As Trump and Netanyahu rain death down on Iran, the ayatollah regime paints any would-be protesters as pawns of the "enemy" and promises deadly repression. This positions the civil opposition poorly for any resumption of the uprising that the regime drowned in blood mere weeks ago—and points to the paradoxical reality that Trump and the regime are de facto (at least) collaborators against the Iranian people. In Episode 318 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg repudiates both those who would rally around the reactionary and criminal regime in the name of opposing the US-Israeli aggression and those who would rally around Trump's reckless and criminal war in the interest of opposing the regime. Instead, he offers statements from Iran's anarchist and dissident-left opposition that continue to advance an uncompromising neither/nor position.

United Nations officials said on March 10 that US and Israeli airstrikes on fuel depots in Tehran have released large amounts of toxic pollutants, producing acidic "black rain" across parts of the capital.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) confirmed March 10 that an al-Qaeda-linked armed group summarily executed 10 long-haul truck drivers and two teenage apprentices in late January in southwestern Mali as part of the group's attack on a fuel convoy and deemed the acts "apparent war crimes."

Artificial intelligence (AI) company Anthropic sued the US Defense Department ("Department of War") on March 9 after the Department declared the company a "supply chain risk" and threat to national security.

Istanbul mayor and Turkish opposition leader Ekrem İmamoğlu went on trial March 9, accused of establishing an "İmamoğlu Criminal Organization for Profit" that operated parallel to and was concealed by his official duties.

Human Rights Watch on March 6 urged authorities in Iran to lift restrictions on internet and communication services, citing concerns that civilians are being left unable to access potentially lifesaving information in the midst of the armed conflict with the US and Israel.

The UN Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria (COI) announced March 6 that it has completed an in-country mission to Damascus as it prepares to brief the Council in Geneva this week. The Commission said it pressed Syria's transitional authorities on accountability, institutional reform, and protections for civil society amid renewed regional volatility.

A group of UN experts warned March 6 that the genocide in Gaza is spilling into the West Bank as a wider war engulfs the region. The experts argued that Israeli policy is designed to coerce Palestinians to leave in both territories. The report also covered occupied East Jerusalem, where between 2021 and 2025 there have been at least 11,555 arrests amid claims of arbitrary detention, 2,386 deportation orders, and 1,732 home demolitions.