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Space

Around Earth
Tue 31 Mar 2026 12.15 CEST  A satellite-smashing chain reaction could spiral out of control. In the space around Earth more than 30,000 objects are in orbit. That figure is rising exponentially. Soviet Union scientists achieved a historic breakthrough in 1957, sending a metal ball with four radio antennae – called Sputnik – so high and speeding so fast that it would reach such a velocity that it would spin in orbit around Earth. Space race gathered pace between the United States and the Soviets. The Apollo 11 mission successfully landed humans on the moon in 1969. By the end of the 1970s, over 14,000 tracked objects had been launched – with around 7,000 still in orbit. The 1980s and 1990s were especially busy decades for launches. Over decades, other countries joined. Around 20,000 objects were being tracked in orbit at the turn of the millennium. Space launches soared in the 2020s. Today, Earth’s orbit is packed with around 32,000 satellites and fragments, all circling the planet at immense speed, even after accounting for the fact that a lot of satellites have fallen out of orbit and been destroyed. Reports suggest that by the end of this decade there could more than 60,000 active satellites in space - scientific and military spacecraft objects, publicly and privately owned, placed into different orbital lanes, each serving a variety of purposes, including communication and weather satellites, navigation satellites and Earth observation technology that takes images of the surface. Over time, satellites gradually lose altitude due to atmospheric drag, eventually reentering the atmosphere and usually being destroyed. Of the 60,000+ objects ever launched into space, more than half have since decayed and reentered. In the 21st century, the focus of space exploration shifted from government-led missions to a private age of satellites, private companies began to launch satellites at unprecedented rates, fundamentally changing how people access and utilise Earth's orbit. This transition was accelerated by companies such as Musk's SpaceX, which launched its first Starlink satellites in 2019, marking the beginning of the ’mega-constellation’ era. Unlike the solitary, school-bus-sized satellites of the past, these private ventures rely on thousands of ’smaller’, mass-produced spacecraft launched in ’trains’ to provide ’global high-speed internet’. By 2026, the number of active satellites has exploded, with other private players such as Amazon joining in. Space debris - often called space junk - is there too; discarded rocket stages and the remnants of defunct satellites, as well as fragments from collisions between two satellites. The US and Russia, whose count includes all former Soviet Union launches, are responsible for the biggest number of orbital objects by a long stretch. Yet only China and France have launched over 1,000 objects into orbit, with several others responsible for a handful of satellites. Russia has only launched 284 objects into space in the 2020s – 1% of its total. The US and China are becoming increasingly dominant players. The US has launched 49% of its total in the 2020s, China 36%. Still, these new mega-constellations have significantly added to the complexity of managing orbital traffic in an increasingly crowded space. A satellite can have different speeds and heights throughout its lifetime. The surge in orbital activity has created a significant collision risk. There have already been crashes, including a 2009 event where a US satellite hit a defunct Russia military satellite. Tens of thousands of tiny fragments of metal are now spinning at high velocities. There is a genuine threat of a chain reaction from satellites smashing into each other. The big fear is that future collisions will cause a domino effect where Earth’s orbit becomes cluttered with tiny, high-speed bits of metal. The cascade potential could create a near-impenetrable layer of debris that would make space launches so dangerous it would essentially trap humans on Earth. The current system of tracking satellites only works as it relies on constant cooperation. Satellite operators move their craft daily to avoid collisions. If they stopped, it would take only days or weeks for the situation to spiral. Getting rid of large defunct satellites would help reduce the risk. Space agencies are actively testing ways to deorbit satellites, including by capturing them with nets or a robotic arm attached to another satellite, or by shooting them off course with high-powered lasers. (Source: The Guardian - United Kingdom)

International Space Station
Monday 23 March 2026 14:44 GMT  The International Space Station (ISS) has captured NASA photographs, which were taken on 27 December, 2025, which appear to show Russian ballistic missiles being fired towards Kyiv. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)
Video

Moon
(3 April 2026)  The Artemis II mission plans to take the astronauts further into space that humans have been before - more than 7,600 km beyond the Moon - before gravity swings them back. Artemis II leaves Earth's orbit on track for far side of the Moon. The four astronauts on the Artemis II mission have now left the Earth's orbit, after their Orion spacecraft fired its main engine for a final push towards the Moon. The five minute and 55 second engine burn is known as the translunar injection (TLI). Artemis II is now on a looping path that will carry the crew around the far side of the Moon and back again. It is the first time since 1972 that humans have travelled outside of the Earth's orbit.  The team have run hundreds of thousands of simulations to ensure that they are able to get the crew home safely, Orion programme manager Hu said before the launch. In the event of an emergency, the U-turn is the fastest way home in the first 36 hours after the TLI. After that it can be just as quick, and often simpler, to stay on course around the Moon and fall back to Earth, he added. The astronauts' orange suits can provide life support for up to six days in the event of an emergency. In the first public video conference with the crew since the launch, Commander Wiseman said as the spacecraft moved away from Earth they were afforded a spectacular view. The astronauts said in their maiden video call they had been glued to the window as the view changed before them. As Orion surges into deep space, the Earth is shrinking to a small blue and white marble behind them, while the Moon grows from a bright disc into a heavily cratered world filling the frame of the windows. On about the sixth day of the mission, as Orion cruises beyond the Moon, the astronauts will get to see a total solar eclipse. The Moon will slide directly in front of the Sun so its bright face is completely covered to reveal its normally concealed shimmering halo, with Earth hanging off to one side. (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)

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Black Sea

26/03/2026  Crude oil tanker Altura, with about 1 million barrels of crude ​oil sailing from the Russian port of Novorossiysk to Istanbul was hit by a naval drone 33 km from the Bosphorus strait near Istanbul, today morning. The attack took place just outside Turkish territorial waters. The attack had targeted the ship's engine room. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Europe

Hungary
26 March 2026  Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán’s dynamic tour of the country, which the opposition did not expect on this scale, is drawing crowds in every town. Is Hungarian opposition already preparing a Plan B in case of defeat? Transcripts of conversations intercepted have been widely circulated in the European media: Szijjártó talks to Lavrov, ’supposedly selling him the secrets of EU Council meetings at ministerial level’. It is difficult to find any real scandal in contacts with Lavrov or great secrets in the Hungarian government’s requests to the Russian government regarding the situation in Slovakia. The conversation took place in 2020. Szijjártó emphasises that as many as 80 people are present at Council meetings and they all have mobile phones so it is difficult to speak about any special secrets there. The topics discussed there are widely reported in the media by the participants beforehand, and discussed at press conferences after the meetings. The Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured in an official statement of the “full transparency” of diplomatic activities and “loyalty to European Union partners”. There is no evidence to suggest otherwise. The real scandal is that Panyi - an activist with ’non-governmental organisations, financed from abroad' and opposition media outlets - is alleged to have passed on the foreign minister’s telephone number to one of Europe’s foreign intelligence services. This is the same man, who published the transcript of the conversation from 2020. Observers say his actions bear no resemblance to journalism, let alone investigative journalism. The weekly Mandiner received an email on the matter which contained a recording of a conversation in which Panyi allegedly passes on the minister’s telephone number. From context it may be assumed the conversation took place last year. The letter’s authenticity has been confirmed and reveals that Panyi and other people associated with the opposition party TISZA are in contact with foreign secret services. Panyi not only works with TISZA politicians but is also a friend of Orbán (no connection to Viktor Orbán), who is tipped to become Hungary’s foreign minister should TISZA’s Magyar win. The unconventional move taken by opposition figures to discredit a key FIDESZ politician may indicate that the opposition’s plan is falling apart. The attempt to create the impression, using opinion polls that the outcome was already decided, has failed. (Polls are unreliable in Hungary and have been wrong on numerous occasions). Orbán weathered Magyar’s attacks and launched a counter-offensive. The big showdown at the rally on March 15 did not result in a triumph for TISZA, and there is evidence that Viktor Orbán attracted more supporters. His dynamic tour of the country, which the opposition did not expect on this scale, is drawing crowds in every town. The focus of the campaign has shifted to issues of security, energy supplies, and attitudes towards the war and Ukraine. A very strong surge of support for FIDESZ emerged from the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary. Polish President Nawrocki broke ranks and, despite attacks at home, visited Budapest and backed the Hungarian Prime Minister. A visit by US Vice President Vance is expected.     The opposition has therefore decided to resort to a smear campaign: - wiretaps thrown onto the table in a sensationalist tone, overt interference by the secret services of other countries, a false plot, alleged ’leak about a fake assassination attempt on Orbán' - likely concocted by Magyar’s Polish political friends. The common denominator: Creating the artificial impression that the elections are neither fair nor lawful, laying the groundwork for action following Viktor Orbán’s victory. The European establishment will likely attempt to intervene and refuse to recognise these elections, seeking to have the results annulled. It has growing experience in this: The annulment of the first round of the presidential elections in Romania and the attempt to refuse to recognise the result of the presidential elections in Poland. As early as last Monday, European Commission spokeswoman Hipper spoke of deep concern over press reports regarding the ’absolutely unacceptable’ talks between Szijjártó and Lavrov. Behind the scenes in EU institutions are voices suggesting that if the allegations are confirmed, Hungary ’could face serious consequences, including political sanctions or restricted access to certain information and decision-making processes’ within the EU. There are also suggestions that, regardless of the election result, Brussels will attempt to oust Prime Minister Orbán. Today, he is effectively the last major obstacle to the extra-treaty restructuring of the Union towards an even more centralised structure, with even more limited sovereignty for nation states. Aaltola, a Finnish politician and member of the European People’s Party (EPP) group – which includes the members from Tisza Party – wrote in a post published on X that ’the European Union would intervene in the Hungarian elections’ through legal means should FIDESZ win. He is already putting forward claims of ’rigged’ elections. The politician cites Article 279 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which would allow him to request an extraordinary measure from the Court of Justice of the European Union. The 279 article mentioned ‘provisional measures.’ This means that Brussels’ plan for Hungary is simple: Either it will succeed in defeating Orbán, or it will attempt not to recognise the election results. As can be seen, what is at stake is not only who will govern Hungary, but also whether voters in this country still have a real choice. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)
by Karnowski

March 26, 2026 7:03 pm CET  Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government accused journalist Panyi of being a spy. '[What’s] serious is that this Hungarian journalist, who maintains active ties with foreign services, belongs to the innermost circles of the Tisza Party,' FM Szijjártó said in a Facebook video. 'Panyi … spied against his own country in cooperation with a foreign state,' Minister of Prime Minister’s Office Gulyás said today at a press briefing. Previously, Orbán accused EU institutions of interfering financially in the Hungarian election campaign to prevent him from being reelected. Szijjártó and Gulyás, both members of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party, have publicly accused the Tisza party and Ukraine of being involved. Later today, Gulyás linked the probe to another espionage case with two more alleged spies involved, both of whom 'were trained abroad, maintained contacts, and moved in and out of the Ukrainian embassy.' (Source: Politico - U.S.)

(26 March 2026, about 18h, CET)  Viktor Orbán's Fidesz government in Hungary stands accused of mass voter intimidation in a film aired today evening at a Budapest cinema and on YouTube ahead of 12 April parliamentary elections. The documentary film presents the results of a six-month investigation by 'independent' filmmakers and reporters. The campaign has been shrouded by almost daily claims alleging domestic and foreign plots to undermine a fair vote. A significant proportion of Hungary's Roma minority live in deep poverty. According to Hungary's state-supported Maltese charity, 270,000 of them live in the 300 poorest settlements in Hungary. 'One of the most shocking allegations made by several characters in the film is that crack or smok – a cheap and highly addictive synthetic drug widely used in poor villages - is also being used to buy votes'. "Hungary under the Fidesz government has some of the toughest drug criminalisation laws in Europe". To tackle the crack epidemic, the Delta programme of the Hungarian police was set up in March 2025. Fidesz officials, including the prime minister, allege interference by the EU and Ukraine to prevent a fifth consecutive Orbán victory. "We will not abandon the national interest, even if there is very crude foreign intelligence interference in the Hungarian elections with the participation of Brussels.' Yesterday, 'the Median agency reported a 58% to 35% lead for Tisza.' "The government-funded Nézöpont put Fidesz ahead by 46% to 40%." (Source: BBC - United Kingdom)
Note: Before the film was released on YouTube, the broadcaster already shared details about it.

