The U.S. and Israel launched a massive bombing and missile strike campaign against Iran to destroy the latter’s military capacity and nuclear program. Iran has retaliated with waves of missile and drone strikes against Israel, U.S. based, and Arab countries.
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in an airstrike on the first day of the war.
https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-us-03-01-2026-693bc30bbbc98660d81f4a13f65ca10f - Incredible footage of an intercepted Iranian missile crashing to the ground in Qatar.
https://youtu.be/VDk5cPwTPKY?si=MQBT9HM8jfyUogwI - The actions of both sides violate international law.
https://apnews.com/article/iran-israel-us-un-security-council-airstrikes-9140bca9241fb99be8cb3cff2c650741 - Former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad killed in Israeli-US strikes
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-888386 - ‘A senior Iranian leader who warned President Trump last week to “watch out for yourself — lest you be eliminated” was killed in an overnight strike’
https://nypost.com/2026/03/17/world-news/israel-says-top-iranian-security-official-killed-in-overnight-strike/ - An Israeli airstrike killed the head of Iran’s intelligence service.
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/18/nx-s1-5751694/iran-retaliates-israel-kills-two-top-iranian-officials - The U.S. used clones of Iran’s Shahed-136 kamikaze drone against the latter.
https://www.twz.com/news-features/u-s-military-has-used-long-range-kamikaze-drones-in-combat-for-the-first-time - A Kuwaiti F/A-18 fighter plane mistakenly shot down three U.S. F-15s after mistaking them for Iranian aircraft.
https://apnews.com/article/us-jets-downed-kuwait-friendly-fire-iran-f15-1151e092db4597e93e83c04f3b44bddc - ‘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.’
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-underground-missiles-59b3492c - Video of Iranian missile strikes on Israel.
https://youtu.be/_LqKxmVeNF0?si=RjNu7KpAby6ff9H8 - A U.S. airstrike accidentally targeted a school, killing 165 students and teachers.
https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-strike-school-minab-us-3f55b6ca193a3295bef5735a45a06368 - A C-RAM defense system protecting a U.S. base from incoming Iranian missiles. It’s a Gatling gun that is connected to and aimed by a radar. The gun fires 75 bullets PER SECOND. It sounds like the aliens from “War of the Worlds.” Stuff like this makes me think we’re “living in the future” but don’t realize it.
https://youtube.com/shorts/qznqW6u01iw?si=4m1IkQ0TwWKLW6XG - ‘MizarVision, a Chinese artificial intelligence startup with fewer than 200 employees in Hangzhou and Shanghai, claims to be publishing near real-time, high-resolution satellite imagery of significant American military assets in the region – from deployment of US jets to warships – and all of it on social media. These images give you a look at precise coordinates of F-22 stealth fighters to the exact deck configurations of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.’
https://www.news18.com/world/mizar-vision-chinese-ai-startup-satellite-images-us-military-assets-iran-war-conflict-intelligence-ws-l-9951303.html - Iran used cheap kamikaze drones to destroy two, expensive U.S. radar stations in the Middle East.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/05/middleeast/radar-bases-us-missile-defense-iran-war-intl-invs - An American refueling plane participating in the war accidentally crashed, killing its four crew.
https://www.wbal.com/4-crew-members-confirmed-dead-after-us-military-refueling-plane-goes-down-in-iraq - Iranian missiles destroyed a valuable U.S. AWACS plane at a Saudi airbase.
https://www.twz.com/air/images-purportedly-show-e-3-sentry-totally-destroyed-from-iranian-strike - There are multiple videos of a U.S. fighter plane almost being shot down by an Iranian antiaircraft missile. The fighter was using its machine gun to strafe a ground target near the coastline (gunfire is audible). A few seconds later, the missile streaks into view. The pilot apparently detected it and made a hard turn, successfully dodging it.
https://www.twz.com/news-features/navy-f-a-18s-close-call-with-an-iranian-sam-highlights-remaining-risks-to-epic-fury-aviators - Iran’s air defenses have been so destroyed that slow, non-stealth American bombers can safely fly over the country.
https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/iran-war-news-updates/card/u-s-has-begun-b-52-missions-over-iran-F35hdjkWdzHOK7bTXwoX - A summary of where the two sides stand a month into the conflict.
https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-israel-war-analysis-23fb5978ef583308f0da4228a9a02c66
Iran’s navy has been practically destroyed.
