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NASA MODIS satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz showing Qeshm Island and the narrow Larak corridor, December 2020

The First Ship Through the Blockade Was Sanctioned. The US Navy Let It Pass.

April 14, 2026April 14, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

DUBAI — A sanctioned Chinese tanker carrying 250,000 barrels of methanol sailed through the Strait of Hormuz overnight on the first day

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Riyadh skyline at dusk — Saudi Arabia's capital where Crown Prince MBS will host Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on April 15, 2026

Shehbaz Sharif’s Riyadh Visit: Saudi Arabia Bought Pakistan’s Mediation for $5 Billion

April 14, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

RIYADH — Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed bin Abdullah al-Jadaan landed in Islamabad on April 11 — the same day JD Vance sat

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir meet President Trump at the White House in September 2025, establishing the diplomatic partnership that underpins the Islamabad Process

Pakistan’s “Islamabad Process” and the Riyadh Routing: Why Saudi Arabia Becomes the Structural Key to Ceasefire Round 2

April 14, 2026April 15, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

ISLAMABAD — Pakistan’s decision to route its post-collapse diplomacy through Riyadh — not back to Islamabad, not to a neutral capital —

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King Abdullah Port under construction at King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s Four Special Economic Zones Activate Wednesday — Into a War

April 14, 2026April 14, 2026
Vision 2030 & Economy

Saudi Arabia’s Four Special Economic Zones Activate Wednesday — Into a War RIYADH — On April 16, the regulatory frameworks governing Saudi

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Patriot missile fires during Balikatan 2023 exercise — the PAC-3 interceptor Saudi Arabia has consumed at a rate of approximately 67 rounds per day since March 3

Saudi Arabia’s Neutrality Bid and the IRGC’s Port-Strike Arithmetic

April 14, 2026April 14, 2026
Defence & Security

DHAHRAN — On March 2, forty-three days before the IRGC issued its April 13 declaration that “no port in the Persian Gulf

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Bab el-Mandeb Strait satellite view from NASA ASTER instrument showing the narrow waterway between Africa and Yemen

The Bypass Was the Hedge. Now the Hedge Is Threatened.

April 13, 2026April 14, 2026
Energy & Oil

JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline, restored to full 7-million-barrel-per-day capacity on April 12, was designed to solve one problem: Hormuz. It

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NASA MODIS satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz and Musandam Peninsula, December 2018, showing the 34-kilometre-wide chokepoint through which 20 percent of global oil supply transits daily

The US Blockade of Iran Is Coercive Diplomacy, Not a Strategic Walkaway — and Pakistan Holds the Proof

April 13, 2026April 15, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

ISLAMABAD — The United States naval blockade of Iran, effective 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time on April 13, is not the end of

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Abbas Araghchi at IAEA diplomatic meeting table, seated across from officials in a bilateral consultation at IAEA headquarters Vienna

Araghchi Called Riyadh on Blockade Day — It Was Never About Peace

April 13, 2026April 14, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

Table of Contents The Call That Was Not a Call Six Calls, One Message Saudi Arabia’s Three-Door Trap The Oman Template Blockade

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NASA MODIS satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz, December 2020, showing Iran to the north and Oman Musandam Peninsula to the south

Iran Declares a “Permanent Mechanism” for Hormuz — and It Is Not a Bluff but a Legal Architecture Built to Outlast Every Ceasefire

April 13, 2026April 14, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

Tehran has shifted Hormuz control from the IRGC’s headless navy to Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters — the one Iranian institution the West

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A Patriot PAC-3 missile launcher emplaced in desert terrain at Fort Bliss, Texas — identical to batteries now deployed around Mecca and Medina. Each launcher holds 16 interceptors at $3.9 million each; Saudi Arabia has consumed roughly 2,400 rounds in 38 days of war, leaving approximately 400 remaining. Photo: US Army / Public Domain

Saudi Arabia Deploys Patriot Batteries Around Mecca With 400 Rounds Left

April 13, 2026April 14, 2026
Defence & Security/Iran War

JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia has deployed Patriot PAC-3 missile batteries around Mecca and Medina, releasing official images on April 12-13 showing launchers

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IRGC Navy fast-attack speedboat maneuvers aggressively near US Navy warships in the Persian Gulf, January 2008 — the same doctrine of harassment Iran declared would apply to any military vessel approaching the Strait of Hormuz on April 12, 2026

Iran’s Two Foreign Policies Collide on Blockade Day

April 13, 2026April 13, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

TEHRAN — Iran is conducting two foreign policies simultaneously, and on blockade day, neither authority knows whether the other speaks for the

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USS Nimitz carrier strike group transits the Strait of Hormuz with F/A-18 aircraft on deck and USS Princeton ahead, July 2007

The UK-US Split Over Hormuz Exposes Saudi Arabia’s Irreconcilable Security Dependencies

April 13, 2026April 15, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

LONDON — Britain told the United States on April 12 that it would not join the naval blockade of Hormuz, and Donald

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A naval mine detonates in the Baltic Sea during a minesweeping exercise as part of BALTOPS 2013, sending a column of water and smoke into the air

US Names Iran’s Maham-3 and Maham-7 Mines in Hormuz as Clearance Operation Begins

April 13, 2026April 13, 2026
Defence & Security

US Names Iran’s Maham-3 and Maham-7 Mines in Hormuz as Clearance Operation Begins WASHINGTON — US intelligence and CENTCOM have publicly identified

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The northwestern coast of Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea, photographed from the International Space Station during Expedition 66. Yanbu al-Bahr — Saudi Arabia's primary Red Sea export terminal — lies on this coastline and handles the entirety of the kingdom's oil exports while Hormuz-facing terminals remain inaccessible. Photo: NASA / Public Domain

Saudi Arabia Is the Last Supplier Standing in Asia. Its Own Pricing May Keep Buyers Away.