25.03.2026  Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in a Facebook post announced that Hungary would begin reducing gas deliveries to Ukraine and instead store remaining volumes domestically, citing concerns over energy security. Ukraine halted deliveries of energy resources via the Druzhba pipeline. Until Ukraine provides oil, it will not receive gas from Hungary, Orbán said, accusing Kyiv of blocking the operation of the Druzhba pipeline and attacking infrastructure supplying Hungary. Hungary has maintained that it must break the oil blockade and secure stable energy supplies while also preserving regulated fuel prices domestically, which Orbán said remain among the lowest in Europe. Hungary and Slovakia have accused Ukraine of intentionally blocking shipments to gain political leverage and have since decided to suspend diesel fuel supplies to Ukraine in response. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

23.03.2026  Hungary’s foreign minister has denied allegations that for years he shared confidential EU information with Russia, calling the reports fake and lies. 'Fake news as always,' Szijjártó wrote yesterday on US social media platform X. 'You are telling lies in order to support Tisza Party to have a pro-(Ukraine) war puppet government in Hungary,' he added, referring to the main opposition party ahead of the country’s April 12 parliamentary elections. He said the allegations were part of Ukrainian propaganda aimed at supporting the opposition and influencing the election outcome. A story in The Washington Post, cited by multiple European outlets, said that Szijjártó regularly briefed Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on closed-door discussions held during EU Council meetings. 'EU Commission spokesperson Hipper called the allegations greatly concerning'. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Denmark
March 25, 2026, Wednesday // 09:00D  Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's Social Democrats recorded their poorest election result in more than a century. The vote delivered 84 seats to the left bloc in the 179-seat Folketing, compared with 77 for right-wing parties, setting the stage for complex coalition negotiations. Frederiksen, who has led Denmark since 2019, signaled she intends to remain in office. Her party is projected to secure a vote share to around 21.9 percent - 38 seats, a sharp drop from the 50 won four years ago. The outcome reflects growing dissatisfaction among voters, highlights the strength of anti-immigration sentiment. Domestic issues dominated: rising living costs, debates over taxation and dissatisfaction with welfare policies shifted attention away from foreign policy 'achievements' - navigating relations with US President Trump and Europe’s response to the war in Ukraine. The result underscores a shift in voter priorities, with domestic concerns taking precedence over international issues and leaving Denmark facing a period of political bargaining. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)

France
24/03/2026 - 18:58 GMT+1  'A fake Euronews-style article and website claiming that Hungary's opposition leader Magyar insulted Trump is circulating online as part of a wider campaign researchers have linked to Storm-1516, a Russian disinformation operation. 'The article, which utilises a real byline and appeared on a fake Euronews website that has since been taken down, claims that Magyar delivered a blistering critique of Trump at a campaign rally. Among other claims, the article says Magyar called Trump a senile grandpa and promised to undo key agreements made with the US, should Magyar win parliamentary elections in Hungary scheduled on 12 April. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Germany
26.03.2026  German parliament 'approves measures to combat high gas prices': Move includes stricter rules on price increases at gas stations - for a limited time, price increases will be permitted only once a day, at noon. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Greece
March 23, 2026  Souda Naval Base is one of the most important US Navy bases in the world. At least three men have been arrested over the past year for illicitly taking pictures of American warships at the Souda Naval Base on Crete. Iranian handlers were specifically interested in the movements of the US Navy and Air Force. Since January, the Greek National Intelligence Service and the Greek police have arrested several foreign nationals spying on US military movements at Souda Naval Base on the island of Crete. A 26-year-old Azerbaijani with a Polish passport had taken some 5,000 photographs of Souda Naval Base and the movements of US Navy warships. He had been sending the material to an unknown recipient through specialized cryptographic software. The second spy, a 36-year-old Georgian man, was arrested in February. On his person, Greek authorities found photographs of US Navy and Air Force assets from Souda Naval Base. A third spy - the 58-year-old Polish man - was arrested on March 12. Greek law enforcement officers found binoculars, data storage devices, multiple SIM cards, a laptop, a tablet, as well as handwritten notes with his observations in his possession. A digital forensics investigation revealed photographs of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, a guided-missile submarine, F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets, KC-135 Stratotankers, and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers. The spy was transmitting the information to at least 10 unknown people. Using spies to snap pictures often amounts to a waste of resources. The global strategic landscape is largely transparent: access to commercial satellites is easy, X accounts monitor the movement of warships and combat aircraft with surprising precision, and maritime traffic websites map out naval traffic. American and Israeli intelligence officers have managed to recruit assets to penetrate Tehran’s political, military, and intelligence establishment. As a result, the country’s head of state is dead and its senior leadership has been decimated. Iran’s attempts to gather intelligence on its enemies seem amateurish by comparison. (Source: The National Interest - U.S.)

European Commission
Mar 25, 2026 - 20:26  Who recorded and why a phone call between der Leyen’s chief spinmeister, Henman, and Politico reporter Fortuna? Fortuna wanted to know whether the Commission was pressuring Ukraine to allow EU inspectors access to the damaged Druzhba pipeline, which supplies both Hungary and Slovakia with oil. 'One theory is that whoever is behind it were sending a message to der Leyen that they have more. (Source: Euractiv - Belgium)

March 25, 2026 1:37 pm CET  'Euro-speach': 'Comitology'. The General Court in Luxembourg ruled today in favor of ClientEarth, an NGO that challenged the Commission’s refusal in 2021 to provide information it requested about the renewed approval of cypermethrin - a substance known to harm bees and fish. The NGO had asked to see the positions shared by EU countries in closed-door meetings. At EU level, country representatives and the Commission regularly authorize chemicals in private committee meetings through a procedure known as comitology - a system now likely to face fresh pressure in Brussels to open up. It adds to a growing line of cases testing how far transparency rules stretch when institutions argue disclosure could disrupt internal deliberations. Today's ruling is the latest in a string of judgments where the General Court has found the Commission has not been forthcoming enough with access to documents. In 2024, the General Court found that the Commission was not transparent enough when it published Covid vaccine contracts, choosing to redact large parts of the documents. The Commission is currently fighting that ruling at the EU's top court. In May 2025, the court found that the EU executive was wrong to block access to the text messages exchanged between Pfizer CEO Bourla and Commission President der Leyen at the height of the Covid pandemic. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Greenland
25.03.2026  Guillot, commander of US Northern Command, told a Senate hearing on March 19 that the US is seeking to extend its military footprint beyond Pituffik Space Base, the former Thule Air Base in northern Greenland. Analysts say potential sites could include Narsarsuaq in the south, Kangerlussuaq in the southwest, and areas near Pituffik - all of which retain strategic infrastructure such as airfields or deep-water ports dating back to Cold War-era US military presence. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Russia
25/03/2026 - 15:48  Russia launched nearly 1,000 drones at various sites in Ukraine yesterday. The raids claimed several lives and caused damage in various cities, hundreds of kilometres from the front line. (Source: France 24)

March 25, 2026 13:17 CET  A fire broke out at the Ust-Luga oil port in Russia's Leningrad region following a Ukrainian drone attack today, say Russian officials. The port of Ust-Luga is one of Russia's largest multipurpose ports on the Baltic Sea, located in the Gulf of Finland. (Source: RFE/RL -U.S.)

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Asia

Israel
March 22, 2026, 12:11 am EDT  Iranian missiles sow panic, destruction in Israeli towns. Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service said 84 wounded people were taken to hospitals from the Arad scene, including 10 in serious condition. An earlier missile attack hit the town of Dimona, about 25 kilometres southwest of Arad. The missile fell about five kilometres away from the facility, leaving about 30 people wounded according to rescuers. (Source: Barrons / Newsweek = U.S.)
Photo, video

05:16, 22 Mar 2026  Iranian missiles rain down on towns near Israel’s secretive arsenal of nuclear weapons. More than 180 people have been wounded in Dimona and Arad, in southern Israel. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed it had received no indication of damage to the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center at Dimona itself, and that no abnormal radiation levels had been detected in the area. The research centre, built in secret with French assistance, opened there in 1958. While Israel is a member of the IAEA, it does not allow the watchdog to inspect its nuclear sites as it has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel is widely believed to possess the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East. 'If the Israeli regime fails to intercept the missiles in the highly protected Dimona area, it is operationally a sign of entering a new phase of the battle,' Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s Parliament wrote in a post on X. Iran said the strikes 'were retaliation' for attacks on its own nuclear site at Natanz, one of the country’s most important uranium enrichment sites, about 135 miles southeast of Tehran. (Source: The U.S. Sun)
Photo, videos

22.03.26, 10:44 AM  Late Saturday, Iran launched a strike on Arad, marking the first time the area near Israel’s nuclear research centre was hit during the conflict, resulting in multiple deaths and extensive damage to buildings (Source: The Telegraph - India / Reuters - United Kingdom)
Photo

Pakistan
Mar 22, 2026 09:58 IST  At a time when geopolitical tensions remain elevated, even hypothetical remarks have drawn attention for their potential impact. Former Pakistan High Commissioner to India, Basit, suggested that Pakistan could target India in the event of a foreign attack. Speaking during a discussion centred on a hypothetical conflict, Basit said, 'If America attacks Pakistan we have to attack India, Mumbai, New Delhi, without a second thought. We won’t leave it we’ll see what happens later.' (Source: India Today)

Persian Gulf
22.03.2026  A coalition of 22 countries, led by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and key Western powers, has formally declared its readiness to secure maritime navigation through the Strait of Hormuz. The strategic alliance includes Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. (Source: Yeni Şafak - Turkey)

Southwest Asia
(Tuesday), 24.03.26, 11:58 AM  Yesterday, Trump had postponed for five days a plan to hit Iran's energy grid. No negotiations have been held with the US, Iranian parliament Speaker Qalibaf posted on X, adding that 'fakenews is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets.' Iran fired three waves of missiles at Israel early today, with reports of an impact in the country's north. Iran has threatened that if the US appears to be on the verge of landing troops it could mine the Persian Gulf, which would complicate an amphibious assault and also imperil all shipping in the area. The delay could be timed to coincide with the arrival of US Marines in the region, expected Friday. Iran's death toll has surpassed 1,500, its Health Ministry has said. Israel has suggested its ground forces could take part in the war. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will continue to strike Iran and Lebanon. Israel, on its part, pounded Beirut's southern suburbs saying that it was targeting infrastructure used by the Iran-linked Hezbollah militant group. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian strikes. In Kuwait, power lines were hit from air defence shrapnel, causing partial electricity outages in several hours. Missile alert sirens sounded in Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia's defence ministry said it had destroyed 19 Iranian drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province. At least 13 US military members have been killed, along with more than a dozen civilians in the occupied West Bank and Gulf Arab states. Oil prices: $104 a barrel in morning trading. (Source: Telegraph - India)

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United Nations

The International Monetary Fund
March 23, 2026 11:45 a.m.  Time for the IMF to stop blaming the victim. The IMF standard analysis of imbalances puts too much blame on Europe and way too little on China. (Source: Council on Foreign Relations - U.S.

