This Week in the World Affairs Brief
IRAN WAR DRAGS ON AS US IS HIT WITH HEFTY PRICE TAG
Although President Trump has bragged about the war with Iran being over “very soon” and “almost complete,” it isn’t turning out that way. Even though the US and Israel have destroyed all of Iran’s air defenses, its missile and drone manufacturing plants, and most of its remaining nuclear facilities, Iran still possesses enough underground stockpiles of missiles and drones to continue to strike US and Israeli targets and their allies within the region for quite some time yet. Although in a weakened position, Iran can still has a few cards to play, including the big one—targeting the oil and gas production facilities of US Arab allies and closing the Straits of Hormuz to oil and gas shipments—which is already causing an energy crisis rippling around the globe as it shuts down 20% of the world’s normal supply. The assassination of Iran’s Ayatollahs and other high ranking leaders has only hardened the regime’s resolve to resist and survive. I predict the war will continue to drag on with increasingly painful economic repercussions in the US both at the pumps and to Washington’s coffers. The first big bill for a whopping $200B is coming due to replenish all our diminished missile stockpiles. But money isn’t the only squeeze being felt in Washington, the US is also running short of rare earth minerals needed to build more missiles and interceptors. To receive a free one-time sample of the Brief, along with options on how to subscribe, click on Request a Sample on the left.
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Trump announces "productive" talks with Iran, "postpones" military strikes for 5 days
Iran Foreign Ministry + Parliament speaker say no talks have happened, after Trump said "speaking with a top person in Iran", says will "just keep bombing" if Iran talks fail
Trump says Hormuz will be "jointly controlled"; Russia and Pakistan step-up as potential mediators, engage with Tehran
Israel is not seeing an imminent end to the war, and plans to continue operations while avoiding energy assets, an Israeli official said. US says Israel "will be pleased"
Iran publishes broad list of potential regional targets: threatens "the entire region will go dark."
IEA Executive Director warns of 1970s level oil shocks: "No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction." Russia mediates in call with Tehran.
In yet more unintended blowback from Washington's Iran war gambit, now in its fourth week, President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russian oil and gas companies must use windfall profits from the Iran war to reduce debt. It's been no secret that higher crude prices, amid the ongoing massive disruption to global energy supplies due to the Hormuz Strait effective closure, have been a boon to Russia as it continues to fund its war machine in Ukraine.
Bags of SHREDDED DOCUMENTS destroyed at NY jail days after his death
Iran vows regional and US infrastructure will be "irreversibly destroyed" in response to Trump's 48-hour timeline to open Hormuz or else Iranian power plants will be obliterated.
Iran announces imposition a $2 million transit fee on 'non-enemy' ships wishing to transit strait.
Unprecedented damage and many dozens of casualties in Israel's south after tit-for-tat strikes on areas with nuclear plants.
Natanz nuclear site attacked: Iran says "no nuclear radiation" detected, even as attacks on core sites like Isfahan nuclear facilities signal clear escalation despite earlier Trump signals of maybe "winding down."
Iran has responded by targeting Israel's Dimona nuclear facility. The Israeli army confirmed "a direct impact of an Iranian missile" on a building in the city that houses a nuclear research facility, AFP reported
Companies now face three difficult choices if they did not lock in fuel prices before the spike: absorb the impact and accept margin compression, add surcharges, or raise prices.
In a startling move that has military experts questioning their assumptions about Iranian capabilities, Iran attempted to hit the joint UK-US base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia with two intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs). While US officials assured the Wall Street Journal that the base was unscathed, the Iranian strike aimed at a target roughly 4,000 kilometers from Iran suggests that the range of Iran's retaliatory capacity could be well beyond previous external estimates and claims made by Iran.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna appeared on Bill Maher’s show and confirmed what the Epstein document dumps have long hinted at: the former president wasn’t just flying on the Lolita Express — he was operating under an entirely different identity in the files.
In a social media post, the U.S. president issued a 48-hour deadline for Iranian forces to stop threatening the key Middle East waterway.
U.S. jets and allied Apaches have begun targeting Iranian vessels and drones in the Strait of Hormuz as coalition efforts intensify to restore maritime flow.
Iran intensified attacks on Gulf Arab energy infrastructure on March 19, hitting a Saudi refinery, Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, and two Kuwaiti oil refineries, in an escalation that sent oil prices sharply higher.
Benchmark Brent crude rose to more than $119 a barrel at session highs early on March 19—close to the 3 1/2 year peak touched on March 9—while U.S. West Texas Intermediate briefly climbed above $100, as markets reacted to the widening threat to Middle East supply.
Sources say shipments routed through Iran’s Jask Port and a strategic pipeline is allowing crude to bypass the Strait of Hormuz despite escalating conflict.
Rep. Chip Roy is demanding an “immediate” investigation into the leftist network of activist groups organizing protests against President Donald Trump’s intervention in Iran after some of the network’s leaders met with the Cuban Communist Party’s Politburo earlier this week.
