HAVANA TIMES – We bring you some of the top international news stories compiled by Democracy Now on Monday, March 9 2026.
Toxic Black Raindrops Fall on Tehran Following U.S.-Israeli Attacks on Fuel Depots
Mar 09, 2026
The United States and Israel are continuing to drop bombs and missiles across Iran, with hundreds of attacks reported in the last 24 hours alone. In Tehran, there were reports of massive explosions earlier today, after Israeli attacks on fuel depots caused fires to burn for hours, spawning a thick cloud of toxic smoke over the city of 10 million people. Many residents complained they had trouble breathing, as black raindrops full of toxic chemicals fell across Tehran. Officials warned the precipitation contains “toxic hydrocarbon compounds,” as well as sulfur and nitrogen oxides.
Video Shows U.S. Missile Struck Iranian Girls’ School, Killing 175, Contradicting Trump’s Denials
Mar 09, 2026
The Iranian Red Crescent Society reports that 10,000 civilian structures have been damaged across Iran in U.S. and Israeli strikes, including homes, schools and almost three dozen medical facilities. Among the dead are 175 people — most of them children — killed when bombs struck a girls’ school in the southern city of Minab on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli attacks. On Saturday, President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied the U.S. was responsible for bombing the girls’ school. They spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One.
Reporter: “Did the United States bomb a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war and kill 175 people?”
President Donald Trump: “No, in my opinion, based on what I’ve seen, that was done by Iran.”
Reporter: “Is that true, Mr. Hegseth, that it was Iran who did that?”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: “We’re certainly investigating.”
Reporter: “Still investigating?”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth: “But the only — the only side that targets civilians is Iran.”
President Donald Trump: “We think it was done — we think it was done by Iran.”
A New York Times investigation found direct video evidence contradicting Trump’s claims. The video shows a U.S. Tomahawk missile damaged the school at the same time as a U.S. attack on an adjacent naval base operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Mojtaba Khamenei, Son of Ayatollah Assassinated by U.S. and Israel, Named Iran’s Supreme Leader
Mar 09, 2026
Top officials in Iran have pledged allegiance to Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader, after the U.S.-Israeli coalition killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a February 28 airstrike. Khamenei’s ascension to supreme leader came after President Trump warned that if he “doesn’t get approval from us, he’s not going to last long.” Trump said last week he would choose a ”GREAT AND ACCEPTABLE leader” after Iran’s “unconditional surrender.” In Tehran, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday ruled out any capitulation to the U.S. and Israel.
President Masoud Pezeshkian: “America and Israel, who without any hesitation kill 168 innocent children, feel no shame for killing these children. They feel no shame for massacring 50,000 to 60,000 people in Gaza. And then they want to say that we in Iran want to kill people. We stand against those who attack our country with full force, and we’ll respond with full force.”
State Department Declares Iran War an “Emergency,” Speeding Sale of 20,000+ Bombs to Israel
Mar 09, 2026
In Washington, the State Department has declared the U.S. war of choice against Iran an “emergency,” allowing the Trump administration to bypass congressional approval to sell more than 20,000 bombs to Israel. The weapons are valued at nearly $660 million. Meanwhile, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has declined to say whether he’ll block additional funding for the Pentagon’s war against Iran, telling NBC’s “Meet the Press,” “We’ll walk that bridge when we come to it.”
Iran Fires Missiles and Drones at Israel, U.S. Bases and Mideast Nations, Killing Several People
Mar 09, 2026
Iran’s military continues to launch missiles and one-way attack drones at Israel, as well as U.S. military bases across the Middle East — and the countries that host them. Earlier today, Iranian strikes killed two people in Israel and seriously wounded a third. Elsewhere, Iranian strikes have destroyed radar, communications and air defense systems in Qatar, the UAE, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. The attacks continued even after Iran’s president issued an apology for Iranian strikes on Gulf states and said that Iran would not strike targets in the region. In Iraq, fires broke out in buildings belonging to U.S. corporations Halliburton and KBR after an Iranian drone attack in Basra targeted a compound housing employees of foreign oil companies. Saudi Arabia reported its first deaths from Iran’s attacks, reporting a strike on a residential area that killed two people. Bahrain’s government reports an Iranian drone attack damaged a water desalination plant and injured three people. Roughly 100 million people across the Gulf region rely on desalination plants for their drinking water. Elsewhere, Bahrain’s state-owned Bapco Energies company has declared force majeure — declaring it can no longer honor its contracts — after an Iranian attack set its only oil refinery on fire.
Meanwhile, police in Norway are investigating an explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo early Sunday morning as a potential act of terrorism. No suspects have been identified in what appeared to be an intentional explosion that caused minor damage and no injuries.
Lebanon Says Israeli Attacks Have Displaced Over Half a Million People
Mar 09, 2026
Lebanon’s Health Ministry reports more than half a million people have been displaced in the week since Israel resumed full-scale attacks on Lebanon, with forced displacement orders affecting hundreds of thousands of people. So far, Israel’s assault has killed 394 people in Lebanon, including 83 children, 42 women and nine rescue workers. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch warns Israel’s military has once again used white phosphorus munitions in residential areas in southern Lebanon — a violation of international humanitarian law.
Israeli Settlers’ Attacks Kill 6 Palestinians in a Week Across Occupied West Bank
Mar 09, 2026
In the occupied West Bank, Palestinians held a funeral on Sunday for three Palestinians killed after Israeli settlers attacked them near the village of Khirbet Abu Falah. Two Palestinians were shot dead by settlers during the overnight attack early Sunday, and then a third Palestinian suffocated to death as Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at crowds who gathered to confront the attackers. The killings bring the death toll from settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank to six in just the past week.