Security Council
23 March 2026  Ukraine violence worse than ever, the head of UN political and peacebuilding affairs said today in a briefing to the Security Council. DiCarlo reiterated the UN’s long-standing call for a ceasefire. Since the war began, 15,364 civilians have been killed, including 775 children, and more than 42,000 others injured, though actual numbers are likely to be higher. The longer the war exists, the deadlier it becomes, with growing risks to regional and international security, she said. Russia has reported Ukrainian attacks that have impacted civilians and civilian infrastructure in its territory. The largest drone attack targeting the capital, Moscow, occurred over the weekend from 14 to 16 March when at least 250 drones were reportedly shot down. No civilian casualties were reported. In Russian regions bordering Ukraine – Kursk, Belgorod and Bryansk, as well as the southern Krasnodar region – local officials have reported civilian casualties and damage to infrastructure from alleged strikes, she said. Damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure brought the country’s energy grid to the brink of total collapse, she told ambassadors. Some 60 per cent of gas production capacity has been destroyed and all power stations are damaged, which has caused persistent disruption in electricity, heating and water supply across the country. Reports point to an increase in strikes targeting railroads and other transport infrastructure. In Odesa, energy, industrial and port infrastructure have been damaged. Damage to the Novodnistrovsk hydroelectric plant in the south of Ukraine on 7 March led to an oil spill and widespread water pollution of the Nistru River in neighbouring Moldova, she said. The crisis prompted a 15-day environmental alert. Ms. DiCarlo underscored that a full, immediate and unconditional ceasefire is imperative. She welcomed diplomatic efforts led by the United States over the past year to advance peace. These efforts require sustained commitment and support, she said. UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Fletcher also briefed the Council. One of his requests was for greater financial support for the $2 billion humanitarian plan to assist 3.6 million people this year. Nearly three quarters of that plan is still unfunded. (The United Nations Office in Geneva - Location: Switzerland)

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Iran
Mar 22, 2026 12:48 IST  Can Iran make a dirty bomb? The short answer is yes. (Source: India Today)

Mar 21, 2026 16:55 IST  Today Tehran attempted to strike the US-UK base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean with two intermediate-range ballistic missiles, 4,000 km away, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency. One failed and the other may have been intercepted. By targeting Diego Garcia, Iran has expanded the theatre of conflict from the Middle East into the Indian Ocean. This attempt reshapes the risk map. Iran achieves a strategic impact simply by forcing the US to engage defensive measures. Diego Garcia is a pivotal platform for US power projection, hosting heavy bombers, surveillance aircraft, and critical logistics infrastructure. US officials, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, reported that one missile failed mid-flight while a US warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the second. It remains unclear if the interception was successful. Iranian Foreign Minister Araqchi had previously said the country’s missiles could reach 2,000 kilometres. This is a strategic demonstration as much as a technical test. Experts suggest Tehran may be testing systems approaching true intermediate-range ballistic missile capabilities, with potential reach into southern Europe or deeper into the Indian Ocean. (Source: India Today)

21.03.2026  Iran says Natanz nuclear enrichment complex hit again in US-Israeli attack. The attack targeted the Shahid Ahmadi Roshan enrichment facility in Natanz, no radiation leak detected, says Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Mar 20, 2026 14:48 IST  The story of how this war began is, at its core, the story of a phone call. On February 23rd, Netanyahu rang Trump with a piece of intelligence: Iran's supreme leader and his top advisers were all convening at a single location in Tehran that Saturday morning. They could all be killed in one strike. It was, Netanyahu told the President of the United States, a now-or-never moment. Trump took the deal. Netanyahu had visited the White House a record-breaking six times in the prior year. In call after call, he had been methodically shifting Trump's gaze toward Iran's nuclear ambitions. When Omani mediators were reportedly on the verge of announcing a potential diplomatic breakthrough in Geneva, Netanyahu worked to derail those talks. Then came the Saturday morning airstrike. Israel's elections are scheduled for October 2026. Polls before the war showed his coalition projected to win just 49 to 52 seats in the 120-member Knesset, against 57 or 58 for the opposition. His corruption trial grinds on. Conviction could mean prison. Political analysts say the war is one of the cornerstones of his reelection strategy. The plan: battlefield achievements would allow him to reframe October 7th not as a catastrophic failure of his leadership but as the opening chapter of a broader, triumphal transformation of the Middle East. Despite 81 percent of Israeli Jews supporting the strikes, the latest Channel 12 survey shows Likud receiving exactly the same number of Knesset seats as before the war began. The pro- and anti-Netanyahu blocs remain deadlocked at 53 seats each, well short of the 61 needed for a majority. He needed a game changer. The war alone may not be enough. He is now reportedly counting on regime change in Tehran. Now turn the lens to Washington. Trump ran for president in 2024 promising to end wars, not start them. MAGA's core instinct is isolationist. And yet here he stands, the man who once mocked endless Middle Eastern entanglements, presiding over America's largest military operation in the region in two decades, without a congressional vote. The American public has noticed. According to NPR/PBS/Marist, 56 percent of Americans oppose the military action, and just 36 percent approve of Trump's handling of Iran. He is now being guided by neo-conservatists like Rubio in the government. These hawks want him to put boots on the ground to either capture Kharg, or Iran’s stock of Uranium. The war is being fought on the go. Senator Van Hollen put it pungently: Netanyahu 'finally found a president stupid enough to attack Iran.' Gulf allies who trusted American security cooperation now experience that cooperation as a direct threat to their own stability. There is a scene that captures this entire relationship. Netanyahu, meeting with US Ambassador Huckabee, reportedly showed him a literal 'punch card' of Iranian leaders Israel had already assassinated or intended to assassinate. A punch card. As though the lives of leaders, the fate of a 90-million-person nation, the disruption of global energy markets, and the risk of American soldiers dying were items to be tallied toward some reward. On the morning of March 18, 2026, Israel struck the South Pars natural gas field in the Persian Gulf, the world's largest, without telling the United States it was going to do so. Trump, the man whose military is also fighting the war, found out when everyone else did. There is no scenario in which both men get what they want. Netanyahu needed this war to survive an election. Trump may lose one because of it. Israel has a clear endgame. America, watching its midterms approach and its approval ratings crater, does not. The tail has wagged the superpower. (Source: India Today)

20 March 2026 2:30 pm  Dylan’s song has never felt more alive than today. He wrote: '...you don’t count the dead when God’s on your side.' Iran and its allies are speaking of jihad, the holy war, and the return of Imam Mahdi, the supposed redeemer of Islam. Jerusalem, a site historically important for all three Abrahamic faiths - Judaism, Christianity and Islam - has become the bull’s-eye of three major state powers to bomb, and bomb enemy territories indiscriminately, targeting even schools and hospitals. All for geopolitical dominance, but in the name of God. Today’s Iran cannot be compared with ancient Persia. Nevertheless, Israel is using this story to paint their war efforts as the fulfilment of a religious quest of the Jewish people against a supposedly ancient enemy. When secular strategic interests get baptised in sacred language, wars become harder to end. Atrocities become divine will. Everybody can claim to have God by their side. But it’s we who have to figure out - whose side God, the merciful, is really on. Israel and the US continue to use Biblical references. Trump would not and does not hesitate to express his real intentions. Iran’s nuclear programme is a lame excuse the US-Israel alliance is citing, much like how the US invaded Iraq, alleging the presence of weapons of mass destruction, but could not provide any evidence of Iraq building such things. Netanyahu wants to weaken Iran as much as possible. He even wishes for a collapse of the state. A fragmentation of Iran along ethnic lines would be his most favoured outcome. Trump does not want that. He feels that a collapse of Iran, or even of its current regime, would destabilise western and central Asia; it would also hurt US interests there. Trump wants Iran’s regime itself to shift and collaborate with the US, like what happened in Venezuela. As Dylan’s song pointed out, 'And you never ask questions when God’s on your side.' The current war efforts have both religious and material motivations because these efforts are being driven by religious nationalism, not religion or nationalism alone. Since nationalism is even more powerful than religious sentiments, even religious fundamentalists have to frame the ideology as religious nationalism. There is also a growing Islamophobic dimension in the ideological beliefs held by proponents of Hindutva, Zionism and right-wing conservative Christian evangelism claim terror as an inherent characteristic of Islam. However, the fact remains that terrorism can be and is justified in the name of all kinds of ideologies - religious and secular. Can believers who do not want the war go on to reclaim God to end it? “If God’s on our side, He’ll stop the next war,” Dylan concluded. (Source: Outlook - India)
by Bhattacharya

12:12, 20/03/2026, Friday  The Israeli military announced today that its air force struck Iranian naval infrastructure in the Caspian Sea, marking the first such attack in that theater since the conflict began. The army alleged the strikes targeted a military port housing dozens of vessels, including missile boats, along with a central command headquarters. The Caspian Sea, the world's largest inland body of water, borders northern Iran and lies far from Israel's traditional operational reach. (Source: Yeni Şafak - Turkey)

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United States
03/23/26 1:31 p.m. EDT  USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier leaves Middle East amid Iran fight. It reached Crete, Greece for repairs due to a fire onboard, in the laundry room on March 12 amid the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war in Iran. The U.S. military only has one aircraft carrier in the war against Iran unless Washington sends another such vessel to replace it. The Navy said the Gerald R. Ford arrived at Souda Bay for maintenance and repairs today but remains fully mission capable. The ship, along with the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, has played a key role in the Trump administration’s war against Tehran. It has been at sea for nearly nine months after departing Norfolk, Va., in June, initially sent to the European theater. The vessel was then ordered to head to the Caribbean as the Pentagon was establishing a massive military presence near Venezuela. Then, in early February, the Ford was ordered to the Persian Gulf region as tensions climbed between Washington and Tehran. (Source: The Hill - U.S.)

March 23, 2026, 11:14 AM ET  The U.S. government is insolvent - it’s the conclusion drawn directly from the Treasury Department’s own consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2025, released last week to near-total media silence. The numbers: $6.06 trillion in total assets against $47.78 trillion in total liabilities as of September 30, 2025. If the $88.4 trillion in 75-year off-balance-sheet obligations were added to the $47.8 trillion in official balance sheet liabilities, total federal obligations would now exceed $136.2 trillion - roughly five times U.S. annual GDP. 'Congress has clearly lost control of the nation’s finances. America is facing a fiscal catastrophe'. (Source: Fortune - U.S.)
by Hanke, a professor of applied economics at The Johns Hopkins University, a member of the Board of Directors at the Federal Fiscal Sustainability Foundation, co-editor, with Poulson and Merrifield, of "Public Debt Sustainability: International Perspectives" (2022); Walker is the former Comptroller General of the United States and the Chairman of the Board of Directors at the Federal Fiscal Sustainability Foundation.

March 22, 2026, 7:45 p.m. ET  “The Department of State advises Americans worldwide, and especially in the Middle East, to exercise increased caution. Americans abroad should follow the guidance in security alerts issued by the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate,” the State Department said in a statement. The alert comes after Iranian military spokesman Gen. Shekarchi issued a threat on Friday, warning that Tehran terrorists will now be targeting popular tourism havens as the US and Israel continue their attacks against Iran. Iran quickly hurled retaliatory rockets at American interests in the region, with missiles hitting tourist hubs in Dubai and Israel. Iran yesterday vowed to deploy a policy of zero restraint and hit energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf as well as banks that do business with the US if President Trump carries out his threat to obliterate Tehran’s power plants. Trump’s ultimatum demanded an end to the Islamic Republic’s hostilities in the Strait of Hormuz. The president set a 48-hour deadline for the deal, which ends around 8 p.m. ET today. Iran’s Parliament Speaker Qalibaf said his country would make no such concession, warning of a retaliatory attack if Trump follows through with the blitz. (Source: New York Post - U.S.)