April 13, 2026April 14, 2026
Energy & Oil

DHAHRAN — The US Navy began enforcing a full blockade of Iranian ports on April 13, eliminating from the Asian crude market

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NASA MODIS satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz showing the 21-nautical-mile chokepoint between Iran and Oman

The US Blockade of Hormuz Destroys Washington’s Own Freedom of Navigation Doctrine

April 13, 2026April 15, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

WASHINGTON — On April 12, 2026, Donald Trump posted a single word on Truth Social that sixty-four years of American maritime lawyers

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GCC leaders group photo at Jeddah Security and Development Summit, July 2022, with Biden and six Gulf heads of state

GCC Fracture: Why the Gulf’s Security Alliance Cannot Hold

April 13, 2026April 13, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

RIYADH — The Gulf Cooperation Council is splitting along a fault line its own charter has no mechanism to address. On one

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USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) during full-ship shock trial in the Atlantic Ocean, 2021. The carrier is the lead ship of its class and one of two Ford-class carriers deployed to the Gulf of Oman during the CENTCOM blockade.

CENTCOM Blockades Iran’s Ports — Hormuz Stays Open

April 13, 2026April 13, 2026
147

WASHINGTON — US Central Command imposed a naval blockade on all Iranian ports at 10:00 AM Eastern Time on April 13, 2026,

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The Saudi Ministry of Interior building in Riyadh — the distinctive saucer-shaped complex where Saudi security and diplomatic decisions are coordinated

Saudi Arabia Summons Iraqi Ambassador Over Drone Attacks From Iraqi Territory

April 13, 2026April 13, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia summoned Iraqi Ambassador Safia Taleb al-Suhail on Sunday to formally protest drone and missile attacks launched from Iraqi

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Ali Khamenei official portrait, March 19 2024 — his last confirmed public appearance before the February 28 2026 airstrike that killed his father and left Mojtaba governing by audio conference only

Iran’s Supreme Leader Is Alive, Sharp, and Governing by Speakerphone. That’s Constitutionally Worse Than Dead.

April 13, 2026April 15, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

TEHRAN — Iran’s supreme leader is alive, mentally sharp, and governing by speakerphone — and that is constitutionally worse, for the purposes

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NASA aerial view of Yanbu al-Bahr, Saudi Arabia, showing the Red Sea port city and coastline that hosts the western terminus of the East-West Pipeline

Brent Above $100 Is the Price of a Trap Saudi Arabia Cannot Exit

April 13, 2026April 14, 2026
Energy & Oil

DHAHRAN — Brent crude above $100 per barrel was supposed to be Saudi Arabia’s windfall. Instead it is the price tag on

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Jubail Industrial City at night from the International Space Station, showing the illuminated grid of the industrial zone on the Persian Gulf coast of Saudi Arabia

SABIC Files First War-Damage Disclosure on Saudi Exchange, Warns of ‘Material Impact’ It Cannot Quantify

April 13, 2026April 14, 2026
Vision 2030 & Economy

RIYADH — SABIC, the petrochemical giant 70%-owned by Saudi Aramco, filed a formal Tadawul regulatory disclosure on April 8 stating it “cannot

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NASA MODIS satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz, December 2020, showing shipping lanes, Qeshm Island, and the narrowest 21-mile passage between Iran and Oman

The Blockade Has a Loophole. The IRGC Does Not.

April 13, 2026April 14, 2026
Energy & Oil

DHAHRAN — US Central Command began enforcing a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz at 10:00 AM Eastern Time on April

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Aerial view of a crude oil tanker loading at a single-point mooring buoy terminal — the same offshore infrastructure type used at Yanbu to handle VLCCs when the East-West Pipeline delivers oil to the Red Sea coast

The Price Saudi Arabia Cannot Collect

April 13, 2026April 13, 2026
Energy & Oil

FOUND Length: 28823 -> 29122 “ DHAHRAN u2014 Brent crude crossed $100 a barrel on April 12 for the first time since

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USS Halsey DDG-97 leads French frigate Jean de Vienne and Australian frigate HMAS Warrawunga in formation in the Arabian Gulf, March 2018 — the kind of multinational naval coalition absent from the April 2026 US blockade of Iranian ports

Trump Declared a Blockade. The Coalition Does Not Exist.

April 13, 2026April 13, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

RIYADH — The United States launched a naval blockade of Iranian ports on April 13 without a coalition, without a United Nations

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Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan signs bilateral agreement at diplomatic meeting, representing the type of government-to-government energy supply negotiation South Korea sought in Riyadh on blockade day

Seoul Came to Riyadh Because It Cannot Come to Washington

April 13, 2026April 13, 2026
Diplomacy & Geopolitics

RIYADH — South Korea’s presidential chief of staff landed in Riyadh on Sunday carrying a handwritten message from President Lee Jae-myung to

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