A second missile attack in the proximity to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant (NPP) has raised the spectre of a Chernobyl-like cloud of radiation drifting over the Gulf region, making some countries uninhabitable and poisoning the water.
The $30 trillion US Treasury market is exhibiting mounting signs of stress as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East trigger heightened volatility in government bonds that underpin the global financial system.
The world was already dedollarising thanks to rising East-West tensions and the US decision to weaponize the dollar in 2022 by seizing the Russian central bank’s reserves. Trump has gone a step further.
Three quarters of the world's population live in fossil importing countries and bleed out at least 3% of GDP every year to import oil to run their cars and power plants.
The Israeli Army took its heaviest tank losses in over 40 years after Hezbollah ambushes destroyed 21 Merkavas main battle tanks in a single day on March 26. Israel and the US have armed themselves for the wrong war.
Iran has driven the US military out of all thirteen of its Gulf military bases, The New York Times (NYT) reported on March 25.
Saudi Arabia has sharply increased crude exports from its Red Sea terminals at Yanbu as it diverts shipments away from the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, where flows have been severely disrupted since late February, according to Bloomberg.
The United Arab Emirates is accelerating efforts to establish a new trade corridor linking its eastern seaboard to Saudi Arabia, to bypass the Strait of Hormuz bottleneck.
Israel is deliberately targeting residential buildings and populated areas in an attempt to depopulate southern Lebanon, according to reports.
As global oil markets reel from the fallout of the Iran conflict, strategic reserves have once again come into focus as a key buffer against supply shocks, Statista reports.
US President Donald Trump claims US forces have destroyed Iran’s missile and drone stockpiles. But since the first days of the war the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) triggered its Mosaic Defences and hid its weapons inside mountains.
Iran targeted and hit Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas plant on March 18, the backbone of Qatar's LNG exports and source of a third of the world’s supply of liquid gas. If key components were destroyed the plant could take five years to fix.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) is taking a big gamble. He is pressing Washington for a more aggressive stance in its Iran campaign betting the short term damage cost is the price of leaving the Kingdom as the dominant regional power.
More evidence emerged that the CRINK alliance (China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea) are supplying Iran with arms on March 24, after an Israeli strike on a Caspian sea smuggling route used by Moscow to supply Tehra
Iran grants Spanish vessels unrestricted access through Strait of Hormuz Spain has joined the club of Iran’s “friendly nations” after Tehran granted Spanish vessels a permits-for-passage unfettered access to the Strait of Hormuz on March 24.
The number of ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz is increasing as after a $2mn fee was established and the inform permits-for-passage system is smoothed by use.
The United Arab Emirates has resumed operations at its largest gas processing facility following an attack that halted output, even as exports of liquefied natural gas remain severely constrained by disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar has welcomed Lebanon’s reported decision to expel Iran’s ambassador-designate, urging Beirut to take further steps to curb the influence of Hezbollah amid heightened regional tensions.
The war in Iran has caused a spike in gas flaring across the Middle East is adding to greenhouse gas emissions as energy infrastructure disruptions linked to regional conflict force producers to burn excess fuel.
The BBC failed to mention the word “Israel” at all when reporting Israeli missiles targeted at least 20 Iranian hospitals and medical centres on March 23 –a war crime.