21.03.2026  A federal court in the US yesterday ruled that the 'Department of Defense’s' (Pentagon) restrictions on the press violated freedom of speech rights protected by the Constitution. 'It provides no way for journalists to know how they may do their jobs without losing their credentials,' Federal Judge Friedman says in ruling. The federal court announced its decision in a lawsuit filed by The New York Times in December 2025. In its decision, the court acknowledged the need to protect national security, military personnel, and war plans. Pentagon spokesperson Parnell said that they disagreed with the ruling and would immediately begin the appeals process. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

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Indian Ocean

Diego Garcia
March 23, 2026 1:09 p.m.  The tiny, British-owned Chagos Archipelago has been home to a major U.S. military base for decades. A deal to return the islands to Mauritius has raised alarm in the White House. What’s on the table in the UK-Mauritius agreement, why Trump has chosen now to advocate against it, and whether or not it’s likely to go through. Mauritius has argued that it was illegally forced to cede the islands to the UK as part of a deal to gain independence from Britain and has claimed sovereignty over the islands for decades - going as far as pursuing a case with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in 2019. The establishment of the U.S.-UK military base in the early 1970s included forcibly removing native Chagossians to Mauritius, the Seychelles, and the UK, and enacting measures to prevent their permanent return. In 2022, the UK entered into negotiations with Mauritius to transfer sovereignty of the island. In October 2024, the newly elected Labour government, led by Keir Starmer, reached a political agreement with Mauritius, which both parties later signed in May 2025. The agreement grants Mauritius full sovereignty over the archipelago, while allowing the UK to continue exercising authority over Diego Garcia for an initial ninety-nine-year period. The agreement’s exploratory memorandum outlines an annual sum of roughly $220 million for first three years; a fixed annual sum of about $160 million for years four through thirteen, and then an annual sum indexed to the GDP deflator; a sum of about $53 million for a trust fund to benefit Chagossians; and an annual grant of about $60 million for twenty-five years to promote the economic development and welfare of Mauritius and its people. During this time, Mauritius will allow the United States and the UK to access, maintain, and invest in the joint military base. It will also bar other countries from accessing the outer islands surrounding Diego Garcia without explicit permission from the UK. The military base on Diego Garcia is jointly held. It is primarily operated by roughly 2,500 U.S. personnel. It also hosts some of the world’s most advanced military and logistical equipment, including B-52 bomber aircraft, radar installations, and fuel storage facilities. The United States heavily relied on the base for air and maritime operations. “The U.S. national interest is crystal clear, and that is to get legal access to the base in perpetuity, for one hundred years, and have somebody else pay for it,' said Harris, a Colorado State University professor who has studied the Chagos Islands for nearly two decades. The UK did not permit the United States to use Diego Garcia or any other UK air bases in its initial February 28 strikes on Iran, to Trump’s dismay. The next day, Starmer allowed the U.S. military to rely on UK bases, including Diego Garcia. Trump also seeks to counter China’s foothold in the Indian Ocean, citing Beijing’s bilateral relationship with Mauritius and its growing interest in strengthening its regional security presence. Mauritius’s close partnership with India would likely cull any Chinese efforts to build a presence on the islands. The British government wants to see the deal through into alignment with international law. It currently sits with the House of Lords in the UK Parliament, and will then require formal approval from King Charles III. Recent reports indicate that thousands of Mauritian officials have traveled to China for specialized courses ahead of the planned handover, with hundreds more set to receive training from Beijing. (Source: Council on Foreign Relations - U.S.)

Mar 21, 2026 16:55 IST  Today Tehran attempted to strike the US-UK base Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean with two intermediate-range ballistic missiles, 4,000 km away, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency. One failed and the other may have been intercepted. By targeting Diego Garcia, Iran has expanded the theatre of conflict from the Middle East into the Indian Ocean. This attempt reshapes the risk map. Iran achieves a strategic impact simply by forcing the US to engage defensive measures. Diego Garcia is a pivotal platform for US power projection, hosting heavy bombers, surveillance aircraft, and critical logistics infrastructure. US officials, speaking to the Wall Street Journal, reported that one missile failed mid-flight while a US warship fired an SM-3 interceptor at the second. It remains unclear if the interception was successful. This is a strategic demonstration as much as a technical test. Experts suggest Tehran may be testing systems approaching true intermediate-range ballistic missile capabilities, with potential reach into southern Europe or deeper into the Indian Ocean. (Source: India Today)

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United States
19 March 2026  Distressing as it may be for America’s allies and friends – given that this would be a disaster for the entire West – the possibility of American defeat in Iran should be taken into account, if for no other reason than to properly understand what’s at stake so that governments can make informed policy decisions. What would defeat mean in this case, then? Notionally, it would involve an outcome that leaves Iran heavily battered but still standing as a missile and drone power, keeping its nuclear programme, and with demonstrated control over the Strait. In this version of the future, for some reason – political, economic or military – at some point the US president decides to cut his losses and pull out of the war whether or not the Strait is fully reopened, and while Iran can still strike at least across the Gulf. Let’s just assume this is the White House (or indeed Mar-a-Lago) decision. However, this cannot be done unilaterally: If US forces simply stand down and stop engaging the Iranians, there would be nothing stopping Tehran from continuing to block the Hormuz and bomb the Gulf states as a way to exert its power over the Arabs and force concessions including reparations. This course of action would be absurd. So if the American goal at that point is to actually stop the war altogether, Washington will obviously require Tehran’s assent, i.e. a deal that also makes Iranian forces stand down. Any deal with an Iran that remains an active threat, still firing missiles and drones (even if just sporadically), perhaps still harassing Strait traffic, and still formally in possession of its enriched uranium stockpile, will be widely seen as a framework of defeat for the US. The actual terms of the agreement may add to that perception given that Iran will likely request a significant or even complete US withdrawal from its Gulf bases. We agree to stop only if you leave, would likely be the IRGC message. A US president under heavy pressure to terminate the conflict may have no better option than to negotiate on that basis; all alternatives (escalation, open-ended war, etc), at that point, might be worse. Staying with this purely theoretical scenario for a while longer, let us consider the colossal implications of such an outcome. The Gulf would come under Iranian dominance, with Chinese (and Russian) backing. In the Pacific, US inability to break a much weaker Iran would change deterrence calculations and likely persuade Taiwan that peaceful reunification is the only rational way forward. Chinese power would replace America’s across the region perhaps without a single shot being fired. For Europe, the consequences of an American defeat would depend on US politics in the aftermath of the Iran war. The backlash against foreign involvement could be so strong as to accelerate US isolationism and focus on the Americas, thus hastening perhaps even a de facto US exit from NATO. Coupled with the panic and demoralisation which would ensue among Europeans, the new situation would likely make the Ukrainian war effort unsustainable – allowing Russia to impose harder peace terms and perhaps achieve a new Russian sphere of influence in Eastern Europe. A more hopeful case can also be made for the eventuality in which a new, more traditional political administration takes over the White House. Instead of further retreating from the world, a future president might look for ways to repair the damage and compensate for the presumed Iran 'mishap'. Doubling down on US support for Europe and Ukraine, to keep Russia at bay and shore up the transatlantic strategic space as a base for a future re-assertion of US power across the Middle East, and indeed to backstop Israel, would make grand-strategic sense and thus be rather likely. The main risk with all this, though, is that the sheer scale of the instability and strife that would engulf the period of transition from one US political order to the other, and the ultimate uncertainty about the outcome, will create the conditions not only for major economic disruptions but also for further international conflict. What about the domestic scene? As suggested above, the key consequence of any form of US defeat in Iran will primarily play out in domestic politics – in America but also in Europe. If the Iran campaign goes the way of Iraq or Afghanistan – i.e. if it comes to be seen as an incredibly foolish, expensive mistake – then this will likely collapse not just Trump but the entire MAGA movement as well as its overseas copycats, irrespective of how they’ve positioned themselves on the war. Only one narrative will emerge from the potential political ruins of the attack on Iran: That MAGA-style populism ultimately means only chaos engineered by demagogues who don’t know what they’re doing. But if anyone thinks that this would open the way for a return to sensible centrist politics, think again: It’s far more likely that the pendulum will swing towards more extreme forms of politics as large majorities of people begin seek radical solutions to chronic problems. A perceived American defeat in this Iran war is mere speculation at this point. But victory is also not clearly in view either – at least not yet – and the US is now at a point where it feels compelled to ask for help from allies to finish the job. So thinking through some of the potential consequences of the worst-case scenario might focus the minds of policy-makers, certainly when it comes to decisions as to whether and how to support the US-Israeli effort. Irrespective of higher questions of the war’s legality or strategic wisdom, its reality – the fact that it is now underway – is the only thing that matters for practical policy purposes. However it was begun, a war must be fought to victory, either full or partial; the only alternative is accepting the consequences of defeat. 'The path to a favourable outcome in Iran for the US and Israel is now narrowing considerably. If it begins to vanish, it will quickly become clear that “their problem' is in fact everyone else’s problem as well, and hard choices about allied involvement will need to be considered. (Source: Brussels Signal - Belgium)
by Elefteriu

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Global
19 March 2026 6:11pm GMT  The benchmark TTF contract for gas in Europe was €29 (£25) per megawatt-hour (MWh) in mid-February. Bank of America says it could reach €500 this winter if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed for 10 weeks, as it may well do. That would blow through the record high seen after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and amount to a full-blown economic emergency 'for Europe, the UK', Japan, South Korea and South Asia. It is just as bad for oil. Physical deliveries are under far greater stress than Brent futures, at about $113, would suggest. Actual barrels of the Dubai basket and Oman’s Murban are fetching close to $170 a barrel as Asian refiners scramble to buy anything they can. Jet fuel deliveries have hit $210 in Rotterdam and $240 in Singapore. Barrow, the vice-president of oil at S&P Global Energy says it may become physically impossible to obtain supplies. 'If the Strait stays closed for two months, you’ll have plants without feedstock and we’ll get real rationing. We’ll have panic buying and hoarding,' he said. 'Net, we’re around 15 million barrels a day (b/d) short in the market. Crude gets the headline but the actual impact is further downstream in refined products, diesel, jet, fuel or naphtha. There are 68 refineries in the war zone.' The world will hit a brick wall within two months. 'We may need to ground planes, shut chemical plants and accept lower crop yields,' Currie, an oil veteran at the Carlyle Group, said. Currie compares today’s nonchalance to the misjudgement in January 2020 as Westerners watched the Covid lockdown in China and carried on as if the virus had nothing to do with them. Europe will face its own physical shortage as we go into April, Kaneva, the commodity chief at JP Morgan, said. The average tanker trip from the Gulf to Asia is 10 to 15 days. It is 25 to 30 days to Europe via Suez, and 35 to 45 days via the Cape. Europe is still receiving normal pre-war cargoes. West Asia is not. That is where violent “demand destruction” has begun. Plans to try to hold down prices within the US fortress economy by starving the rest of us would deprive the global market of up to seven to eight million barrels a day (b/d) of oil and petroleum products, depending how much Trump would allow out to help his culture war friends. 'We continue to watch for any signs that the Houthis may enter the conflict and imperil the Red Sea,' said Croft, a former CIA analyst now at RBC Capital. (Source: The Telegraph - United Kingdom)

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Europe

Hungary
(Sunday), March 22, 2026 10:52 PM CET  Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán refused to sign off on €90 billion in loans for Ukraine at Friday’s European Council, sparking a furious reaction: Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on X yesterday ’of long-standing suspicions’ Viktor Orbán’s government is ’sharing information with Russia’; Tusk has backed the Hungarian opposition leader in the election. The Washington Post said in a report yesterday that Orbán’s government maintained close contacts with Moscow throughout the war in Ukraine, and Foreign Minister Szijjártó ’used breaks during meetings with other member countries to update’ his Russian counterpart, Lavrov. Despite widespread agreement on the threat posed by Russia, a diplomat pointed out that the content of discussions among leaders and foreign ministers are routinely reported in the press and frequently take place in an unrestricted format, meaning leaders don’t leave their phones outside to minimize the risk of surveillance. Szijjártó, for his part, rejected the content of the Washington Post article and accused the media of putting forward conspiracy theories that are more preposterous than anything seen before. For example: 'The EU is limiting the flow of confidential material to Hungary and leaders are meeting in smaller groups'; 'The Bucharest Group of Nine, a club of countries on the military alliance’s Eastern Flank, reportedly contemplated kicking Budapest out of the format in 2024' over failures to agree on support for Ukraine. The allegations come as Orbán’s foreign supporters set course for Budapest to help him campaign in the final stretch of the elections. Polish President Nawrocki - a political rival of Tusk’s - will attend events on Monday, while U.S. Vice President Vance will jet in ahead of the vote next month. Whatever the EU and its leaders do, Orbán will use it in his favor in the campaign. Despite ’lagging behind Tisza in the polls’, the Hungarian prime minister told Politico on Friday he could certainly secure another term. Over the weekend were fake news designed as a desperate reaction to [Orbán’s party] Fidesz gaining momentum in the election campaign, but the Hungarian people won’t be deceived, Hungary’s Europe Minister Bóka told the reports. (Source Politico - headquarters in the U.S., owned by a German company)

20/03/2026 - 17:58 GMT+1  Speaking to media in Brussels a day after he blocked the €90 billion loan to Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán raised the prospect of further actions his government could take against Ukraine to force the resumption of Russian oil deliveries that have been stalled to Hungary and Slovakia since January. "40% of Ukraine's electricity supply goes through Hungary, we haven't touched that yet. (The EU) constantly wants to introduce new sanctions (against Russia). That will require unanimity and we will not give it." Orbán insists that Ukraine has purposely sabotaged the pipeline to orchestrate an energy crisis ahead of a tight election on 12 April and has promised to block all EU measures to assist Kyiv until shipments resume. Orbán also threatened today to veto the EU's next seven-year budget if it includes financial aid for Ukraine. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

