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✍️ Written by Saket Suman Leader of the Opposition in India's Lower House of Parliament Lok Sabha,  Rahul Gandhi  today mounted a wide-ranging attack on the government and  linked the widening West Asia war, India’s energy security and Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri’s past association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, while questioning whether India’s oil policy is being influenced by Washington. Speaking during a parliamentary debate , Rahul Gandhi warned that the conflict could trigger serious economic repercussions for India because of its dependence on Gulf energy supplies and the vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz , through which a large share of India’s oil and gas imports pass. File Photo: LoP RaGa “As everybody is aware, a war has broken out in the Middle East. The US, Israel and Iran are at war,” Rahul Gandhi told the House. “This war is going to have far-reaching consequences.” He said the conflict h...

US President Donald Trump said the United States has “ virtually destroyed ” Iran’s military and will continue its campaign until Tehran no longer has the capacity to threaten the US, Israel or Washington’s allies, sharply escalating his rhetoric on a war he described as effectively won but not yet finished. Speaking in Kentucky, Trump said that after 11 days of fighting, Iran’s military had been shattered. “Their air force is gone. Totally gone,” he said. “They no longer have radar. They don’t have anti-aircraft equipment. They don’t have anything. Their missiles are down 90%. Their drones are down 85%.” He added that US forces were “blowing up the factories where they’re made, left and right,” and claimed that “nobody has ever seen anything like what you’re witnessing now.” Image Via: US Central Command Trump said the United States had already destroyed Iran’s nuclear capacity and insisted Washington would not stop until the threat was permanently removed. Referring to earlier o...

India has signalled a more structured and multi-layered response to the widening West Asia war by combining diplomatic outreach through forums such as BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation , emergency energy planning at home, tighter maritime monitoring in the Persian Gulf and renewed efforts to protect its vast diaspora in the Gulf region. File Photo: PM NaMo The clearest diplomatic signal came from the conversation between External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov , during which the two sides discussed the situation around Iran and underscored the need for its “prompt normalization.”  According to the Russian side, the ministers also backed a role for the SCO and BRICS in de-escalation efforts and in creating conditions for a durable settlement based on “a balance of the legitimate interests of all parties.”  That matters because it shows India is not confining itself to bilateral crisis management but is also looking at mu...

✍️ 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...

The war triggered by the U.S.–Israeli assault on Iran is no longer only a military confrontation centered on missiles, oil sites and retaliatory strikes. It is now beginning to register as a broader systemic shock to global trade and development, with the United Nations warning that the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is threatening energy flows, fertilizer supplies, food prices, humanitarian logistics and already fragile economies across several regions. Representational Map: Visegrad24 That was the central conclusion of a new assessment by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD) , which described the Strait of Hormuz as one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints and warned that the near-halt in ship transits is sending ripple effects far beyond the Gulf.  According to the UN analysis, the strait normally carries 38% of global seaborne crude oil trade, 29% of LPG, 19% of LNG, 19% of refined oil products, 13% of chemicals including fertilizers, 2.8% of co...

✍️ 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...

U.S. President Donald Trump has said that Washington is prepared to widen its military campaign against Iran if necessary, keep the Strait of Hormuz open by force if required, and offer political-risk insurance for tankers operating in the Gulf, as he claimed the war is “very close” to ending and that Iran’s military capacity has been largely destroyed. File Photo: OSINT Defender on X Speaking at a White House press conference , Trump said the United States and Israel had already achieved most of their military objectives under what he called “Operation Epic Fury,” claiming that Iran’s naval power had been almost entirely destroyed, its missile capability had fallen to about 10 percent, and its drone-launching capacity had dropped by more than 80 percent.  “We’ve struck over 5,000 targets to date,” Trump said, adding that some of the most important targets had deliberately been held back for later “in case we need to do it.” The day President Donald J. Trump came down the escalator...

Russia may stop supplying oil and gas to Europe ahead of planned EU restrictions , President Vladimir Putin said on Monday, and warned that the escalating war in the Middle East is already disrupting global energy logistics and driving oil prices sharply higher. Speaking at a meeting with senior Russian energy officials and industry executives, Putin said the government had been instructed to evaluate the possibility of halting energy exports to the European market rather than waiting for new European Union restrictions to take effect. File Photo of Russian Prez Vladimir Putin; Via: MFA Russia   “The government has already been tasked with assessing the possibility and advisability of stopping supplies of our energy resources to the European market,” Putin said, and referred to EU plans to impose additional limits on Russian hydrocarbons starting April 25 , with proposals that could culminate in a complete ban by 2027 . Putin suggested Russia could redirect those volumes towa...

✍️ 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 ...