Paramedic and Two Children Among Palestinians Killed in Israel’s Latest Attacks on Gaza
Mar 09, 2026
Israel is continuing to attack the Gaza Strip in violation of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement it agreed to in October. On Sunday, Israeli tank shells hit a tent encampment housing displaced families in the western Nuseirat area, killing at least three people, including two girls, while wounding 10 others, including children. Another strike in western Gaza City killed three men, including 31-year-old paramedic Abdulrahman Hosni Hamdouna. This follows an Israeli drone attack on Saturday that killed a father and his daughter in central Khan Younis. Gaza’s Health Ministry reports about 640 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the ceasefire was supposed to have taken effect 150 days ago.
Pentagon Reports Seventh Combat Death of U.S. Service Member in Iran War
Mar 09, 2026
The Pentagon reports another member of the U.S. military has died in combat — the seventh since President Trump and Israel launched a full-scale military assault on Iran late last month. The Associated Press reports the service member was an Army soldier who died of injuries sustained during an Iranian attack on U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia on March 1. CENTCOM also reports an eighth service member has died, in Kuwait, due to what officials called a “health-related incident.” On Saturday, President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth attended a “dignified transfer” ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for six U.S. Army members killed by Iranian attacks on Kuwait.
Oil Surges Past $110 Per Barrel Amid U.S.-Israeli Attack on Iran
Mar 09, 2026
The price of oil has surged past $110 per barrel as Iran continues to attack fossil fuel facilities across the Middle East, while bringing tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to a standstill. It’s the biggest spike in oil prices since the early months of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with some analysts warning oil could hit $150 per barrel within weeks. The Wall Street Journal is calling this “the most severe shock to energy markets since the 1970s.”
Unemployment Rate Hits 4.4% After U.S. Economy Unexpectedly Loses 92,000 Jobs in February
Mar 09, 2026
The U.S. economy lost 92,000 jobs in February, with the unemployment rate ticking up to 4.4%, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists were predicting that employers had actually added 50,000 jobs last month, but job losses in February resulted in the second-largest decline in monthly job creation since the COVID pandemic.
Women Around the World Demonstrate Against Gender-Based Violence, Marking International Women’s Day
Mar 09, 2026
Tens of thousands of women around the world marked International Women’s Day by demonstrating against gender-based violence and calling for an end to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Here in the U.S., protesters gathered at Zorro Ranch in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused and trafficked underage girls and young women. In New York, protesters gathered outside Trump Tower, calling it the “Believe Survivors” demonstration. In France, 73-year old rape survivor Gisèle Pelicot led a march calling for an end to sexual violence. In Brazil, protesters expressed outrage over the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro earlier this year. In Peru, thousands of women marched in the capital Lima demanding government action against gender-based violence.
Protester: “For Women’s Day, what we’re calling on all peasant and Indigenous women is that we can’t give up. We know life circumstances are very hard because climate change has devastated everything in Peru. Cities are disappearing. So, what we have to do, as our grandmothers, grandfathers and ancestors always taught us, is rise up from the dust with our native seeds. We’ll keep guaranteeing life and peace, guaranteeing food sovereignty. Be strong, comrades.”
U.S. and Ecuador Launch Joint Operation to Bomb Drug Traffickers’ Training Camp Near Colombian Border
Mar 09, 2026
The U.S. and Ecuador announced on Friday that they carried out a joint operation to bomb a drug traffickers’ training camp in northeast Ecuador near the Colombian border. The camp belonged to the Comandos de la Frontera, a Colombian crime group made up of former members of the FARC.
U.S. Military Kills Six Men in an Attack on Alleged Drug Boat in the Eastern Pacific
Mar 09, 2026
The Pentagon says it killed six men in an attack on what it called a drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Once again, the Pentagon provided no evidence the ship had been involved in ferrying drugs, though it posted video on social media showing an attack on a civilian vessel. The latest killing brings the Pentagon’s claimed death toll in similar attacks to at least 157.
Trump Gathers Leaders from 12 Latin American Countries for “Shield of the Americas” Summit
Mar 09, 2026
President Trump gathered leaders from 12 Latin American countries at his golf club near Miami over the weekend at the inaugural summit of what Trump is calling the “Shield of the Americas.” Attendees included right-wing leaders Nayib Bukele of El Salvador and Javier Milei of Argentina. The leftist leaders of three of Latin America’s biggest economies — Brazil, Mexico and Colombia — were not invited. At the summit, Trump vowed to go after drug cartels and blasted foreign influence in the region, particularly Chinese economic and political interests. The summit comes just two months after the U.S. abducted Venezuela’s former President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
35-Year-Old Former Rapper Balendra Shah Set to Become Nepal’s Next Prime Minister
Mar 09, 2026
In Nepal, 35-year-old former rapper Balendra Shah is set to become the country’s next prime minister after his party secured a landslide victory in parliamentary elections. It’s the first election since youth protesters toppled the former government. Shah is the former mayor of Kathmandu. He was a leader of the Gen Z-led protest movement, which was sparked by a ban on social media and driven by a lack of economic opportunities.
Civil Rights Leaders and Former U.S. Presidents Attend Rev. Jesse Jackson’s Funeral
Mar 09, 2026
Civil rights leaders and former U.S. presidents paid their respects to the Rev. Jesse Jackson at his funeral in Chicago on Friday. Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton attended the memorial service at the House of Hope on Chicago’s South Side. Kamala Harris, Hillary Clinton and Gavin Newsom were also in attendance.
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