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✍️ Written by Saket Suman The war unfolding across West Asia has revealed a brutal strategic truth about the modern global economy that a narrow stretch of water barely 40 kilometers wide can determine whether energy flows, supply chains function and financial markets remain stable. The Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and a significant share of global LNG normally passes, has become the geopolitical epicentre of the Iran war and the fault line of the global economy. Representational Image: BRICS Info on X What began as a regional military escalation between Iran, the United States and Israel has now evolved into something far larger. It is now a systemic shock to the global energy system. Shipping disruptions, tanker attacks, and the threat, sometimes explicit, of closure have turned Hormuz from a logistical corridor into a geopolitical weapon. The consequences are already visible. Energy cargoes are bein...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced the United States into one of the most unusual energy policy positions of the modern sanctions era: simultaneously tightening pressure on Iranian oil while temporarily loosening restrictions on Russian crude in order to prevent a global supply shock. The U.S. Treasury’s General License 134, issued on March 12 — the thirteenth day of the expanding Iran war — allows the delivery and sale of Russian crude and petroleum products that were already loaded on vessels before that date and are now stranded at sea. The authorization runs until April 11 and permits the transactions needed to complete those shipments, including docking, insurance, bunkering, vessel management and related maritime services. Representational Image/File Photo Via: corechaincrypto on X On the surface the measure appears technical, limited and temporary but in reality it reveals something much ...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman India’s tryst with the West Asia crisis on Thursday completely ceased to be a question of distant war and became, more clearly than before, a test of state capacity, diplomatic balance and political credibility at home. The day’s developments showed a government trying to hold together three fronts at once. Keeping Indian citizens and seafarers alive in an active war zone, preventing a shipping and fuel shock from cascading into panic inside India, and preserving enough diplomatic space to speak to all sides while the conflict itself grows more dangerous and less predictable. Representational Image/File Photo Via Mayank Austen Soofi, @thedelhiwalla on X That larger picture sharpened as Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and made India’s position unusually explicit. As IndianRepublic.in reported , Modi said the safety and security of Indian nationals, along with “the need for unhi...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The Iran war entered a more economically consequential phase on Wednesday as Tehran’s pressure campaign moved decisively from military bases and energy assets to commercial shipping and civilian transport , and forced governments and markets to confront the reality that the war is no longer just destabilizing the Middle East but also beginning to hit the arteries of global trade directly. In the span of a day, a Thai cargo ship bound for India was struck and set ablaze in the Strait of Hormuz, other merchant vessels were hit or diverted, drones struck near Dubai International Airport, and the International Energy Agency responded by authorizing the largest emergency oil release in its history . This is now a full-spectrum of contest over logistics, mobility and economic pain. Image Via: kadmitriev The clearest sign of that shift came at sea. Thai officials said a search was under way for three missing crew members af...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The war between the United States, Israel and Iran has moved into a more dangerous and more systemically disruptive phase, with Washington promising its “ most intense ” day of strikes yet inside Iran, Gulf states reporting fresh drone attacks, and the Strait of Hormuz still effectively frozen despite U.S. threats of military escorts. What is now emerging is a conflict that is steadily fusing air war, energy coercion, maritime disruption, evacuation logistics, diplomatic realignment and information manipulation into one expanding regional crisis.  Image Source: US Central Command The clearest signal of escalation came from the Pentagon. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that “ today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran ,” while the chairman of the Joint Chiefs said Iranian missile attacks had fallen by about 90%, presenting the new bombardment as part of a campaign to break Tehr...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman The widening war triggered by U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran has already spilled beyond the battlefield, and is now reshaping global energy markets, disrupting maritime trade routes and pulling major powers into an increasingly complex geopolitical confrontation. The military campaign that was aimed at weakening Tehran’s leadership and military infrastructure has already evolved into a broader international crisis, driving oil prices higher, forcing governments to activate emergency economic measures and threatening the stability of key shipping corridors from the Strait of Hormuz to the eastern Mediterranean. The energy infrastructure has burnt down, health systems have faltered and diplomatic positions have hardened across Europe, Asia and the Gulf.  Representational Image Via: The Insider Paper on X Energy market data firm Kpler said Monday that the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most ...

✍️ Written by Saket Suman Nine days into the expanding war involving Iran, Israel, United States and Western allies, the conflict is no longer confined to military targets. Civilian deaths, migrant worker casualties, diplomatic scrambling and tightening information controls inside Iran are together revealing how rapidly the war is widening across the region. The United States confirmed that a seventh American service member has died during Operation Epic Fury, after succumbing to injuries sustained during Iran’s initial wave of attacks across the Middle East. According to United States Central Command, the soldier had been critically wounded during an attack on American troops stationed in Saudi Arabia on March 1, underscoring the continuing risk to US forces deployed across Gulf bases. Image Via: United States Central Command The war has also begun claiming foreign civilian lives in the Gulf. A projectile that struck a residential area in Al...