“I am so happy that he is our new leader. It was a slap in the face to our enemies that thought the system will collapse with the killing of his father. Our late leader’s path will continue,” said university student Zahra Mirbagheri, 21, from Tehran.

Many Iranians had celebrated the elder Khamenei’s death, weeks after his security forces killed thousands of anti-government protesters in the worst domestic unrest since the era of Iran’s 1979 revolution. But there has since been little sign of anti-government activity, with activists fearful of taking to the streets while Iran is under attack.

“The (elite Revolutionary) Guards and the system are still powerful. They have tens of thousands of forces ready to fight to keep this regime in place. We, the people, have nothing,” said Babak, 34, a businessman in the central city of Arak who asked to keep his family name confidential.

Aureus Greenway Holdings, a golf club company, said it would merge with Powerus in a deal designed to take the drone technology company public.

Drones have become a major procurement priority for the Pentagon and are widely used in Ukraine, where dense air defense systems near the front lines limit the deployment of conventional aircraft.

This growing reliance has also drawn significant Silicon Valley funding into drone and military artificial intelligence startups, boosting valuations of US companies such as Anduril Industries and Shield AI.

Powerus, which was formed in 2025 by Andrew Fox, makes heavy-lift drones that can carry industrial payloads up to 675 kilograms. The company also offers services to transform existing manned boats into remotely operated or fully autonomous vessels.

Indonesia has entered an agreement with India to procure the Brahmos missile system, its defence ministry spokesperson Rico Ricardo Sirait told Reuters on Monday.

In 2023, Brahmos, a company co-owned by the Indian and Russian governments, told Reuters it was in advanced discussions with Jakarta on a deal worth $200 million to $350 million.

Rico said the agreement was, “part of the modernisation of military hardware and defence capabilities, especially in the maritime sector.”

The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, the benchmark price for Europe, hit its highest since early January 2023, jumping nearly 25 per cent to €66.50 per megawatt hour. By 10:01 GMT it was trading at €61.60/MWh, a 15.7 per cent rise, ICE data showed.

It had previously hit the highest since January 2023 on March 3.

The British April contract, which rose 20 per cent earlier in the session, was trading 15.4 per cent higher at 158.60p per therm.

“Developments in the Middle East will continue to dominate price movement. The choice of Khamenei’s son as the Iranian’s new supreme leader, considered a hardliner, and Trump weighing deployment of ground forces, certainly point towards the war lasting ever longer,” said LSEG analyst Ulrich Weber.

The decision follows a several-month strategic review that EMGS described as, “the best available alternative to safeguard the interests of the company’s stakeholders, including employees, customers and creditors.”

Other alternatives, such as a full restructuring or an orderly wind-down, were not considered viable by the company given its current financial position.

The buyer will immediately begin legal, operational, and financial due diligence on the business operations. Completion of the transaction is subject to several conditions, including obtaining necessary consents and waivers from bondholders, the company noted.

Due to what the company called the, “highly time-sensitive nature of the transaction and the need to ensure continuity of the EM business operations,” the deal is not expected by EMGS to be subject to a shareholder vote.

No guarantees have been given regarding the signing of a binding agreement or the final completion of the sale.

Focus on civilian readiness

Norway has declared 2026 the year of “total defence”, which puts emphasis on boosting the readiness of civilians, businesses and public institutions to cope with war and other catastrophes, the latest move by a Nordic nation to boost civilian preparedness.

“We want our military to do its job of defending the country. To do that, we are completely reliant on most aspects of society functioning as normal,” Major-General Lars Lervik, head of the Norwegian Army, told Reuters.

“This is also an opportunity to rehearse specifically where civilians can give direct support to the military effort, for instance with the health service treating a higher number of injured soldiers, Norwegian or from allied forces, than usual.”

On Thursday, the military will run a scenario testing the ability of hospitals in northern Norway to treat a high number of casualties being transported from an imaginary frontline in Finland.

(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo; Editing by Kevin Buckland)

India’s largest gas distributor, GAIL, has issued a tender seeking a cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for delivery in March, as the conflict in the Middle East curtailed shipping and halted Qatari output.

GAIL is seeking the cargo for delivery on March 15-25 in a tender that closes March 9, two industry sources said on Monday.

Several industries in India have been impacted by the war as the South Asian nation, which is the world’s fourth-largest LNG importer, rations supplies.

China’s Wanhua Chemical has declared force majeure on supplies to its Middle East customers, a company representative said on Monday.

The force majeure – a provision in a contract that relieves parties from their obligations because of an extraordinary event – came into effect on March 7, according to a letter Wanhua sent to customers and seen by Reuters.

“We are facing the severe disruption of shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, making delivery impossible or unreasonably dangerous,” the letter said.

The petrochemical major typically sells some of its derivatives such as isocyanates, a building block for polyurethane products used for bedding, furniture and automotive interiors, to the Middle East, traders said.