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Category: War

How the Ukraine and Iran wars are starting to overlap

How the Ukraine and Iran wars are starting to overlap

Julian Borger and Pjotr Sauer write: The Iran and Ukraine wars are becoming more intertwined with every passing week – to the point that some analysts argue the two conflicts are beginning to merge. Quite how each war will affect the trajectory of the other is hard to predict, but it is already clear that their interconnectedness is drawing more countries into both cauldrons, extending an arc of instability that straddles Europe and the Middle East. From Ukraine’s point of…

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How Iran’s Hormuz blockade chokes global trade beyond oil and gas

How Iran’s Hormuz blockade chokes global trade beyond oil and gas

RFE/RL reports: When an Indian tanker carrying liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) passed through the Strait of Hormuz recently, its progress was followed by excited live TV news coverage. “Its position was received eight minutes ago. It’s currently at 12.5 knots and is moving at 154 degrees. It’s reported ETA in India is at 9.30 p.m. tomorrow,” reported one journalist, providing running commentary while following a tracker app. Later, videos showed the ship with a military escort from the Indian Navy…

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The war you’re not allowed to see: How the UAE rewrites the story of Iranian strikes

The war you’re not allowed to see: How the UAE rewrites the story of Iranian strikes

Sebastian Vandermeersch reports: Bellingcat has identified several high-profile incidents where authorities in the United Arab Emirates have downplayed damage, mischaracterised interceptions and in some instances not acknowledged successful Iranian drone strikes on the country. A review of official statements shows that the public account does not always align with what can be observed through open sources. This comes as the UAE faces sustained aerial attacks on civilian and economic infrastructure, challenging its image as a secure global hub for business…

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Rubio co-sponsored law that blocks Trump from pulling out of NATO

Rubio co-sponsored law that blocks Trump from pulling out of NATO

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump’s threat to exit NATO as retaliation for the bloc’s failure to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz faces a major obstacle — one that comes from his very own Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. Rubio as a Republican senator from Florida sponsored bipartisan legislation that bars presidents from unilaterally withdrawing the US from the security alliance without the approval of Congress. The measure, co-sponsored with Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, was included in the…

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Top Gulf aluminum producer EGA halted smelter after Iran strike

Top Gulf aluminum producer EGA halted smelter after Iran strike

Bloomberg reports: Emirates Global Aluminium, the Middle East’s top producer of the metal, halted operations at its Al Taweelah smelter after the site was struck by Iranian missiles and drones over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the matter. The smelter on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi lost power due to the strikes and smelting facilities known as potlines were forced into an uncontrolled shutdown, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t…

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UAE wants to force Strait of Hormuz open and is willing to join the fight

UAE wants to force Strait of Hormuz open and is willing to join the fight

The Wall Street Journal reports: The United Arab Emirates is preparing to help the U.S. and other allies open the Strait of Hormuz by force, Arab officials said, a move that would make it the first Persian Gulf country to become a combatant, after being hit by Iranian attacks. The U.A.E. is lobbying for a United Nations Security Council resolution that would authorize such action, the officials said. Emirati diplomats have urged the U.S. and military powers in Europe and…

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Iran threatens to start attacking major U.S. technology firms on April 1

Iran threatens to start attacking major U.S. technology firms on April 1

Wired reports: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Tuesday that it plans to begin attacking more than a dozen American companies across the Middle East on Wednesday in retaliation for the killing of Iranian citizens in the ongoing war with the US and Israel. The list of companies includes Apple, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Tesla, and Boeing, which the IRGC accused of enabling United States military targeting operations. The IRGC urged employees of the US firms to evacuate and civilians…

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Israel to destroy ‘all houses’ near Lebanon border, defence minister says

Israel to destroy ‘all houses’ near Lebanon border, defence minister says

Reuters reports: Israel will destroy all homes in Lebanese villages near the ‌border and 600,000 people who fled the south will not be allowed home until northern Israel is secure, the defence minister said on Tuesday, vowing to inflict Gaza-like destruction in the area. Israel Katz reiterated Israeli plans to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, saying that it would maintain control over a swathe of territory up to the Litani River once the war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah…

