Browsed by
Category: War

Iranian drone strike on U.S. embassy in Riyadh caused more damage than disclosed

Iranian drone strike on U.S. embassy in Riyadh caused more damage than disclosed

The Wall Street Journal reports: An Iranian drone attack last month on the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia did more extensive damage than previously disclosed, current and former American officials said, showing Iran’s ability to hit Washington’s assets in the kingdom. The attack happened March 3, when an Iranian drone evaded the air defenses guarding Riyadh’s gated Diplomatic Quarter and slammed into the American compound. A minute later, a second drone flew into the hole made by the first one…

Read More Read More

Fertilizer blockade: Record numbers of people could face acute hunger if Hormuz remains closed

Fertilizer blockade: Record numbers of people could face acute hunger if Hormuz remains closed

The Guardian reports: The world has become well versed in the importance of the strait of Hormuz to the world’s energy flows, but attention is increasingly turning to its vital role in another market – the fertiliser on which harvests depend. A third of the global trade in raw materials for fertiliser passes through the maritime choke point, which is also the route for 20% of shipments of natural gas, which is required to make it. The waterway’s near-total shipping…

Read More Read More

Two U.S. warplanes shot down; search ongoing in Iran for one missing crew member

Two U.S. warplanes shot down; search ongoing in Iran for one missing crew member

The Washington Post reports: Two U.S. military aircraft were shot down in separate incidents Friday while conducting combat operations against Iran, setting off a frantic search-and-rescue effort that remains ongoing for one missing crew member, U.S. officials said. The F-15E fighter jet and the A-10 attack plane both were hit by incoming fire, U.S. officials said. One of two crew members aboard the F-15, which crashed inside Iran, was rescued, though their condition was not immediately clear, the officials said….

Read More Read More

Hegseth wants to remake the U.S. military in his own adolescent image of masculinity

Hegseth wants to remake the U.S. military in his own adolescent image of masculinity

Garrett Graff writes: Ahead of his book launch next month, I interviewed Jasper Craven last week for Long Lead’s newsletter, Depth Perception. Jasper has made a career out of what he describes, dryly, as “veterans’ issues in the age of forever wars,” but much of his beat turns out to provide insight into what I called “a sprawling crisis in masculinity that’s fueling an interconnected toxic stew of misogyny, internet culture, gambling, and violence.” His beat is where the Venn…

Read More Read More

Iran’s president addresses ‘the people of the United States of America’

Iran’s president addresses ‘the people of the United States of America’

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian posted the following message on X: In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful To the people of the United States of America, and to all those who, amid a flood of distortions and manufactured narratives, continue to seek the truth and aspire to a better life: Iran—by this very name, character, and identity—is one of the oldest continuous civilizations in human history. Despite its historical and geographical advantages at various times, Iran has never,…

Read More Read More

Why batteries may save the world

Why batteries may save the world

Paul Krugman writes: The war goes on, and so does the global energy crisis. In fact, I believe that prices of oil futures remain too low given how much spot prices will need to rise to resolve the shortages that will hit once oil supplies that were shipped before the Strait of Hormuz was closed are exhausted. But a better future is coming, despite Donald Trump’s assault on renewable energy as he tries to drag us back into the fossil…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More

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…

Read More Read More