Browsed by
Category: War

Nothing to lose: Iran’s bankruptcy is its best weapon against the wealthy Gulf states

Nothing to lose: Iran’s bankruptcy is its best weapon against the wealthy Gulf states

A commentator at bne IntelliNews writes: There is an old saying, attributed to the British Foreign Office in colonial days: “Keep the Persians hungry, and the Arabs fat.” Washington appears to have taken that advice to heart. The trouble is, when the hungry finally have nothing left to lose, it is the fat who pay the price. There is something darkly rational about Iran’s approach to this war. The Islamic Republic entered the conflict already ruined. Inflation was running above…

Read More Read More

Iran’s conventional navy is largely gone. The threat to the Strait of Hormuz is not

Iran’s conventional navy is largely gone. The threat to the Strait of Hormuz is not

RFE/RL reports: The United States and Israel have largely destroyed Iran’s conventional naval fleet in a massive bombing campaign since February 28. But Tehran’s threat to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important shipping routes, has not diminished. Iran has effectively closed the narrow waterway, through which 20 percent of the world’s oil supplies flow, by using asymmetric warfare tactics. Besides Iran’s conventional navy, the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the country’s…

Read More Read More

Hegseth: Strait of Hormuz ‘open for transit’ (by dolphins) but not by shipping

Hegseth: Strait of Hormuz ‘open for transit’ (by dolphins) but not by shipping

Hegseth: They are exercising sheer desperation in the straits of hormuz, something we're dealing with. We have been dealing with it and don't need to worry about it. pic.twitter.com/xJS8gIMRWZ — Acyn (@Acyn) March 13, 2026 The Guardian reports: Pete Hegseth on Friday again claimed the US military campaign against Iran has been an unprecedented success, using a Pentagon press conference to accuse journalists of downplaying Washington’s supposed gains on the battlefield. Speaking alongside the chair of the joint chiefs of…

Read More Read More

Attacks on ME desalination plants highlight risks of near-total dependence on ‘fossil fuel water’

Attacks on ME desalination plants highlight risks of near-total dependence on ‘fossil fuel water’

Inside Climate News reports: Recent attacks in the Middle East on desalination plants, facilities that remove salt from seawater, raise the potential for a humanitarian crisis if the region’s freshwater production facilities are subjected to more widespread destruction. The attacks also underscore the region’s heavy reliance on an energy-intensive method of producing drinking water that is powered almost entirely by fossil fuels. On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the United States of striking a desalination plant in southern…

Read More Read More

Escalating Hormuz crisis raises specter of prolonged closure

Escalating Hormuz crisis raises specter of prolonged closure

The Wall Street Journal reports: Escalating Iranian attacks and the U.S. government’s decision to hold off on military escorts for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz are raising the prospect of a prolonged closure that would choke off exports through the world’s most important energy-transport route. On Wednesday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps struck three cargo ships attempting to transit the waterway, the only sea route out of the Persian Gulf. It warned that any other vessels trying to…

Read More Read More

Oman evacuates key oil port as Iran war intensifies

Oman evacuates key oil port as Iran war intensifies

OilPrice.com reports: Oman has ordered the evacuation of vessels from its key Mina Al Fahal oil port, which sits outside the Strait of Hormuz, in a sign that the disruption to oil supply is spreading in the Middle Eastern ports that don’t need passage through the world’s most critical chokepoint. All vessels were told to evacuate Mina Al Fahal, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, as attacks on regional energy infrastructure intensify and tankers and cargo vessels are now being targeted more…

Read More Read More

The other global crisis stemming from the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz

The other global crisis stemming from the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz

Noah Gordon and Lucy Corthell write: The Gulf region is a key producer not only of liquified natural gas (LNG) and oil products but also of fertilizer. About one-third of global seaborne trade in fertilizers typically passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been nearly entirely closed since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. In particular, Gulf countries are important producers of nitrogen fertilizers, which depend primarily on natural gas burned at high pressure in the presence of hydrogen to synthesize ammonia. (The…

Read More Read More

War crimes: Strikes hit World Heritage sites in Iran

War crimes: Strikes hit World Heritage sites in Iran

The New York Times reports: In the city of Isfahan, Israeli airstrikes have damaged several of Iran’s most cherished cultural jewels, Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Heritage said. The Ali Qapu Palace and the Chehel Sotoun palace and garden, dating to the 17th-century Safavid dynasty, sustained serious harm, photos and videos released by the ministry show. The blast waves on Monday also sent the turquoise tiles of the iconic Jameh Mosque crashing to the ground, with ministry photographs showing a…