March 20, 2026, Friday // 09:17  Hungary has maintained its opposition to a major EU financial package for Ukraine at a European Council meeting in Brussels yesterday. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán again refused to lift his veto on the €90 billion loan intended to support Ukraine through 2026–2027, linking his position to the resumption of Russian oil transit via the Druzhba pipeline. Hungary is insisting that oil flows through Druzhba must resume before it backs any further decisions favorable to Kyiv. The funding is designed to cover roughly two-thirds of Ukraine’s financial needs over the two-year period. Ukraine remains heavily dependent on external assistance. The dispute has widened beyond Hungary alone. Slovakia has aligned itself with Budapest, with Prime Minister Robert Fico warning of possible additional measures against Ukraine. Fico was suggesting that Ukraine’s actions could be politically motivated and even linked to Hungary’s domestic electoral dynamics. Both Hungary and Slovakia have blocked the adoption of the bloc’s 20th sanctions package against Russia, which had been expected to pass last month. In parallel, the European Council adopted conclusions on Ukraine signed by 25 member states, excepting Hungary and Slovakia, highlighting a growing split within the Union. Inside the summit, Orbán reiterated his position with the message “first oil, then money,” arguing that restoring energy flows is a prerequisite for further support. His stance drew sharp criticism from several leaders. European Council President Costa 'described Hungary’s actions as unacceptable'. Some leaders also took issue with remarks made by Zelenskyy, saying his tone toward Orbán had complicated negotiations. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni told colleagues she understood Orbán’s reasoning. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)

(Thuersday), 19/03/2026 - 16:04 GMT+1  Leaders fail to lift Orbán's veto on Ukraine loan. Early on the day, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán reaffirmed his veto on the €90 billion loan for Ukraine, which he has linked to the interruptions of oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline. "We are ready to support Ukraine when we get our oil, which is being blocked by them. Until then, there is no decision that is favourable for Ukraine," Orbán said today. The 27 leaders have finished their lunch with United Nations Secretary General Guterres and have begun their discussion on the raging war in the Middle East. The high-level talks could very well stretch into tomorrow, dominated by the spiralling war in the Middle East and the high energy prices that continue to weigh down the economy. The 27 heads of state and goverment will also address competitiveness, the single market, trade, security, migration, the multilateral system and the next EU budget. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France) 

(Thuersday), 19/03/2026 16:03 GMT+1  Hungary accuses Ukraine of attacking key gas infrastructure on Russian territory, endangering its energy security. Foreign Minister Szijjártó said Ukraine had targeted a compressor station in Russia that forms part of the TurkStream pipeline, which carries Russian natural gas through Turkey and the Balkans to Europe. Moscow reported that Russian defence forces had repelled the attack and that no damage was sustained. 'The Ukrainians are keeping us under an oil blockade, and now they want to make our natural gas supply impossible. We call on the Ukrainians to end this immediately," Szijjártó said. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Czechia
Sun 22 Mar 2026 07:24 CET  People gathered yesterday in Letná Park in the Czech capital, Prague, to demonstrate against the government and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. According to the organizer, up to 200,000 demonstrators were there to protest the government, which they believe threatens democracy and steers the country away from support for Ukraine. The protest follows a recent decision in the lower house to maintain Babiš's immunity from prosecution 'in a wide-ranging fraud case involving EU subsidies'. "The government has aligned with Hungary and Slovakia in its position on Ukraine and opposes all financial aid to the country and EU loan guarantees in its war against Russia". (Source: Sweden Herald)

France
(Sunday), March 22, 2026 9:52 a.m. ET  Billionaire Stérin, 52, is funding France’s ’far right’, financing projects to make France less Muslim, more Catholic and more capitalist. He says his program has trained thousands running for municipal office today. Mr. Stérin has spent millions, to ensure France doesn’t disappear. He has steered money to right-wing think tanks, political training programs, social media influencers and nonprofit groups. One program funded by Mr. Stérin has, by his count, trained at least 4,000 right-wing candidates in the municipal elections. With the far-right National Rally party projected to potentially win the presidency next year Mr. Stérin is striving to accelerate France’s rightward shift. The France of Mr. Stérin’s dreams would be socially conservative and Trumpian. It would tolerate little immigration, particularly from Muslim countries that France colonized. Undocumented immigrants who commit crimes or do not work would be deported. Muslim dress would be banned in public, and halal food no longer served in schools. Mr. Stérin wants to ban abortion, access to which was enshrined two years ago in the French Constitution; to swell Catholic church attendance; and to encourage more French couples to procreate. The ultimate goal, Mr. Stérin said, is to bring to power a right-wing government that fundamentally changes how the country looks and works. He is meddling in sectors where the far right has generally not been very present - sports, culture, nonprofits, training, schools. It was the 21st that made him rich - Smartbox, a company that offers experiences as gifts. Within six years, he had earned enough to launch a private equity firm, Otium Capital. Around a decade ago, realizing that he would soon become a billionaire, Mr. Stérin looked for another life-framing objective. He committed to Catholicism, he said, because it offered him a moral framework to separate right from wrong - a rational and mathematical way of guiding his life. He vowed to worship more, he said, and give away 99 percent of his wealth to serve Christ. In 2021, Mr. Stérin founded the Common Good Fund, funneling his own money toward beneficiaries including a Catholic boys’ boarding school - the first of 50 that the fund hopes to open - and exhibitions. The fund had also dispensed roughly an additional $116 million to private enterprises, rather than charities. He realized his funding would be more effective in a more favorable political and legislative environment. In 2023, that led him to start Périclès, an organization that funds and promotes political projects that many associate with the 'far right'. It supports think tanks opposed to immigration and to woke ideology; right-wing media; social media influencers; and groups opposed to Islamism. He became convinced that more Muslim customs should be banned in public after seeing many hijabs while driving through poorer suburbs of Paris. ’If we don’t do that, France in 50 years would be the first Islamic republic of Europe, or the second after Belgium,’ he said. „I don’t want my country to become an Islamic republic.’ A major recipient of Périclès’s money is a training school, Politicae, for aspiring right-wing municipal politicians. Some believe Mr. Stérin’s impact is minimal. Last year, Mr. Stérin had assets worth roughly $1.85 billion. He made it all himself. Former French President, Mr. Hollande said that Bolloré, who owns news outlets associated with the far right, is more influential. Mr. Stérin’s funding for so many municipal candidates potentially gives him outsize influence over the selection of French senators. (Source: The New York Times - U.S.)

Germany
22.03.2026  The German government has withdrawn its support for Israel in its defense against a genocide charge before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The German government intends instead to focus on the legal proceedings initiated by Nicaragua which filed a lawsuit against Germany before the ICJ in March 2024, Hinterseher, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Nicaragua filed the complaint with the court alleging that Germany was aiding and abetting genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by supplying weapons to Israel. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Slovenia
22.03.2026  Slovenia today imposed temporary limits on fuel purchases at gas stations nationwide. Individuals are allowed to purchase up to 50 liters of fuel per day at a single station, while legal entities and self-employed individuals, including those in agriculture, are limited to 200 liters. The Slovenian Armed Forces have been mobilized to assist in fuel distribution, with personnel supporting transport and supply operations. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Europe
(19 March 2026) 14:05  State-owned QatarEnergy, the operator of Ras Laffan, told Reuters the damage to two of its LNG units, in which ExxonMobil was a co-investor, would take three to five years to repair, cost the company $20bn a year in lost revenue, and force it to cancel long term contracts with Italy, Belgium, Korea and China. The volume of gas now lost for the foreseeable future is roughly 17 per cent of Qatar’s total capacity. Gas prices in Europe rose 30 per cent as markets reopened and have more than doubled since the start of the war, as traders try to calculate the impact of months, or longer, without Qatar’s gas flowing to world markets. Oil prices also jumped 10 per cent to almost $119 a barrel, due to fears of further strikes on energy supplies. One trader said that gas prices in Europe would be pushed higher through 2027 and that Europe would find it harder to refill its gas storage tanks this summer as Asian buyers snapped up LNG from the US to make up for the lost supply. Europe, which has become more reliant on LNG 'since Russia slashed pipeline exports' during its war with Ukraine, is now expected to be pitched into direct competition against countries such as Japan and South Korea for limited cargoes. Many countries are already starting to switch to coal-fired power generation. (Source: Financial Times - United Kingdom)

European Commission
(19/03/2026) 14:15 GMT+1  Slovakia and Hungary complained to der Leyen about not being informed in advance of an EU expert mission to inspect damage to the Druzhba pipeline and regretted that their own experts were not included, despite early offers to participate. Bratislava and Budapest sent a letter to der Leyen and argue that this exclusion raises doubts about the credibility and objectivity of any findings and call for greater transparency and cooperation involving all affected parties. The two countries are expressing dissatisfaction with the European Commission's slow and ineffective response to issues related to oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline, claiming the EU executive consistently advocates for Ukraine's interests rather than those of the bloc's member states. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

European Council
(Thuersday), 19/03/2026 - 14:29 GMT+1  Vetoes remain. The European Council has adopted joint conclusions on support for Ukraine, but without the signatures of Hungary's Viktor Orbán and Slovakia's Robert Fico, both of whom are involved in a dispute with Kyiv over the Druzhba oil pipeline. The statement speaks of the €90 billion loan for Ukraine, which Hungary is blocking, and the 20th package of sanctions against Russia, which Hungary and Slovakia are blocking. There is no real Plan B or workaround to allow the cash to flow to Ukraine. Budapest and Bratislava have harshly criticised the European Commission for excluding their own national experts from the inspection of the pipeline. 'Their exclusion raises fundamental questions regarding the credibility and objectivity of any conclusions,' they say. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

Greenland
19.03.2026  Danish soldiers have been preparing for a possible US attack on Greenland amid President Trump's takeover threats, broadcaster DR reported today, citing sources in Denmark, France, and Germany. When Danish soldiers were flown to Greenland in January, they reportedly brought explosives to destroy key runways and blood supplies to treat the wounded in a bid to prepare to block a possible US takeover. Sources also noted that if the US attempted an attack, Danish soldiers would carry ammunition and engage in combat, while the F‑35 fighter jets that rushed north were also heavily armed. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Russia
March 20, 2026 4:29 pm CET  During their meeting last week in Miami, Russian envoy Dmitriev made a proposal to Trump administration envoys Witkoff and Kushner. Moscow proposed a quid pro quo to the U.S. under which the Kremlin would stop sharing intelligence information with Iran, such as the precise coordinates of U.S. military assets in the Middle East, if Washington ceased supplying Ukraine with intel about Russia. 'The U.S. rejected the proposal'. Dmitriev labeled the report of the proposal as fake in a post on X. The U.S. continues to share intelligence with Ukraine, even as it has reduced other support. French President Macron had said in January that two-thirds of military intelligence for Ukraine is now provided by France. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Ukraine
22/03/2026 - 15:23 GMT+1  Yesterday, a Ukrainian delegation sent by Zelenskyy met with a US delegation in Miami in the hope of restarting peace talks. US Special Envoy Witkoff said on X that the talks were constructive.  ' A NATO delegation led by French Admiral Vandier is in Ukraine for the first time since the 2022 full-scale invasion. Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Palisa, wrote in a post on X that they discussed in detail 'the involvement of Ukrainian military personnel in future NATO exercises in the role of the conditional adversary,' as well as the future of JATEC (NATO-Ukraine Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre), an initiative 'supporting coordination and development between Ukraine’s forces and NATO '. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

United Kingdom
March 22, 2026 7:00am EDT  Churchill, Shakespeare and the UK flag all under siege in modern Britain. The statue of Churchill, the British prime minister during WWII, was vandalized in Westminster in 2020 and again last month. The face of Churchill is being removed from the five-pound note by the Bank of England. The proposal was to replace Churchill with a picture of a beaver. Now Shakespeare is under attack. Apparently, being White is a bad thing, and some say the Bard was really a Black woman. Flying your own country’s flag can get you in trouble. Left-wingers in Britain, such as Labor Party supporters, often view the flying of the United Kingdom’s Union Jack flag, or St. George's Cross, as racist or anti-immigration. 'Much of this flag-hating began following the invasion of Israel by Hamas, an Iran-backed terrorist organization. 'The U.K. then witnessed a surge in Palestinian flags flying on public buildings. This upset more than a few British patriots, who then stepped out with the British flags. 'Decades of woke education policy have taught people to deny and decry the history of this country. 'The teaching labor unions controlled by the hard left have enforced their agenda on generations of pupils. (Source: Fox News - U.S.)