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Danny Citrinowicz: Why Trump’s war has made Iran more dangerous

Danny Citrinowicz: Why Trump’s war has made Iran more dangerous

  What did Trump and Israel get wrong in their war with Iran, and can the remaining elements of the regime hold out? We speak to Danny Citrinowicz, the former head of the Iran branch in the Research and Analysis Division in Israel Defense Intelligence and now Senior Researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies. Citrinowicz says one of Trump’s “biggest mistakes” was assuming the regime would fall as soon as Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed – when…

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Vital U.S. radar aircraft was destroyed by Iranian strike on U.S. base in Saudi Arabia, photos reveal

Vital U.S. radar aircraft was destroyed by Iranian strike on U.S. base in Saudi Arabia, photos reveal

NBC News reports: The destruction by Iran of a warning and control system aircraft on an American base in Saudi Arabia on Friday could affect the U.S. military’s ability to monitor threats — and raises questions around its preparedness for a “longer war,” experts say. Images verified by NBC News after they surfaced online appear to show much of the back end of the E-3 Sentry jet was destroyed at the Prince Sultan Air Base, the tail lying at an…

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Welcome to a multidimensional economic disaster

Welcome to a multidimensional economic disaster

Matteo Wong and Charlie Warzel write: The global economy has become dependent on the AI industry. Trillions of dollars are being invested into the technology and the infrastructure it relies on; in the final months of 2025, functionally all economic growth in the United States came from AI investments. This would be risky even in ideal conditions. And we are very far from ideal conditions. Much of the AI supply chain—chips, data centers, combustion turbines, and so on—relies on key…

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The manosphere influencers who feel duped by the president they helped elect

The manosphere influencers who feel duped by the president they helped elect

Elaine Godfrey writes: About half an hour into Episode 694 of the Flagrant podcast, and after a lively debate over manscaping methods, Andrew Schulz leaned back into the couch and brought the chin-wag to a screeching halt. “Are you guys, like—do you feel existential anxiety about the war?” he asked his co-hosts. Schulz seemed to be feeling some. “Americans can’t fucking afford health care,” he said later. “They don’t care about what’s happening in Iran!” War hawks have been angling…

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Expat influencers sold Dubai to the world and were paid to look the other way. Now the dream is crumbling

Expat influencers sold Dubai to the world and were paid to look the other way. Now the dream is crumbling

Brigid Delaney writes: For people living in close proximity to a war zone, the lack of sympathy for Australian and British expats and influencers in Dubai has been, on the face of it, curious. Since their adopted home was bombed in the initial days of the war, they have faced mostly ridicule and contempt in their home countries. In the UK, the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, called out “tax exiles and washed-up old footballers” in Dubai who “mock ordinary…

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The oil crisis is only beginning

The oil crisis is only beginning

Bloomberg reports: The biggest oil supply shock in history has reached the one-month mark. Prices have surged, growth forecasts are being cut worldwide, and shortages are emerging across Asia, from Thailand to Pakistan. But the energy industry is warning that the crisis is only beginning. In conversations with more than three dozen oil and gas traders, executives, brokers, shippers and advisers over the last week, one message was repeated over and over: The world still hasn’t grasped the severity of…

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Trump has opened up Pandora’s box in the Middle East, and possibly only Iran will benefit

Trump has opened up Pandora’s box in the Middle East, and possibly only Iran will benefit

An editorial at The Independent says: At an unfortunately timed event held in Miami to promote US investment in Saudi Arabia, the president of the United States told his audience that they could ask him about anything, even sex, and that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, although “a great son” to his father, the king, “did not think he would be kissing my ass… He thought he [Trump] would be just another American president that was…

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‘He’s lied about everything’: Iran war puts Trump on shaky ground with young MAGA men

‘He’s lied about everything’: Iran war puts Trump on shaky ground with young MAGA men

Politico reports: Joseph Bolick feels betrayed by President Donald Trump. And it’s because of the war in Iran. The 30-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran voted for Trump in 2024. But at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference gathering this week he sported a hat emblazoned with “America First” — a slogan Trump championed during his campaign, along with the promise not to start new wars in foreign countries. “He’s lied about everything,” said Bolick. “If you go into a…

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