Read More Read More

How ‘Handala’ became the face of Iran’s hacker counterattacks

How ‘Handala’ became the face of Iran’s hacker counterattacks

Wired reports: Since the United States and Israel first unleashed a broad campaign of air strikes across Iran in late February, the cybersecurity industry has warned that the country’s retaliatory measures would include punishing, disruptive cyberattacks against Western targets. Late Tuesday night, the first of those attacks arrived in the US: a devastating breach of the medical technology firm Stryker that has reportedly disabled as many as tens of thousands of computers and paralyzed much of the company’s global operations—all…

Read More Read More

U.S. intelligence says Iran government is not at risk of collapse, say sources

U.S. intelligence says Iran government is not at risk of collapse, say sources

Reuters reports: U.S. intelligence indicates that Iran’s leadership is still largely intact and is not at risk of collapse any time soon after nearly two weeks of relentless U.S. and Israeli bombardment, according to three ​sources familiar with the matter. A “multitude” of intelligence reports provide “consistent analysis that the regime is not in danger” of collapse and “retains control of the Iranian public,” ‌said one of the sources, all of whom were granted anonymity to discuss U.S. intelligence findings….

Read More Read More

Hegseth targets the lawyers

Hegseth targets the lawyers

Sarah Fitzpatrick and Missy Ryan write: One of Pete Hegseth’s first actions after taking charge at the Pentagon was to fire top lawyers in the Army, Navy, and Air Force—senior officers who the defense secretary said functioned as “roadblocks” to the president’s orders. The former National Guardsman has a history of hostility toward military lawyers and the legal restraints they impose on the use of military might. They are known as judge advocates general. Hegseth calls them “jagoffs.” This week,…

Read More Read More

Iran’s cheap, plentiful weaponry puts U.S. military under unprecedented strain

Iran’s cheap, plentiful weaponry puts U.S. military under unprecedented strain

Bloomberg reports: When the first cruise missiles began detonating inside Iran, the strikes had all the hallmarks of previous successful US military campaigns — unstoppable, overwhelming force delivered without warning. But as the conflict extends toward a third week, the US war effort is showing unexpected signs of strain against an adversary whose military budget is smaller than the GDP of Vermont — but which has an arsenal of missiles and drones unlike anything the US has ever faced. US…

Read More Read More

As it controls the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is now exporting more oil than it was before the war

As it controls the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is now exporting more oil than it was before the war

The Wall Street Journal reports: Iran is exporting more oil through the Strait of Hormuz than before the war, showing it is in control of a strategic waterway that it has closed off to the rest of the region’s oil producers. As Gulf Arab oil producers from Saudi Arabia to Iraq cut production and scramble for new routes that bypass the strait, Iran is conducting business as usual, according to data from tanker-tracking firm Kpler, throwing a financial lifeline to…

Read More Read More

Iranian drone strike hits Oman’s largest oil storage facility

Iranian drone strike hits Oman’s largest oil storage facility

OilPrice.com reports: Iranian drones struck oil storage facilities at the Port of Salalah in Oman on Wednesday, marking the latest attack on Gulf energy infrastructure as the regional war expands into a full-scale confrontation over global oil supply. Fuel storage tanks at the port were hit in the strike, according to maritime security firm Ambrey and Omani state media, though no merchant vessels in the area were damaged. OSINT account Visioner shared video footage of the oil storage facilities after…

Read More Read More

U.S. at fault in strike on elementary school in Iran, preliminary inquiry says

U.S. at fault in strike on elementary school in Iran, preliminary inquiry says

The New York Times reports: An ongoing military investigation has determined that the United States is responsible for a deadly Tomahawk missile strike on an Iranian elementary school, according to U.S. officials and others familiar with the preliminary findings. The Feb. 28 strike on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school building was the result of a targeting mistake by the U.S. military, which was conducting strikes on an adjacent Iranian base of which the school building was formerly a part, the…

Read More Read More

The White House that didn’t foresee global oil supply disruption, isn’t panicking about oil prices

The White House that didn’t foresee global oil supply disruption, isn’t panicking about oil prices

Politico reports: The Trump administration believes it can withstand a brief spike in oil prices — for as many as four weeks, as one person close to the White House suggested — before the political hit does lasting damage. Administration officials’ confidence was bolstered Tuesday when oil dropped to $80 per barrel, down from $120 this weekend, reinforcing their view that the spikes are temporary and manageable. They have three to four weeks “where they can ride out what they…

Read More Read More