Israel strikes Iran Navy in Caspian Sea. Iran FM Discusses Strait of Hormuz with EU's Kallas, oil dumps, amid reports of Iran launches on KSA. Largest Qatar LNG export hub hit by Iranian missiles. Doha expels diplomats.
Some Gulf states want to ensure Iran's missile arsenal destroyed for good, as EU, Russia, China demand ceasefire; Beijing ignores Trump's Hormuz plea
Israel says Iran's intelligence chief Esmail Khatib was eliminated overnight as pace of top leadership killings accelerates.
Iran says upstream oil and gas assets are under attack for first time since war began, readies retaliatory action against oil/gas assets in Gulf area, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, & UAE; Iraq reroutes some flows through Ceyhan Pipeline to Turkey
Iran reiterates new rules in place for Hormuz transit as traffic remains de-minimus, sparking reports that "the blockade is now the worst disruption to oil flows ever..."
Trump Waives Jones Act to "mitigate the short-term disruptions to the oil market"; VP Vance will meet with Big Oil Execs on Thursday to discuss plan to combat surging gas prices at the pump
Iran has long accused the London-based outlet Iran International of being a front for Mossad, and it also reportedly has links to Saudi Arabia - and is well known for actively promoting former Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi as the next ruler of Iran.
Back then, Thursdays meant student assemblies. The administration brought outside activist speakers and led identity-focused sessions aimed at rewiring group identity into our community. Week after week, I saw my students become demoralized by assumptions that, by design, cast someone — themselves or a student sitting next to them — as the villain.
The US Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier is retreating from the Red Sea after a fire broke out in its laundry room, scuttling plans for the 100,000-ton nuclear-powered vessel to project power in the war with Iran.
Following the incident, which left at least two of the ship’s 4,000 crew members with non-life-threatening injuries, the USS Gerald R. Ford will travel to the Greek island of Crete
America's largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is pulling away from the Middle East region as it nears a record-long deployment and after it suffered a major fire which damaged living quarters and other areas.
markets - seem wholly focused on the fast-moving events of the Iran war, and the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz.
While many pundits are essentially 'looking the other way' - Russia continues gobbling up territory, and this week has announced its forces captured 12 settlements in just the first half of March. This comes as its offensives intensify in the east and south.
Across both conflict theaters, the Russia-Ukraine war in Eastern Europe and the U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran, there is one common denominator that stands out the loudest: the widespread use of cheap kamikaze drones.
Focusing on the Middle East, Iran's counteroffensive strategy of mass kamikaze-drone swarms, missile barrages, and electronic warfare has exposed the limits of expensive U.S. and allied air-defense systems, whose interceptor missiles can cost millions of dollars apiece.
Ecuador's geographical location - sandwiched between Colombia and Peru, the world's largest producers of cocaine - has turned it into a key transit country for the illicit drug.
Around 70% of the cocaine produced in Colombia and Peru is estimated to be shipped through Ecuador.
The U.S. president said he decided to not destroy the oil infrastructure on the island.
The elections integrity bill will go into effect next year and require Floridians to show photo ID at the polls and proof of citizenship when registering.
The White House has struggled to present the American public and the world with a clear timeline or precise strategy on Operation Epic Fury, but Israel has seemed clearer on signaling it is settling in for a longer war.
Scientific debate faded. Physicians who questioned policies or explored treatments were treated as threats rather than colleagues. Instead of debate, there was enforcement.
Hospitals warned physicians to stay quiet. Medical boards hinted at disciplinary action. Social media platforms censored discussion of therapies that doctors around the world were actively studying. Media outlets portrayed dissenting physicians as reckless or dangerous. What had once been normal scientific discourse was suddenly labeled misinformation.
Last June, the US fired over 150 THAAD interceptors during the 12-day war with Iran, the Center for Strategic and International Studies found — believed to be around a quarter of US inventory at the time. The US is also believed to have used around $2.4 billion worth of Patriot interceptors in the first five days of this war, according to some reports.
Iranian retaliation accelerates, including use of cluster munitions, especially against Israel
Gulf countries reported new attacks Sunday morning, a day after Iran called for the evacuation of three major ports in the United Arab Emirates.
Iran says it targeted U.S. forces at Saudi base with missiles
Israel reportedly running low on missile interceptors
Survivors describe ‘smoke and fire and crazy and chaos’ in aftermath of drone strike on Kuwait port facility
Senior Israeli officials say Iran worked covertly after attacks on its nuclear sites during the Twelve Day War, to accelerate its ‘Weapon Group’ project.
The U.S. Navy confirmed that the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and her strike group transited the Suez Canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. It joins the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is currently in the Arabian Gulf, having taken over the duty when the carrier Harry S. Truman left the region last year, and now there are reports that the USS George H.W. Bush is preparing to deploy to the region as well.
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