- Iran’s largest ship–a tanker turned into a floating base, was sunk in port. https://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-image-show-iran-warship-smoking-airstrikes-2026-3
- A U.S. attack sub torpedoed an Iranian frigate in the Indian Ocean. This is the first such kill for any American sub since WWII.
https://youtube.com/shorts/hbGlDJXV_Y0?si=3K1oXv-bMMsja6IW - ‘A-10 Warthogs Are Prowling For Iranian Boats In The Strait Of Hormuz’
https://www.twz.com/air/a-10-warthogs-are-prowling-for-iranian-boats-in-the-strait-of-hormuz
As was long feared, Iran retaliated by attacking oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, practically closing the waterway to all traffic and spiking global oil prices. In what could be a sign of poor planning, the U.S. lacks enough warships in the region to protect shipping, so President Trump called on allies to send their own ships to do the job. Everyone rejected it.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trump-demands-others-help-secure-strait-hormuz-japan-australia-say-no-plans-send-2026-03-16/
Iran could cause disproportionate damage to the global oil market by mining the waters of the Persian Gulf.
https://www.twz.com/news-features/former-centcom-commanders-candid-take-on-the-situation-in-the-strait-of-hormuz
‘On March 12, a fire broke out in the laundry area of the USS Gerald R. Ford while underway in the Middle East, injuring two sailors. Though officials initially said the damage was minor, the vessel is now heading to Souda Bay in Crete for repairs, according to USNI, taking it out of war against Iran. On Monday, The New York Times reported that the fire took more than 30 hours to extinguish and left more than 600 sailors “bunking down on floors and tables.”’
https://www.twz.com/sea/navy-juggles-its-aircraft-carrier-plans-to-stay-afloat
Though the U.S. has inflicted heavy damage on Iran with very few losses of its own, the war has proven shockingly expensive in terms of money and munitions.
- ‘Pentagon seeks $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war’
https://apnews.com/article/iran-war-us-pentagon-972ec1bd956a2c3633e6ab7fff389791 - A U.S. campaign to forcefully reopen the Persian Gulf would require a large number of ships, cost enormous amounts of money, and would put many Americans in harm’s way. It’s fair to say it would be a level of commitment few Americans were expecting when the war started.
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2026/03/24/what-a-battle-to-reopen-the-strait-of-hormuz-would-look-like
Trump may be preparing to attack Iran with ground troops. Instead of trying to take over the whole country, any invasions will have very limited objectives.
- A second, small U.S. aircraft carrier is headed for the Persian Gulf. It carries a large detachment of Marines who are trained for amphibious invasion.
https://youtube.com/shorts/5e9QH7ZgIws?si=UaN78EFK2RfFh4M2 - ‘Any potential ground operation would fall short of a full-scale invasion and could instead involve raids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops, said the officials.’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/28/trump-iran-ground-troops-marines/
Though America and Israel have badly battered Iran, their objectives and the war’s outcome remain uncertain.
- Oil and natural gas prices will take months to return to normal, even once the fighting stops.
https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2026/03/22/even-the-best-case-scenario-for-energy-markets-is-disastrous - Trump faces only bad and worse scenarios for ending the Iran war. He’s finding out the hard why why all other Presidents before him ruled out attacking Iran even though they strongly disliked the country.
https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2026/03/22/donald-trump-has-four-bad-options-for-the-war-in-iran
Iran could keep the Strait of Hormuz closed indefinitely if its willing to endure the pain of U.S. retaliation. A massive and very expensive U.S. Navy operation would be needed to protect oil tankers from Iranian attacks.
https://youtu.be/EXkwQOhg9OY?si=e8WmZQp6vcmn9Fvx
The U.S. has been highly effective at hunting down Iran’s ballistic missile launchers thanks to our frighteningly powerful surveillance network.
https://youtu.be/rcAZRtHyNVc?si=JPWCooagKoRVMM5p
A cheap Ukrainian kamikaze drone destroyed an expensive Russian attack helicopter in midair.
https://youtu.be/ot4TA9UR4oY?si=s1GBP8qrdrIN_L3b
3D printed guns keep getting better and cheaper.
https://reason.com/video/2026/03/19/3d-printed-guns-are-getting-good/
The “XM-8” rifle from 20 years ago is back.
https://www.twz.com/land/new-army-6-8mm-carbine-recycles-xm8-designation-from-failed-starship-troopers-rifle-program
Key points of this video:
- Enormous amounts of AI-generated disinformation about the war have flooded social media and are even being cited by the Iranian government. Truly, we’ve entered the era where you can’t believe what you see.
- Iran’s drone and missile attacks against so many of its neighbors suggest their command-and-control network has been disabled, and local commanders are using their own (questionable) judgement when picking targets.
- The U.S. and its allies aren’t in danger of running out of missiles.
https://youtu.be/mP_rr859r8w?si=6y6i5m8hmc6tVBLj
The Ukraine War has been defined by the rise of combat drones.
https://youtu.be/RXmQIkV3SzU?si=SlbnbcnXHm3qp8CP
The success of the book Shy Girl, which was partly written by an LLM, shows that machines have entered the human range of writing ability.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/books/ai-fiction-shy-girl.html
In defense of data centers.
https://reason.com/2026/03/07/the-joys-of-data-centers/
One of the leading tests of machine intelligence, “ARC-AGI-2”, is being gamed by the big tech companies.
‘A simple analogy to understand how devastating this is: imagine you give a math exam to a student, and the format of the questions is red ink on white paper. The student gets a stellar score. But the moment you change it to black ink on white paper, the student freezes and doesn’t know what’s going on.
