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Category: War

Iran war escalation could trigger global recession, IMF warns

Iran war escalation could trigger global recession, IMF warns

The Guardian reports: A further escalation in the Iran war could trigger a global recession, spiralling inflation and a sharp backlash in financial markets, the International Monetary Fund has warned. Against an increasingly volatile backdrop, the Washington-based fund said the economic damage from the Middle East conflict was steadily rising as it cut its growth forecasts for 2026 based on the impact from the war so far. In its half-yearly update, the IMF said the UK would suffer the sharpest…

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Italy halts defense pact with Israel

Italy halts defense pact with Israel

Politico reports: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has suspended Italy’s defense cooperation agreement with Israel as she continues to distance her government from the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran that has enveloped the Middle East. Speaking on the fringes of a wine industry event in the northern city of Verona on Tuesday, Meloni told reporters her government “has decided to suspend the automatic renewal of the defense agreement with Israel in consideration of the current situation.” The 2003 deal concerns the exchange…

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Trump’s blockade ushers in dangerous new phase of Iran war

Trump’s blockade ushers in dangerous new phase of Iran war

Politico reports: American forces began their blockade of Iranian ports on Monday, even as allies scrambled to understand how it will work — and how the Trump administration will avoid sparking new showdowns with the move. More than a dozen U.S. warships in the region are available to take part, according to one U.S. official, including the USS Tripoli, which has an embarked Marine unit aboard trained to interdict and board ships. Additional details remain scarce — including how long…

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U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran show a pattern of ‘double-tap’ strikes

U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran show a pattern of ‘double-tap’ strikes

Chris Osieck and Nilo Tabrizy write: At least 1,700 civilians have been killed since the start of the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran, according to the U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency. An analysis of a series of strikes by the U.S.-Israeli coalition reveals a pattern of civilian harm — specifically, a number of attacks on infrastructure and facilities in densely populated urban areas, often when bystanders were present. Across multiple verified cases in Karaj and Tehran, New Lines found that…

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Four ways the war against Iran has weakened the United States in the great power game

Four ways the war against Iran has weakened the United States in the great power game

China and Russia view the U.S. grand strategy as increasingly out of focus. AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson Jeffrey Taliaferro, Tufts University “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” Napoleon Bonaparte’s maxim may well have been in the minds of policymakers in Moscow and Beijing these past weeks, as the U.S. war in Iran dragged on. And now that a 14-day ceasefire between Tehran and Washington is in effect – with both sides claiming “victory” – Russian and…

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What once seemed preposterous is now a palpable possibility

What once seemed preposterous is now a palpable possibility

Pervez Hoodbhoy writes: When Trump, echoing Gen. Curtis LeMay’s 1965 threat toward North Vietnam, threatened to “obliterate” Iran and bomb it “back into the Stone Age”—rhetoric repeated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth—he wasn’t just posturing. In fact he was signaling that in an administration which respects no norms, mushroom clouds may be acceptable. The “how” and “when” remain open questions, but if the ceasefire ceases to hold the crosshairs are likely fixed on the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant or, just…

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‘Everything is gone’: Israel destroys entire villages in Lebanon

‘Everything is gone’: Israel destroys entire villages in Lebanon

The Guardian reports: The Israeli military has demolished entire villages as part of its invasion of south Lebanon, rigging homes with explosives and razing them to the ground in massive remote detonations. The Guardian reviewed three videos posted by the Israeli military and on social media, which showed Israel carrying out mass detonations in the villages of Taybeh, Naqoura and Deir Seryan along the Israel-Lebanon border. Lebanese media has reported more mass detonations in other border villages, but satellite imagery…

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U.S. to blockade ships entering or exiting Iranian ports. Free movement of other ships unlikely

U.S. to blockade ships entering or exiting Iranian ports. Free movement of other ships unlikely

U.S. Central Commanded tweeted on Sunday afternoon: U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET, in accordance with the President’s proclamation. The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels…

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Trump says gas prices may remain high through November midterm election

