WASHINGTON | Xinhua | Two U.S. Navy destroyers have passed through the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Gulf after navigating an Iranian barrage, U.S. media outlet CBS News reported on Monday night. The USS Truxtun and USS Mason, supported by Apache helicopters and other aircraft, faced a series of …
Read More »Middle East military sites damaged in war with Iran: report
WASHINGTON | Xinhua | Iran and its allies have damaged at least 16 U.S. military sites across eight Middle Eastern countries during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran starting on Feb. 28, rendering some of those positions virtually unusable, a CNN investigation has found. The damaged facilities constitute the majority of …
Read More »The age of global un-order
As crises become more complex, less predictable, and increasingly intertwined, the global system is no longer anchored by shared rules and norms COMMENT | MARK LEONARD | The US-Israeli strike that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and launched the United States’ most consequential Middle Eastern adventure since …
Read More »What to know about UAE exit from OPEC, OPEC+
CAIRO | Xinhua | The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Tuesday announced its decision to quit the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the wider OPEC+ alliance, effective on May 1, following “a careful look at the regional power’s energy strategies.” Why is the UAE leaving one of …
Read More »Sudan’s prolonged war and Uganda’s regional gamble
US-Iran war has relegated Sudan conflict to the back burner NEWS ANALYSIS | IAN KATUSIIME | Three years into Sudan’s brutal war, the country has become a fractured map of collapsing cities, displaced families, and shifting frontlines that show no sign of settling. What began as a power struggle …
Read More »Trump extends U.S. ceasefire with Iran
WASHINGTON | Xinhua | U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will extend the ceasefire with Iran as the current two-week truce is set to expire on Wednesday night. “Based on the fact that the Government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so and, upon the request of Field Marshal …
Read More »As ceasefire nears expiry, what divides Iran and U.S.?
TEHRAN | Xinhua | With a fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire nearing its expiry, uncertainty once again clouds the outlook for the Middle East. The stop-and-go situation in the Strait of Hormuz — briefly reopened and then shut again by Iran — has added to the volatility. The episode highlights deep-rooted disagreements …
Read More »Macron says Iran’s announcement of reopening Strait of Hormuz goes in right direction
PARIS | Xinhua) | French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that Iran’s announcement of reopening Strait of Hormuz goes in right direction. Macron made the remarks in a joint declaration following a conference co-hosted by France and Britain in Paris, which brought together 49 countries to discuss securing freedom …
Read More »The geography of power and the price of ignorance
COMMENT | ANDREW PI BESI | When commenting on the 1980–1988 Iraq–Iran war, Henry Kissinger once remarked that it was “a pity both sides can’t lose”. It was a chilling distillation of a worldview in which distant conflicts are not tragedies to be resolved, but instruments to be managed. Alongside Zbigniew …
Read More »What is happening after U.S. “blockades” Strait of Hormuz?
CAIRO, EGYPT | Xinhua | No vessel breached the U.S. blockade on Iran in the first 24 hours, the U.S. Central Command said on Tuesday, while ship-tracking data showed that several vessels continued to pass through the Strait of Hormuz on the same day. That raises three questions: What is …
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