Wouldn’t that cause you to realize the student doesn’t actually understand the material, and is instead cheating in some way you cannot figure out?’
https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/comments/1rbw97k/the_arcagi2_illusion_of_progress_if_changing_the/
Because the creators of that test recognized it was being gamed, they just released a new, harder version of it, “ARC-AGI-3.” The lead creator, François Chollet, believes this test will eventually be gamed as well and will lose relevance as a benchmark of general intelligence.
https://www.fastcompany.com/91515360/arc-prize-foundation-new-ai-benchmark
‘Gemini Said They Could Only Be Together if He Killed Himself. Soon, He Was Dead.’
https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/gemini-ai-wrongful-death-lawsuit-cc46c5f7
‘In private, AI bosses fret about a “Chernobyl moment”, in which the technology is implicated in some sort of deadly or ruinous disaster. The conflict with the defence department heightens the risk: if going slowly and applying limits to the use of your product results in a corporate death sentence from the federal government, only the reckless will survive. The markets are another source of unhelpful pressure: investors are jittery about AI firms burning through cash to make vast investments.
The scenarios keeping AI bosses awake at night are no longer purely hypothetical. “Some of these risks are already materialising, with documented harms,” concluded a recent report on the perils of AI. It pointed to cyber-security and biological weapons as areas where AI’s baleful influence was already apparent.’
https://www.economist.com/briefing/2026/03/05/an-ai-disaster-is-getting-ever-closer
‘TL;DR: ChatGPT 5.4 is a real upgrade from 5.2. Stronger analytical work, better spreadsheets, and extended thinking that’s impressive under the hood. But the writing is still flat compared to Claude, the finished output doesn’t match the quality of its own reasoning, and you have to over-prompt to get what you want. If you’re productive with Claude or Gemini, don’t switch. If you’re on OpenAI, enjoy the upgrade.’
https://www.smithstephen.com/p/chatgpt-54-is-good-thats-not-the
OpenAI has discontinued its video generator “Sora” after just a few months, ostensibly because it was unprofitable.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/24/tech/openai-sora-video-app-shutting-down
Another take on why Sora was ended and why it means OpenAI is probably planning to go public and issue stock this year.
https://x.com/aakashgupta/status/2037380094596100364
After Anthropic refused to let the Department of War use its AI systems for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons, the Trump administration started trying to force the company to comply.
https://youtu.be/KBPOTklFTiU?si=qPiO0gzUVcNSxqHE
Here’s an interesting interview with tech industry analyst Dylan Patel. Some of his insights and predictions I found interesting are:
- A key bottleneck in the AI race is the supply of microchips. The high-end GPUs that are used in data centers are the cutting edge of computer hardware, and the fabrication labs that make them are too few in number to accommodate the growth in demand. TSMC owns most of the fabs and has been reluctant to expand its capacity out of fear the AI bubble might burst, saddling it with a bunch of excess production capacity.
- China is significantly behind the U.S. and Taiwan with respect to cutting-edge GPU production. China can and will massively scale up the quality and quantity of its own GPU manufacturing but will still probably lag the West in 10 years.
- In defiance of what Moore’s Law has accustomed us to for decades, the prices of smartphones and personal computers will INCREASE for the next several years as data centers gobble up the world’s supply of RAM.
- Earth will eventually get so clogged with data centers that it will make financial sense to put them in space. However, it definitely won’t start this decade.
Remarkably, Elon Musk’s plan to start building a Dyson Swarm is not infeasible. The key hurdle to surmount will be sharply lowering space launch costs, which Musk’s Starship rocket might soon be able to do.
https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2026/03/02/data-centres-in-space-less-crazy-than-you-think
At this conference among physicists about the future applications of AI in their field, one speaker made two, great points:
- Machines are getting smarter every day. By contrast, human intelligence is not changing. At some point, the two lines on the graph will cross.
- If the long-sought “Theory of Everything” exists, it might be too complex for the human mind to comprehend. However, to vastly smarter AIs, such a Theory would be simple and elegant. There’s no reason to assume the physical rules of our universe are tuned for easy human understanding.
https://physicsworld.com/a/is-vibe-physics-the-future/
Boston Dynamics’ “Atlas” robot shows off its extreme dexterity. It’s weird seeing a human-like form capable of inhuman movements.
https://youtube.com/shorts/-EJXWjMjLYk?si=PWbHEIX2wq92I2yF
‘First Lady Melania Trump walks with robot to White House event on children’s technology’
https://youtu.be/7sHSBgU5p4Y?si=nCVy6UxkHDE1c4uc
One gigawatt of electricity can power about 700,000 American homes.
Paul Ehrlich, an American scientist who became infamous for his failed prediction that overpopulation would lead to global famine in the 1970s, died of natural causes.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/15/books/paul-r-ehrlich-dead.html
‘The AI scientists building these models are experts on machine learning and AI, but they are much less familiar (as evidenced by their own publications) with molecular biology and genetics. So it is likely that they believe their own claims, and they might not understand how implausible they are.’
https://stevensalzberg.substack.com/p/ai-is-starting-to-look-like-pseudoscience
‘Scientists revive activity in frozen mouse brains for the first time’
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00756-w
A company’s claims that they accurately simulated a fly’s brain in a computer have come under fire.
https://x.com/KennethHayworth/status/2032604687212392562