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The growing disruption around the Strait of Hormuz is beginning to strain the economic lifelines of the Gulf region, with container shipping routes blocked, cargo vessels diverting and aviation networks only slowly resuming operations as the war involving Iran, the United States and Israel continues to destabilise global trade corridors. Maritime tracking data from MarineTraffic shows that vessel crossings through the strategic waterway have dropped dramatically, with traffic estimated to be down by between 88% and 100% compared with normal levels. The slowdown has effectively blocked access to major Gulf container hubs including Jebel Ali in Dubai, Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi, Dammam in Saudi Arabia and ports across Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait. Representational Image Via: MarineTraffic on X The disruption is particularly alarming because the Arabian Peninsula relies heavily on imported food supplies routed through these shipping hubs. More than 50 million people in the region depend on c...

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Thursday that Italy will not enter the war against Iran and has received no request from the United States to use American military bases on Italian territory for combat operations, signalling growing hesitation among European governments as the U.S.–Israel campaign against Tehran expands. Speaking on an RTL radio programme, Meloni stressed that Italy intends to respect long-standing bilateral agreements governing U.S. bases in the country but clarified that these arrangements currently apply only to logistical and non-combat operations.  File Photo Via Giorgia Meloni “Today we have no such request and I want to say that we are not at war and we do not want to enter a war,” she said. The Italian leader explained that the agreements with Washington date back to 1954 and allow certain technical authorisations for logistics and other “non-kinetic operations” that do not involve bombing missions.  If the United States were to request th...

Two civilians were injured after drones launched from Iranian territory struck Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic on Thursday, prompting Baku to summon Iran’s ambassador and warn that it reserves the right to retaliate. Azerbaijan’s Foreign Ministry said the incident occurred around midday on March 5 when at least two drones crossed the border from Iran into the Azerbaijani exclave. One drone hit the terminal building of Nakhchivan International Airport, while another landed near a school in the village of Shakarabad, injuring civilians and causing damage to infrastructure. Image Via: Visegrad24 Nakhchivan International Airport lies roughly 10 kilometres from the Iranian border. Azerbaijani officials said the drones were observed approaching from Iranian territory before impacting inside the airport grounds. Video footage circulating online showed smoke rising near the airport terminal following the strike. “We strongly condemn these drone attacks carried out from the terr...

Sri Lanka confirmed Thursday that a second Iranian vessel has entered the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone and requested permission to make an urgent port call, a day after a U.S. submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena in nearby international waters while it was returning from naval exercises in India. Cabinet spokesman Nalinda Jayatissa told lawmakers that the vessel had been detected in Sri Lanka’s EEZ and was awaiting government clearance to enter port, placing Colombo at the centre of the widening maritime fallout from the U.S.–Israel war against Iran. Representational Image: Alpha Defense The development comes amid heightened tensions in the northern Indian Ocean following the torpedo strike that destroyed the IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s southern coast.  The Iranian warship had been sailing back after participating in the Indian Navy’s International Fleet Review and MILAN naval exercises when it was hit by a U.S. submarine attack that reportedly killed dozens of Ira...

The United States–Israel war against Iran has entered its sixth day on Thursday with signs that the conflict could expand into a new front along Iran’s northern border, even as missile strikes, naval clashes and global evacuations intensified across the region.  Map by CIA (1992): Kurdish-inhabited area; Via: Vintage Maps on X Kurdish officials told the Associated Press, and quoted b y  global news networks, that Iranian Kurdish dissident groups based in northern Iraq are preparing for possible cross-border operations into Iran, with U.S. forces reportedly ready to provide air support if the fighters join the conflict. The development comes after intense waves of airstrikes hit dozens of Iranian military installations, police posts and frontier positions near the Iraqi border, suggesting Washington and Israel may be preparing to open a northern pressure point against Tehran.  Encouraging armed movements among Iran’s ethnic minorities could destabilise the country inter...

The U.S. Senate on Thursday rejected a resolution that sought to force congressional approval before any further American military action against Iran, and delivered an early show of political backing for President Donald Trump’s expanding war campaign alongside Israel. The measure failed by a vote of 47–53 in the Republican-controlled chamber, and showed the difficulty faced by lawmakers attempting to limit the administration’s authority as the conflict continues to intensify across the Middle East. Representational Image Via: Iran_Gov on X A similar war-powers bill in the House of Representatives also faces long odds when it comes up for a vote Thursday morning, where Republicans hold a majority and Trump has already signalled he would veto any measure restricting military operations. The fighting itself continued to expand on multiple fronts. Israel’s military said it had begun a “large-scale wave of strikes” targeting infrastructure in Iran’s capital, Tehran, this marks one of t...

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Wednesday that the widening war involving the United States, Israel and Iran could push Europe into a deeper energy crisis, suggesting Moscow might even halt gas supplies to the continent as global prices surge. Speaking at the Kremlin on March 4 after meeting Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, Putin told Russian journalist Pavel Zarubin that the widening Middle East conflict had intensified volatility in oil and gas markets and was forcing energy buyers to compete for supplies. “Both oil and gas prices have really risen,” Putin said, adding that the surge was partly linked to sanctions on Russian energy but also to “everything happening in the Middle East with the aggression against Iran.”  Image Via: Official Channel He said the situation had been compounded by risks around the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical oil shipping routes. According to Putin, buyers willing to pay higher prices amid the war could divert g...

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday urged Hezbollah to immediately stop its attacks on Israel and called on Israel to avoid launching a ground offensive into Lebanon , warning that further escalation could endanger the entire Middle East as the widening Iran war spreads to new fronts. Macron said he conveyed the message during talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, amid rising cross-border strikes between Israel and Hezbollah.  Representational Image Via Emmanuel Macron The French leader said Hezbollah’s continuing attacks were a “major error” that risks destabilising the region, while also stressing that Israel must respect Lebanon’s territorial integrity and return to the ceasefire framework along the border. The intervention comes as Israel intensifies operations against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon while expanding its broader war against Iran.  Israeli forces have ...

U.S. lawmakers are moving to assert congressional authority over the widening war with Iran, even as the White House defends the military campaign and new casualties emerge from the battlefield across the Middle East. The U.S. Senate is preparing to vote on a war powers resolution that would require congressional approval before any further American attacks against Iran. A parallel bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives, and reflect growing concern among some lawmakers that the United States has entered a major conflict without a formal debate in Congress. The measures face long odds in the Republican-controlled legislature and would almost certainly be vetoed by President Donald Trump if they passed. Representational Image: White Ho u se The push shows unease in Washington about the rapidly escalating war, which began with U.S.–Israeli airstrikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and triggered retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the re...