would not permit U.S. use of its airbases for the Iran war. Madrid did not immediately respond to Trump’s comment yesterday. Spain’s opposition to the United States and Israel’s recent military actions separately prompted Israel’s foreign minister to accuse Spain earlier this month of “standing with tyrants.” Spain withdrew its ambassador to Israel Tuesday.
Iran’s World Cup worries. The country’s sports minister said yesterday that Iran cannot participate in this year’s World Cup because its players would be unsafe. The tournament is taking place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, with Iran’s team due to compete in group stage matches in Los Angeles and Seattle. Tournament organizer FIFA did not immediately confirm if Iran had formally withdrawn.
New U.S. trade probes. The United States launched new investigations yesterday into potential unfair trade practices by the European Union and more than a dozen other countries including China, India, and Mexico. It marks a step toward imposing new tariffs after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s emergency tariff authority last month.
Crackdown on pollution crime. Europe’s police agency announced yesterday it had arrested more than three hundred people across multiple countries as part of an operation against illegal trafficking of hazardous materials. More than seventy countries cooperated in the investigation, which detected criminal networks in Europe that exported waste to Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Right turn in Chile. In his first day in office yesterday, Chile’s right-wing President José Antonio Kast issued decrees to increase border security and audit government spending. He pledged to erect barriers along Chile’s border with Bolivia to stymie migration. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau attended the inauguration and called it an “incredible day” for U.S.-Chile relations.
Drone attacks in DRC city. Drone strikes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) city of Goma killed at least three people yesterday, including a French aid worker, a senior UNICEF official told Reuters. Rebels who seized the city last year blamed the Congolese army for the attack, while the Congolese government said it was investigating. Drone operations by both sides in the conflict have increased in recent weeks, despite a U.S.-mediated peace deal last year.
Ruling on TikTok in Albania. The country’s one-year ban on TikTok violated constitutional freedom of speech protections, Albania’s top court ruled yesterday. The ban, which the government enacted for all users following the death of a teenage boy, expired last month. TikTok has since installed new safeguards on its platform, Albania's government said. Opposition parties accused the government of using the ban to silence dissent, and two networks of journalists filed the lawsuit that led to yesterday’s ruling.
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For both sides, relationships with allies come with their own limitations and tensions, CFR experts Liana Fix and Joseph Torigian explain on this episode of Why It Matters. |
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Today, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting Romania. Today, the South by Southwest innovation conference begins in Texas. Tomorrow, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney begins a visit to Norway.
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In an address to a joint session of Congress, President Harry Truman embraced a global role for the United States and opened a new chapter in U.S. foreign policy, CFR Senior Fellow James M. Lindsay writes in this article. |
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