20 March 2026  UK allows United States to use bases to bomb Iranian sites targeting ships in Strait of Hormuz. Ministers agreed today that permissible actions include degrading missile sites being used by Tehran to attack ships in the Strait. The two British bases being used by American bombers are RAF Fairford in England and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

Vatican
Sunday 22 March 2026 13:14 GMT  On Wednesday, the Vatican's top diplomat, Italian Cardinal Parolin, a senior advisor to Pope Leo had called on U.S. President Trump to end the expanding Iran war as soon as possible and suggested Israel should also stop its strikes against Lebanon. Parolin said he was worried that the conflict would continue to escalate and called on Trump and other world leaders "to resolve problems ... through the peaceful ways of diplomacy and dialogue". "I would say to finish it as soon as possible ... and to leave Lebanon alone," , said in a direct appeal. "This message goes also to the Israelis," he added, speaking to journalists at an event at the Italian parliament. Parolin, the Vatican's Secretary of State since 2013, is known for speaking in muted tones and seeking to avoid the spotlight. During his weekly Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square, US-born Pope Leo XIV has renewed his plea for an immediate ceasefire, calling the death and suffering caused by the war in the Middle East a 'scandal to the whole human family'. "We cannot remain silent in the face of the suffering of so many people, the defenceless victims of these conflicts,' Leo said as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran enters its fourth week. "I strongly renew my appeal for us to persevere in prayer, so that hostilities may cease and the way may finally be paved for peace.” Leo, who is known for speaking diplomatically, has been ramping up calls for an end to the Iran war in recent days. (Source: The Independent - United Kingdom)

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Asia

India
Mar 17, 2026 05:45 AM IST  The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested seven foreign nationals - six Ukrainian nationals and one from the United States - on charges of conspiring to carry out terrorist activities against India. The accused had entered India on valid visas, but had proceeded to Mizoram without the mandatory Restricted Area Permit. From there, they crossed into Myanmar, where they reportedly met ethnic groups hostile to India. The group was plotting terror strikes, and their movements had raised alarm over cross-border threats. Investigations uncovered that multiple consignments of drones from Europe were delivered by them in Mizoram. According to the NIA, the accused were involved in illegally importing huge consignments of drones from Europe to Myanmar via India for the use of Ethnic armed groups. These groups were allegedly also supporting some proscribed Indian Insurgent Groups by way of supplying weapons and other terrorist hardware and training them. National Investigation Agency (NIA) wanted to apprehend the close unknown associates still at large who are likely to surface after technical analysis of the social media accounts. (Source: Indian Express)

Iraq
Saturday, 21 March 2026   A drone attack targeted the headquarters of the Iraqi intelligence services in an upscale residential neighborhood in central Baghdad today at around 10:00 am local time (0700 GMT). The attack targeted a telecommunications building with the National Intelligence Service, which cooperates with US advisors in Iraq as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition. Another drone, filming the operation, crashed into a private members sports club popular with Iraqi elite and foreign diplomats. On Thursday, the Pentagon acknowledged for the first time that combat helicopters had carried out strikes against pro-Iran armed groups in Iraq during the latest conflict. Overnight from Friday to today, at least three drone attacks targeted a US diplomatic and logistics hub that houses US military personnel at Baghdad International Airport. A fire broke out near the base following the third attack. (Source: Asharq Al-Awsat - headquartered in London, England, owned by a member of the Saudi royal family)

Kuwait
March 20, 2026 / 5:06 AM  Tehran government vowed to hit the energy infrastructure of U.S. allies following the South Pars attack. Iran attacked Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery for the second time in two days today. Yesterday saw Iranian drones strike the Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries, sparking fires that were later extinguished. Together, they are among Kuwait's most significant refineries. Established in 1949, Mina Al-Ahmadi spans 6 1/2 miles along the Kuwaiti coast, producing up to 346,000 barrels of oil a day. The Mina Abdullah refinery has a capacity of 454,000 barrels a day. (Source: UPI - U.S.)

Southwest Asia
Mar 19, 2026 11:33 IST  Iran has placed sea mines across the Strait of Hormuz. There are fears that Bab el-Mandeb in the Red Sea could also be hit by Iran's proxy Houthis. The world's digital arteries pass through these routes in the form of vital subsea cables that carry global internet traffic and also pass through Hormuz. Amazon, Microsoft and Google have poured billions into building huge data centres in Gulf countries like the UAE and Saudi Arabia. And seventeen submarine cables run through the Red Sea, carry the main share of internet traffic linking Europe, Asia and Africa. The active subsea cables in the Persian Gulf are AAE-1, FALCON, Gulf Bridge International Cable System and Tata-TGN Gulf. These thin lines stretch for thousands of kilometres and carry nearly all the data that powers the global internet - from video calls and e-mails to banking transfers and AI services. Any damage to them could trigger internet outages and hit financial systems across countries, including in India. In the Red Sea, Houthi groups from Yemen are firing at passing vessels, turning that narrow waterway into a danger zone. That both passages are blocked, repair work has become almost impossible. A single accident, mine strike, or deliberate cut could leave lines out of action for weeks or even months. In 2024, Houthi-related attacks - a broader campaign in solidarity with Hamas amid the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza - damaged several Red Sea cables. Internet speeds dropped sharply in parts of Asia and Africa, and full repairs took months because ships stayed away. Yet with mines in the water, attacks continuing and repair ships locked out, the risk has never been higher. (Source: India Today)

17 Mar 2026  Now, 18 days into the conflict, aid agencies and countries neighbouring Iran are increasingly concerned about a potential refugee crisis. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that 3.2 million people have already been displaced in Iran since US-Israeli strikes began on February 28. More than 10,000 civilian sites have been damaged since the war began, including 65 schools and 32 medical facilities. There have been attacks on residential areas in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan. Things could get worse if Tehran, a city of about 10 million people, were to lose its electricity grid or water supply. In a US-Israel attack, for instance, residents could be forced to leave en masse. Infrastructure destruction produces sudden, massive displacement, driven by the collapse of basic urban services. If a country of 90 million experienced the same scale of crisis as Syria, nearly 56 million people would be forced to flee their homes, and nearly 26 million of them would become international refugees. For now, the number of people crossing Iran’s borders remains comparatively modest. Iran borders seven countries: Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkiye and Turkmenistan. Provinces bordering Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkmenistan, are absorbing much of the internal displacement. Countries such as Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iraq, and Pakistan are facing varying degrees of economic, political, or security challenges. These internal pressures make it difficult for them to accommodate a large influx of refugees. Only Iraq, Pakistan and Turkiye, have extensive experience of hosting large refugee populations. Iran itself hosts one of the world’s largest refugee populations: about 3.7 million displaced people, most of them from Afghanistan.    Afghanistan: Between one and 1.5 million Afghans fled to Iran in the immediate aftermath of the US withdrawal, pushing the total Afghan population in Iran to upwards of five or six million. Iran and Pakistan initiated aggressive mass deportation campaigns, forcing millions back into Afghanistan. Iran drastically accelerated its expulsions, deporting nearly two million individuals in 2025 alone. Since October 2023, about 5.4 million Afghans have returned to Afghanistan from Iran and Pakistan, many not by choice.    The South Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan have each expressed concern while trying to balance relations with Washington and Tehran.    Armenia’s border with Iran, which is just 44km long, remains open.    Azerbaijan has closed its land borders to routine traffic, requiring government approval for any crossing.    Iraq shares the longest frontier, stretching for almost 1,600km. The semi-autonomous Kurdish region of northern Iraq, which, unlike the rest of the country, still allows visa-free entry for Iranian passport holders, adds a layer of complexity. The region hosts several Kurdish armed groups, some of which have reportedly been in discussions with Washington about receiving military support in return for joining the war against Iran. The development has prompted Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to strike Kurdish positions inside Iraqi territory. Baghdad has publicly stated that it will not allow its territory to be used to infiltrate Iran, but experts on the region say its ability to enforce the position is limited.    Pakistan faces its own geographical and security challenges. The country’s border with Iran runs through Balochistan, its largest but most volatile province, where separatist sentiment has simmered for decades. Balochistan’s porous border is next to Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province, a region that has historically been home to various separatist groups. Any refugee crisis could make the situation in Balochistan difficult for Islamabad to manage. In February this year, Pakistan’s military concluded a weeklong security operation in the province and claimed it had killed 216 fighters in targeted offensives. October 2025 led Pakistan to close its borders with Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of newly displaced Afghans crossed into Pakistan in the immediate aftermath of the US withdrawal, joining a long-established refugee community there and swelling the total number of Afghans in the country to more than three million. Pakistan’s stringent repatriation plans pushed out more than 1.3 million people. Large-scale and hurried returns of refugees could trigger further instability in the region. Further complicating the situation, Pakistan and Afghanistan have been engaged in fighting.    Turkiye shares a 530km border with Iran and allows visa-free entry for Iranian citizens. It already hosts the world’s largest refugee population, including roughly 3.6 million Syrians, and anti-immigrant sentiment has hardened within domestic politics over the past decade. Turkiye’s Interior Minister Ciftci said earlier in March that the government had prepared three contingency plans in light of the war in Iran. The first involves intercepting migration flows within Iranian territory before they reach the border. The second proposes establishing buffer zones along the frontier. The third would allow refugees to enter Turkiye under controlled conditions as a last resort. Turkish authorities say they have already strengthened the border with Iran, 380km of concrete wall, 203 optical towers and 43 observation posts were undertaken.  (Source: Al Jazeera - Qatar)

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Americas

North America

United States
March 22, 2026 / 9:00 AM EDT  Iran war, rising gas prices fuel economic concerns; most say conflict not going well, don't want regime left in power, CBS News poll finds. When gauging a war, Americans consider at least two important things: what the goals are overseas and its impact back home. Right now, Americans want a lot of things to happen in Iran: Most feel it's important to stop its nuclear program, ensure the Iranian people are free, and, now that the conflict is underway, that it would be unacceptable to leave the Iranian regime in power at the end of it. But it's also important to end the conflict as fast as possible, they say, with growing economic pressure back home. Rising gas prices are fueling some pessimism about the U.S. economy more broadly, with concerns about negative impacts on it in at least the near-term, if not the long term. That uncertainty is underpinned by a rising number of people who feel the Trump administration hasn't explained things. In all, most Americans feel the conflict isn't going well right now, though it gets continued support from most of the president's Republican base, in part because they express a lot of confidence in him personally. Most Americans don't think the conflict with Iran is going well so far. Many aren't sure how long it will last. They don't see payoffs, not in making the U.S. safer, nor in making the economy stronger. Americans see this as a war of choice, not a war of necessity. MAGA Republicans say Trump is doing what he promised in the 2024 campaign regarding Iran. (Survey conducted with a nationally representative sample of 3,335 U.S. adults interviewed between March 17-20, 2026). /Source: CBS News - U.S./

March 22, 2026 12:12 AM  Pentagon adopts Palantir AI system after dispute with Anthropic. Concerns about AI warfare continue to grow. The move signals long-term reliance on advanced artificial intelligence tools for defense operations. According to Deputy Defense Secretary Feinberg, the Maven Smart System will provide warfighters with advanced tools to detect and respond to threats. He explains that the system analyzes battlefield data and identifies potential targets. The decision ensures stable funding and wider adoption across all military branches by the end of the fiscal year. The Maven platform already serves as a key command-and-control system and has supported thousands of targeted operations in recent weeks. The Pentagon plans to shift oversight of the program to its Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office. The U.S. Army will manage future contracts with Palantir which states that humans remain responsible for final decisions. (Source: Daily Times - Pakistan)

March 20, 2026  Hundreds of millionaires are trying to escape the US. California’s millionaires are trying to pay hand over fist for golden visas, an extremely expensive and controversial form of residency. New Zealand, along with several other countries like Greece, Portugal and Italy, are currently offering wealthy foreigners what’s called a golden visa. To obtain one of these visas in New Zealand, aka the Active Investor Plus visa, applicants must spend a minimum of $2.9 million on “Growth” investments for three years or $5.8 million on “Balanced” investments for five years, and simply processing this paperwork costs an equivalent of over $15,000. In exchange, applicants receive an “enviable lifestyle brimming with adventure,” as boutique immigration firm Greener Pastures New Zealand puts it on its website, and cinematic views of rolling hillsides. Once this investment period is fulfilled, they and any immediate family members who were included in the original application can become permanent New Zealand residents. Over the last several years, the super-rich have set their sights on the island country as a place to build elaborate bunkers and opulent estates in anticipation of societal collapse. Many of investor applicants are merely interested in summer homes. According to the advocacy group Transparency International, golden visa programs are allowing criminals to treat residency and citizenship in European countries as luxury commodities and use them for money-laundering schemes. In April 2025, the European Court of Justice declared that Malta’s “golden passports” program was illegal, and Spain, Ireland, the UK and the Netherlands have recently ended their investor visa programs amid rising security concerns, Forbes reported last year. Meanwhile, New Zealand officials announced in September that golden visa holders can now buy or build homes valued at the equivalent of around $3 million or more. Ultimately, Kiwis pity us, and they’re right to: Our behavior is embarrassing. I thought of my friends who are educated and employed and living in cars and on couches. I thought about the laid-off tech workers who could be entering another year of unemployment, unsure of how they’ll pay their mortgages and medical bills. My biggest fear, though, is that I’ll look back on this years later and reminisce about how good we had it. (Source: SFGate - U.S.)

