Geopolitics

DOHA — Qatar shot down two Iranian Su-24 tactical bombers on 2 March 2026, marking the first aerial combat kill in the

BAGHDAD — Iraq is disintegrating under the pressure of a war it did not start, cannot stop, and may not survive. Since

MANAMA — The Strait of Hormuz has seen war before. Between 1981 and 1988, Iraqi jets and Iranian gunboats attacked 411 commercial

MECCA — Saudi Arabia faces the most complex security challenge in modern Hajj history as it prepares to receive an estimated 1.8

LONDON — Britain is sending warships, fighter jets, and intelligence assets to defend Saudi Arabia from Iranian missile and drone strikes, marking

CAIRO — As Iranian ballistic missiles streak across Gulf skies and Saudi air defenses intercept drones over Riyadh, the largest Arab military

MANAMA — At 4:17 a.m. on February 28, 2026, Iranian ballistic missiles struck Naval Support Activity Bahrain, damaging the radar facility that

RIYADH — Seven days into the most devastating aerial campaign in Middle Eastern history, Iran’s conventional military has been shattered beyond any

NEW DELHI — The Iran war has placed India in the most precarious strategic position of the twenty-first century. With 9 million

SINGAPORE — The Iran war has triggered the worst energy crisis in Asia since the 1973 oil embargo, with the Strait of

RIYADH — The Iran war has handed Saudi Arabia the most potent energy leverage over Europe since the 1973 oil embargo, and

ANKARA — On March 4, 2026, a NATO air defense battery intercepted an Iranian ballistic missile over Turkish airspace. Six days earlier,

JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia imports more than 80 percent of its food, and the single most important chokepoint for those supplies —

Pakistan faces its most dangerous decision as the Iran-Saudi war tests the 2025 defence pact, 170 nuclear warheads, and 2.64 million workers

VIENNA — On March 1, 2026, the OPEC+ alliance of oil-producing nations made what may rank among the most counterintuitive supply decisions

ADEN — The most consequential military decision in the Middle East right now is not being made in Washington, Tehran, or Jerusalem.

RIYADH — Russia and China have condemned the US-Israeli strikes on Iran in the strongest possible terms, called for an immediate ceasefire,

WASHINGTON — In late January 2026, two delegations arrived in Washington within forty-eight hours of each other. Saudi officials led by Prince

WASHINGTON — Five days into Operation Epic Fury, the United States military had conducted approximately 2,000 strikes across 24 of Iran’s 31

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s 13.4 million foreign workers — roughly 44 percent of the Kingdom’s entire population — are trapped in a