Trump says gas prices may remain high through November midterm election

Reuters reports: U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the price of oil and gasoline may remain high through November’s midterm elections, ​a rare acknowledgement of the potential political fallout from his decision to attack Iran six weeks ago. “It could be, or the same, or maybe a little ‌bit higher, but it should be around the same,” Trump, who is in Miami for the weekend, told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” when asked whether the…

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The era of free seas is unraveling — and now with Iran’s ‘toll booth’ everyone’s going to pay

The era of free seas is unraveling — and now with Iran’s ‘toll booth’ everyone’s going to pay

The Wall Street Journal reports: In just six weeks, the Iran War has shattered a system of global trade that has enriched people and nations for more than a century: the freedom to sail the open seas. The Strait of Hormuz long functioned as an artery for the world’s maritime economy. But that 30-mile-wide waterway is now a monument to a new global disorder. As some 20,000 sailors effectively held hostage at sea digested President Trump’s cease-fire announcement this week—contingent…

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Israel’s addiction to war

Israel’s addiction to war

  A negative political and public reaction in Israel to the ceasefire with Iran, despite the respite it brings. No pause for Israel’s army, however, or its victims. Hundreds have been killed in Lebanon, with more dead in Gaza. Is Israel a society effectively on a permanent war footing? Presenter: Tom McRae Guests: Ilan Pappe – a historian and professor at Exeter University Gideon Levy – a columnist at Haaretz newspaper in Tel Aviv Haim Bresheeth – professor at the…

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U.S. intelligence: China is preparing weapons shipment to Iran amid fragile ceasefire, sources say

U.S. intelligence: China is preparing weapons shipment to Iran amid fragile ceasefire, sources say

CNN reports: US intelligence indicates that China is preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within the next few weeks, according to three people familiar with recent intelligence assessments. It would be a provocative move considering Beijing said it helped broker the fragile ceasefire agreement that paused the war between Iran and the US earlier this week. President Donald Trump is also set to visit China early next month for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The intelligence also underscores how Iran may…

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Pope Leo says ‘delusion of omnipotence’ is fueling U.S.-Israeli war against Iran

Pope Leo says ‘delusion of omnipotence’ is fueling U.S.-Israeli war against Iran

The Associated Press reports: In his strongest words yet, Pope Leo XIV on Saturday denounced the “delusion of omnipotence” that is fueling the U.S.-Israel war in Iran and demanded political leaders stop and negotiate peace. Leo presided over an evening prayer service in St. Peter’s Basilica on the same day the United States and Iran began face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan and as a fragile ceasefire held. History’s first U.S.-born pope didn’t mention the United States or President Donald Trump in…

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Iran unable to find mines it laid in Strait of Hormuz, U.S. says

Iran unable to find mines it laid in Strait of Hormuz, U.S. says

The New York Times reports: Iran has been unable to open the Strait of Hormuz to more shipping traffic because it cannot locate all of the mines it laid in the waterway and lacks the capability to remove them, according to U.S. officials. The development is one reason Iran has not been able to quickly comply with the Trump administration’s admonitions to let more traffic pass through the strait. It is also potentially a complicating factor as Iranian negotiators and…

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Iran attacks on crucial Saudi pipeline and production facilities slash kingdom’s oil output

Iran attacks on crucial Saudi pipeline and production facilities slash kingdom’s oil output

CNBC reports: Saudi Arabia’s critical pipeline to the Red Sea suffered a recent attack from Iran, cutting throughput by 700,000 barrels per day. The attack hit a pumping station on the East-West pipeline, according to a state news agency report. This pipeline brings crude oil from processing facilities near the Persian Gulf to an export terminal on the Red Sea called Yanbu. The Saudis have relied on the pipeline, which has a capacity of 7 million bpd, as their main…

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Lebanese ask whether peace can ever be possible with a neighbor that repeatedly violates its sovereignty

Lebanese ask whether peace can ever be possible with a neighbor that repeatedly violates its sovereignty

  What is really going on in Lebanon? Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump announced a ceasefire with Iran, Israel launched a massive wave of airstrikes targeting Hezbollah across the country. Iran says Israel is violating the terms of the ceasefire – so could the peace talks set to be held tomorrow in Islamabad collapse before they’ve even started? And is this exactly what Israel wants? On this episode of the Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy was joined from Beirut by…

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