March 18, 2026 8:00 pm ET  The Pentagon has deployed the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, a rapid-response force of about 2,200 Marines, to the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reported. The U.S. could use the unit to seize one or more of the islands off the southern coast of Iran to use as leverage or as a base to counter Iranian attacks on commercial shipping. The unit, aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, is slated to arrive in the Middle East from Japan in just over a week. (Source: WSJ - U.S.)

Caribbean

Cuba
(Wednesday), Mar 18 2026  Two vessels heading for energy-starved Cuba carrying Russian oil and fuel are due to arrive as early as next week in defiance of US President Trump’s energy embargo. The Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse, believed to be carrying some 27,000 tonnes of Russian gas, was headed towards the island after appearing to divert course last month. The Russian-flagged Anatoly Kolodkin, carrying some 100,000 metric tons of crude - equivalent to 725,000 to 728,000 barrels depending on oil grade - was estimated to arrive in Cuba on April 4. 'Whether I free it, take it, I think I could do anything I want with it, if you want to know the truth,' Trump told reporters at the White House on Monday. “They are a very weakened nation right now.' Cuba’s last delivery was an oil shipment from Mexico on January 9. (Source: Financial Times - United Kingdom)

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Europe

Hungary
10.03.2026  Tensions between Budapest and Kyiv are escalating over energy supplies. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán recently urged Zelenskyy to restore oil shipments through the Druzhba oil pipeline, one of the world’s largest pipeline networks transporting Russian crude to Central and Eastern Europe. Hungary relies heavily on Russian crude transported through Ukrainian territory via the Druzhba pipeline. Hungarian and Slovak officials have accused Kyiv of deliberately delaying the pipeline’s restart. Shipments were interrupted on Jan. 27. In an open letter, Orbán accused Ukraine of blocking the pipeline - also known as the Friendship Pipeline. The disruption threatens Hungary’s energy security. Speaking on state radio, Orbán said Budapest had already halted gasoline and diesel deliveries linked to Ukraine and Hungary could take further retaliatory steps, could block additional measures if oil transit is not restored. Budapest has also threatened to block a proposed €90 billion ($105 billion) EU financial package for Ukraine, saying it will not support additional funding while its energy interests are under pressure. Hungary’s Parliament today adopted a resolution opposing Ukraine’s membership in the European Union (EU), warning that admitting the war-torn country could draw the bloc directly into the conflict with Russia. Lawmakers said Ukraine’s accession should not proceed while the country remains at war. The resolution calls on the Hungarian government to oppose the launch of substantive accession negotiations and to reject Ukraine’s future entry into the bloc. The resolution urges the government to support international peace efforts and avoid sending additional financial or military assistance to Ukraine. It also calls on Budapest to resist initiatives that would transform the EU into a military alliance and to oppose attempts by EU institutions to bypass the bloc’s unanimity rule in decision-making. The measure passed in the National Assembly with 142 votes in favor, 28 against, and four abstentions. The resolution calls on the government to support international peace efforts, avoid sending money or weapons to Ukraine, and prevent both Hungary and the EU from being drawn into the war, a statement by government spokesperson Kovács read. The statement also criticizes continued financial and military support for Kyiv. It notes that the EU has already provided ' about €193.3 billion ($225 billion) in aid ' to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022 and warns that 'Ukraine’s potential share of the bloc’s next seven-year budget could exceed €360 billion ($419 billion)'. Hungarian lawmakers said such spending could reduce funding available for existing member states through cohesion and agricultural programs. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

March 10, 2026, Tuesday // 09:15  Rising oil prices, fueled by the ongoing war involving Iran, have pushed up diesel and gasoline costs globally. Hungary plans to release fuel reserves sufficient to cover 45 days of domestic needs. The announcement was made by Economy Minister Nagy, as reported by Reuters. Hungary's government has moved to ban the export of crude oil, diesel, and 95-octane gasoline. The day prior, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary would cap fuel prices as a measure to shield both consumers and businesses from escalating costs. The price ceiling applies specifically to vehicles registered within Hungary. Orbán also took the opportunity to urge the European Union to abandon its sanctions on Russian energy. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)

Finland
10.03.2026  Finland’s three opposition parties are set to vote against a government bill that would allow 'nuclear weapons to be transported' into or through the country, criticizing the government for discussing the issue within a limited circle rather than following Finland’s tradition of broad consultation on major foreign and security policy decisions. The proposal, announced last week by Defense Minister Hakkanen, would remove Finland’s current legal ban on bringing nuclear weapons onto its territory. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

France
10.03.2026  Nuclear energy is key to reconciling independence and energy sovereignty, decarbonization and achieving carbon neutrality 'by 2050', and competitiveness, which enables job creation in our economies, French President Macron said during his speech at the Nuclear Energy Summit held in Paris. He stressed the need for competitivenes. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Germany
March 10, 2026 1:59 pm CET  The majority of Germans oppose the attacks, according to surveys and German chancellor Merz warns against ‘endless war’ in Iran. Today he took a harder tone, warning that a long war could lead to a quagmire that disrupts Europe’s energy supply and sparks another refugee crisis. EU leaders were set to conduct a video conference today hosted by Germany. Belgium and Italy focused, among other things, on how to tackle rising energy prices across the bloc. Speaking alongside Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš in Berlin, Merz warned against calls to loosen sanctions against Moscow in order to bring down energy prices. Merz expressed concern that there’s no common plan, there's lack of a strategy by the U.S. and Israel for bringing this war to a swift and convincing conclusion. The day after the attacks were launched, Merz expressed doubt that they would succeed in toppling the regime in Tehran, while also saying Germany was in no position to lecture its allies. Since then, the chancellor has repeatedly said he supports the U.S. and Israeli goal to topple the regime. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

10/03/2026 - 11:02 GMT+1  Volkswagen Group net profit slumped 44% to €6.9bn in 2025, the carmaker's worst result since the diesel emissions scandal nearly a decade ago. Trade conflicts, difficulties in China and the change in strategy at Porsche are putting Europe's largest car manufacturer under pressure. Trump's tariffs hit the US market for Volkswagen cars particularly hard, while changes to environmental regulations and the withdrawal of government subsidies have cooled demand for electric vehicles. In China, long Volkswagen's most important growth market, local manufacturers including BYD, Geely and Nio are closing the technological gap and gaining market share. The sports car brand Porsche suffered a sharp drop in Chinese sales while absorbing the costs of a strategic reversal. Having long prioritised electric vehicles, Porsche is now pivoting back toward combustion engine models. The Volkswagen group had already agreed 35,000 job reduction with trade unions at the end of 2024. According to the announcement made by chief executive Blume in Wolfsburg today, the group plans to cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030, a dramatic escalation of its cost-cutting programme. The current predicament is considered to be more damaging than the 2015 scandal. The Group now expects profitability to improve again in 2026. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

European Commission
10/03/2026 - 16:07 GMT+1  Oil prices soar, EU and US clash over Russia sanctions relief. Since Trump's re-election, Europeans have struggled to keep the US president on their side. In late October the US imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, Russia's two largest oil companies. Russia ended 2025 with a 18% year-on-year drop in revenues from crude oil sales. Brussels then saw a window of opportunity. In early February, the European Commission unveiled a new package of sanctions with a full ban on maritime services, such as insurance, banking and shipping, for Russian crude tankers. The ban is designed to replace the G7 price cap, recently adjusted to $44.10 per barrel, and significantly raise materials costs for vessels carrying Urals. Greece and Malta, with powerful shipping industries, raised concerns about the measure. G7 members have kept quiet about their positions. The G7 price cap, recently was adjusted to $44.10 per barrel. ’Our view is that we must continue to apply the G7 price cap and we must move towards a full maritime services ban,’ Dombrosvkis, the European Commissioner for the Economy said. (Russian Ural's oil daily price now: $90,96.) Hungary and Slovakia have vetoed the 20th package of sanctions over the dispute with Ukraine about the Druzhba pipeline. Yesterday, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called on the Commission to initiate "the review and suspension of sanctions on Russian energy". (His country's purchases of Russian oil and gas remain exempt from sanctions.) That same day, Putin said Russia was ready to resume fossil fuels exports to Europe, free from political pressures. President Trump has suggested suspending US sanctions on foreign oil in an attempt to bring down global prices, reassure panicked investors and contain the fallout from the war he launched. We have sanctions on some countries. We're going to take those sanctions off till this straightens out. Then, who knows? Maybe we won't have to put them on – there'll be so much peace, Trump said yesterday. Trump's press conference was preceded by a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Putin. Last week, Washington introduced a temporary exemption to allow India to buy Russian crude stranded at sea - a major reversal for the Trump administration, which had spent months browbeating New Delhi into ending purchases of Urals oil. The US currently sanctions oil trade with Iran, Venezuela, Syria, North Korea and Russia. In Brussels, officials look at the White House's volte-faces with increasing apprehension. ’They insist the EU will stay the course’. Granting sanctions relief to Russia would be ’self-defeating’, Commissioner Dombrovskis said. ’From the European Union's point of view, the situation is very clear: we must continue to exert maximum pressure on Russia and, indeed, the current oil and gas price spike may provide windfall revenues for Russia,’ Dombrovskis said today, after Trump's announcement and a ministerial meeting. ’Because the opposite would be self-defeating. It would reinforce Russia's capacity to wage war, undermining Ukraine, undermining our support for Ukraine and also undermining the goals which the US and Israel are trying to reach in Iran.’ Russian officials are already anticipating that Russian oil revenues rise. Asian countries dependent on the Middle East might be forced to resort to alternative providers. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

(Tuesday), 10/03/2026 - 10:06 GMT+1  EU energy battles. Speaking of energy, Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico is due to meet commission president der Leyen today on the sidelines of the Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris. PM Fico made the announcement in a video message posted on social media on Sunday evening. The Slovak prime minister has warned that Slovakia could block the European Union’s €90 billion loan package for Ukraine after April if Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán loses Hungary’s election and Kyiv fails to restart oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline. Zelenskyy ’has recently been talking about resuming supplies in a month, which means after the Hungarian elections, where he is counting on the victory of the opposition. The most important message will be that Slovakia is ready to take over the baton from Hungary, if necessary.” PM Fico said. Hungary is currently blocking a loan to Ukraine over the Druzhba pipeline, a key route for Russian oil supplies to Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán called on the European Union to suspend sanctions on Russian energy imports, as prices spike across Europe, amid Iran war. Hungary and Slovakia are the last EU member states importing large amounts of pipeline oil from Russia through the Druzhba pipeline running across Ukrainian territory. Both PM Orbán and PM Fico have accused Ukraine of refusing ’to repair’ the pipeline in order to exert political pressure on Budapest and Bratislava. The Slovakian prime minister has warned against what he describes as the Commission prioritising Ukraine’s interests over those of EU member states such as Slovakia and Hungary. PM Fico said he will urge der Leyen to pressure Zelenskyy to allow the pipeline to be inspected, adding that „Slovakia has satellite evidence suggesting Druzhba remains operational”. Against this backdrop, ’the European Commission will present a new plan today to lower energy costs and tackle energy poverty across the EU, amid soaring energy prices due to the conflict in the Middle East, according to an internal document seen. Executive Vice President Ribera and Energy Commissioner Jørgensen are set to propose measures aimed at lowering electricity costs. The plan includes reducing electricity taxes, making it easier for consumers to switch energy suppliers, and promoting ’energy communities’ in which citizens generate and share renewable power’. According to the Commission, the package ’could cut’ household electricity bills by around 14% and help millions of Europeans gain access to more affordable energy. The push to expand energy communities comes after an audit by the European Court of Auditors found earlier this week that the European Commission had failed to deliver on its pledge to empower local communities to produce and share clean energy. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)
’Liboreiro and Pacheco contributed’

