The captain of a ship of the Iranian Navy has handed his vessel over to the Sri Lankan government, a neutral party, for internment, saving the lives of his crew hours after another Iranian warship was destroyed nearby by the United States Navy. Sri Lanka (Ceylon) has assumed control of the Islamic Republic of Iran Ship (IRIS) Bushehr, a fleet supply ship (oiler). Sri Lanka has sent craft to receive the 1970s-era ship within its territorial waters and, per local media, has taken off 208 officers and men, who are to be sent ashore. The ship will now be taken by the Sri Lankans to Trincomalee for internment for the duration of hostilities. The Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said his government had selected the historic port of Trincomalee due to the risk of disruption to maritime traffic by the presence of the inactive warship, so they wished to keep it away from the country’s primary commercial port, Colombo. The Times of India reports Dissanayake said: “we are not taking sides in this conflict, but while maintaining our neutrality we are taking action to save lives.” Neither Sri Lanka nor Iran have yet officially confirmed that the ship was surrendered by her captain. Yet the ship only arrived in Sri Lankan waters this morning and according to the long-established laws of armed conflict at sea the Bushehr would have been entitled to spend 24 hours in the waters of a neutral country without fear from attack. The fact the ship has been handed over to the Sri Lankan authorities so quickly strongly suggests the captain took the decision to preserve the life of his men by opting out of the conflict. Had Sri Lanka not interned the ship within 24 hours, or compelled the Iranians to leave their territory, the United States would have been free to sink the ship, even inside Sri Lankan territorial waters or harbours. The internment of the IRIS Bushehr follows by a day the destruction of the Iranian frigate IRIS DENA in international waters to the south of Sri Lanka. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a United States submarine since the Second World War and the first officially acknowledged such sinking anywhere since 1982, the U.S. Department of War published periscope footage of the moment of destruction. Crown Prince of Iran Reza Pahlavi says he has agreed to accept the role of Iran’s transitional leader. Reza Pahlavi is the son of the Shah of Iran who fled the country when Ayatollah Khomeneini took control of the Islamic nation. Reza Pahlavi released this statement earlier today. The Islamic Republic has launched missiles at the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Jordan, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. It is targeting our Arab neighbors. These violations of their sovereignty are unacceptable, and we condemn them. But this is nothing new. This is who the Islamic Republic has always been, and this is why it must end. For nearly five decades, this terrorist regime has sown chaos and bloodshed across our region. ...None of this has ever been the desire of the Iranian people, but rather that of a regime occupying our country. Now, however, the landscape has fundamentally shifted. The Iranian people have called on me to lead the transition after the regime is gone. I have accepted that responsibility. Part of their great mandate to me is to return our nation and our foreign relations to normalcy. I will do exactly that. My commitment is to ensure the transition is orderly, the country is stabilized, and Iranians determine their future through the ballot box. ...Now, I ask our friends in the Arab world to join us, to prepare to recognize and engage our transitional government. Since he left Iran as a young man, Reza’s goal has always been to return to the country his father ruled. Via BRICS on X. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/03/exiled-crown-prince-iran-reza-pahlavi-says-he/ The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the primary branch of the Iranian armed forces, has declared loyalty to Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, who was selected to succeed his slain father, Ali Khamenei, as the country’s next Supreme Leader on Sunday. [Much more at the link.] Instead of focusing its strikes on Israel and U.S. forces, the Iranian regime has attacked at least 13 countries, including nearly all of its neighbors, in what President Trump has called the “biggest surprise” of the war so far – but why? One reason is that the regime is effectively a messianic Islamist death cult that might be bent on provoking all-out war; however, the mullahs do also have somewhat rational reasons for lashing out at their neighbors, even ones with whom they had good relations before the war. This could indicate either that radical IRGC officers are firing at will or that “doomsday” protocols are being followed without leadership having the possibility of reining them in, even if they wanted to. First, a banal reason for the massive attacks on the Gulf is the short distance between them and Iran, enabling the regime to use short- and mid-range missiles and drones for strikes. Despite usually hosting U.S. bases, most military sites in the Gulf were evacuated ahead of the war and have not been part of the fighting. This has not prevented Iran from using them as an excuse to attack its host countries. But the strikes on the Gulf serve more than military purposes. They shatter the peaceful image of the region that has served as a basis to attract investment, as well as tens of thousands of businessmen and young, ambitious workers from around the world. The attacks have also harmed oil and gas production, which immediately raised prices around the world, putting more pressure on the Trump administration. The Gulf countries seem more inclined to join the fighting than to back down, and several countries have indicated they could launch retaliatory strikes. The same is true for Azerbaijan, which has a large, experienced military that is partly equipped with Israeli weapons. ...we cannot rule out the possibility that at least some of the clerics and military officials in Iran are bent on destroying the region, going down in a blaze of “glory” and paving the way for the mahdi to come to save and redeem them. https://allisraelnews.com/economy-or-eschatology-why-does-iran-lash-out-at-all-its-neighbors In science fiction, the ability to move an object without coming into physical contact with it is a common theme. However, using a tractor beam to grab hold of an enemy spaceship or employing the power of the force to retrieve a lost lightsaber are abilities that don’t exist in the modern world. At least, not yet. Now a group of researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have developed a way to use sound waves to manipulate objects without actually coming into contact with them. Termed “acoustical trapping,” it is a promising breakthrough that offers tantalizing opportunities for researchers across an entire range of scientific disciplines. “Sound waves may be applied to a wider range of object sizes and materials, so much so that successful manipulation is possible for millimeter-sized particles,” the press release states. “Though they haven’t been around for as long as their optical counterparts, acoustic levitation and manipulation show exceptional promise for both lab settings and beyond.” To put their new tractor beam device to the test, Kando and Okubo placed a small object, in this case a polystyrene ball, on a reflective surface, then positioned their acoustic trap directly above the object. The acoustic tractor beam was turned on, and as was predicted by their 3D sound modeling software, they were not only able to zero in on and trap the ball using waves of ultrasound, but also move the ball around by adjusting the ultrasound emitters individually. https://thedebrief.org/researchers-use-acoustic-levitation-to-create-a-tractor-beam-of-sound/ 
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