March 10, 2026, Tuesday // 09:43  After a meeting of EU finance and economy ministers, where the steep climb in global energy prices dominated much of the discussion, European Commissioner for the Economy Dombrovskis signaled that the EU is prepared to release its strategic oil reserves should the deteriorating situation in the Middle East demand it. The participants were cautioned: the bloc must brace for a prolonged stretch of instability - one that could bring supply disruptions, further energy price hikes, and inflationary knock-on effects. The scale of the impact will ultimately depend on how long the conflict drags on and how intense it becomes, with stagflation emerging as a real risk over a longer horizon. Dombrovskis was particularly firm on the question of Russia. ’Keeping pressure on Russia prevents it from fueling its war machine’, he said. 'Failure to do so', he argued, 'would undermine Ukraine, EU solidarity, and Western allies more broadly'. ’Securing energy supplies’ and reopening the Strait of Hormuz are priorities, he added. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)

10.03.2026  Speaking at the World Summit on Nuclear Energy in Paris, European Commission President der Leyen today announced a new strategy to accelerate the development of small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs), aiming to have the technology operational across Europe by the early 2030s. She also said Europe once generated roughly one-third of its electricity from nuclear power in 1990, but the share has since fallen to about 15%. It was a strategic mistake for Europe, Der Leyen said. And: the European Commission will introduce 'a €200 million ($231 million)' guarantee to support private investment in innovative nuclear technologies. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

European Council
10/03/2026 - 14:24 GMT+1  Diverging tones in chaotic world. A day after Commission President der Leyen called for an interest-driven foreign policy anchored in realpolitik, seeing the world as it is, not how it should be, European Council President Costa addressing the same conference told ambassadors the EU will always defend the rules-based international order even if others don't. He said the bloc should not tolerate violations of international law citing the United States, Russia, and China, as forces of disruption - from trade to security. Costa referenced the treaties of the EU and the United Nations Charter as the core of its foreign policy action. He also said the EU should call out violations of international law, going from Ukraine, to Greenland, Latin America in a reference to Venezuela, in Gaza and the Middle East. Costa said the people of Iran deserve to live in freedom and peace but suggested that bombs alone will not achieve that as the US-Israeli military operation enters its second week. Der Leyen argued that the war is a fact, and political debates do little to change the course of it.  She was the first EU official to call for a political transition in Iran as the war broke out, aligning with the US and Israel in their push to change the Ayatollah regime. Iran's late Supreme leader Khamenei was killed in the first day of the war. The Commission president's role central has focused on implementing the treaties, drafting legislation and ensuring it is applied across the bloc, while refraining from playing a role in foreign policy or defense, seen as a national competence.  The legitimacy of the war remains a point of tension among EU member states. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called it illegal and escalatory, rejecting an extension of the conflict. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz initially downplayed international law, suggesting that this is not the time for the EU to lecture its allies. Since 2022, der Leyen has enlarged her competences and even set up a security college for her Commission to discuss defense matters in ad hoc consultation body. After the war in Iran broke out, she called an emergency meeting and established direct talks with Middle Eastern leaders. Diplomats consulted by Euronews said her one-off remarks, without consensus from the 27 member states, reflect her position and do not represent the EU. (Source. Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

European Union
10.03.2026  EU temporary protection for non-EU citizens fleeing Ukraine rises to 4.380.000 at the end of January, Eurostat reported today. The total figure increased by 23,110 people, or 0.5%, compared to December 2025. Germany hosted the largest number of beneficiaries with 1.26 million people; Poland followed with 965,990 people and Czechia with 397,185 (9.1%). The highest ratios of protection beneficiaries per thousand residents were found in Czechia (36.4), Poland (26.5), and Slovakia (25.8). Adult women represented 43.5% of the group, while minors accounted for 30.3% and adult men comprised 26.1%. The EU average stood at 9.7 per thousand people. Ukrainian citizens made up 98.4% of the total beneficiaries in the EU. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

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Asia

China
5:10pm, 10 Mar 2026  China has built the world’s largest highway network as it attempts to boost economic growth and stimulate consumer spending through infrastructure investment. But rising geopolitical risks along its borders – fuelled by territorial disputes, conflicts between neighbouring states and Beijing’s concern that terrorism could spill over – have heightened the strategic importance of logistics in frontier regions. China plans to further strengthen its strategic transport network in sensitive border regions over the next five years to fortify and better project power along its remote frontiers amid rising geopolitical uncertainty. In the event of an emergency, personnel and resources could be deployed more quickly to frontier regions, which is crucial for border stability and national defence. One project involves building a 394km highway linking the northern and southern sides of the rugged Tianshan Mountains in far-western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, according to the draft 15th five-year plan released last week. The route will run parallel to a strategic road built in the 1970s to improve military mobility following the 1962 Sino-India border war. Construction of the Dushanzi-Kuqa Highway in central Xinjiang began in September and is expected to finish in 2032. Once completed, it will allow year-round travel and cut journeys across the Tianshan Mountains to half or a third of the time. Under the plan, which outlines China’s policy priorities for the rest of the decade, China aims to complete two highways spanning all nine of its land-border provinces and advance construction of the National Coastal Highway along its east coast that links the port city of Dandong, near North Korea, with Dongxing on the border with Vietnam. It also proposes upgrading the three existing highways running into Tibet. In August, Beijing established the Xinjiang-Tibet Railway Company to oversee the construction of a strategic 1,980km artery between Lhasa in Tibet and Hotan in Xinjiang. Sitting on the Karakoram plateau, Hotan administers the Galwan Valley, the hotly contested area at the centre of the bloody war in 1962 and a deadly clash in 2020 that resulted in months of military stand-off with India and a diplomatic chill between the two Asian powers that only began to thaw last year. Following the Galwan clashes, both Beijing and Delhi have significantly ramped up infrastructure construction near border regions. In 2022, China unveiled plans for a new highway between Tibet’s Lhunze and Xinjiang’s Mazha that will run near disputed areas, such as the Depsang Plains, the Galwan Valley and Hot Springs on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In 2024, the Indian government approved a plan to build the 1,637km Arunachal Frontier Highway, which is expected to connect 12 districts and 1,683 villages along the LAC, according to The Times of India. The construction pushes have sparked diplomatic tension. In January, India’s external affairs ministry lodged a protest over China’s road construction in Shaksgam Valley, which is administered by China as part of the Kashgar prefecture in Xinjiang. India, which sees the region as part of its territory, called the Chinese construction an illegal occupation, while the Chinese foreign ministry responded that the area belongs to China, adding that it was fully justified in conducting infrastructure construction on its own territory. (Source: South China Morning Post)

2026-03-10 10:08  China today noted that keeping the Strait of Hormuz secure is vital for global energy supplies. Geng, spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, underscored Beijing’s focus on halting military conflict, noting that China’s special envoy for Middle East affairs plans to travel across the region to support stability and encourage dialogue among all parties involved. Stressing the importance of safeguarding shipping lanes and oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, he urged the international community to cooperate in preserving stability. Earlier today, US President Trump threatened Iran with a strike ’20 times stronger’ than anything it has faced if the country moves to block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz which handles roughly 4.5% of total global trade annually. Oil prices jumped more than 20% yesterday to their highest levels since July 2022. (Source: Shafaq News - Kurdistan)

India
(11 March 2026)  Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Leavitt described India as a good actor that had previously stopped buying sanctioned Russian oil amid Moscow’s war on Ukraine. “So as we work to appease this temporary gap of oil supply around the world because of the Iranians, we have temporarily permitted them to accept that Russian oil,’ she said. The opposition leader Ramesh today in Congress described remarks by the United States that Washington had ’temporarily permitted’ India to accept Russian oil as a ’capitulation certificate’ for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The recent waiver follows earlier tensions between the US and India over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian crude oil. The Trump administration had in August imposed a punitive levy on India for buying oil from Russia amid the Ukraine war. This had taken the combined US tariff rate to 50%. On February 7, Trump issued an executive order to remove the additional 25% punitive tariff on imports from India over New Delhi’s purchase of Russian oil. This brought the effective US tariff rate on Indian imports to 18% after the interim trade deal was agreed to. On March 5, the US had granted Indian refiners a 30-day waiver to buy Russian oil stranded at sea amid the conflict in West Asia. (Source: Scroll – India)

Iran
(Wednesday), 10:39-11 March 2026 AD ـ 22 Ramadan  Iran's Kharg Island, about 25 kilometers south of the mainland in the north of the Gulf hosts the country's main crude export terminal and is responsible for the overwhelming majority of its oil shipments to the world. Kharg underwent key developments during Iran's oil expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, with much of the country's coast too shallow for supertankers. The island handles roughly 90 percent of Iran's crude exports. Any attempt to seize it would mark a major escalation in the conflict. The US and Israel have so far treaded carefully around the island. But an Axios report over the weekend cited Trump administration officials saying capturing Kharg was on the table as the war in the Middle East persists. Iran has looked to diversify its export capabilities by opening the Jask terminal outside the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint in the Gulf of Oman in 2021, but Kharg remains a critical vulnerability for Iran. ’A direct strike would immediately halt the bulk of Iran's crude exports, likely triggering severe retaliation in the Strait of Hormuz or against regional energy infrastructure,’ JP Morgan said. It is a cornerstone of Iran's economy and a major source of revenue for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, JP Morgan added. Over the weekend, the director of the White House National Energy Dominance Council, Agen, told Fox News that ’what we want to do is get such massive oil reserves in Iran out of the hands of terrorists’. Also in recent days, the Washington Post reported heightened speculation that US ground forces could be being prepared to deploy, citing analysts saying Kharg Island would be an early target. Not a wise move during combat, when Kharg is almost an entire island of oil facilities and pipelines and tank farms. Iranian strikes have all but halted maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and have also impacted oil infrastructure in other Gulf states. Iran - the fourth-biggest crude producer within the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) -- vowed not one liter of oil would be exported from the Gulf while the war continues. Any attack on its infrastructure would get an eye for an eye response, it said. On Saturday, Israel launched its first attack of the war on oil facilities in Iran. It said they were used to operate military infrastructure. The same day, Israeli opposition leader Lapid argued for stronger steps, saying in an X post: ’Israel needs to destroy all of Iran's oil fields and energy industry on Kharg Island; that's what will crush Iran's economy and bring down the regime.’ (Source: Asharq Al-Awsat - based in London, United Kingdom, owned by a member of the Saudy royal family)

11.03.2026  Funeral ceremonies for slain military commanders, including former Revolutionary Guards commander Pakpour, former armed forces chief of staff Mosavi, and former Defense Council chief Shamkhani, are set to take place in Tehran today afternoon. Iran’s military threatened today to launch retaliatory attacks on American and Israeli banks in the region following an airstrike on a bank in Tehran. A spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the unified command of Iran’s armed forces, said that a bank in the Iranian capital was struck by the US and Israel yesterday, adding that it has left Iran’s armed forces with the right to target economic centers and banks belonging to the US and Israel across the region. The spokesperson also urged people in countries hosting US and Israeli banks to stay out of a one-kilometre radius of these facilities. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Mar 10, 2026  Ten days into President Trump's Iran campaign, the war has gone global. At least 20 countries are now militarily involved - shooting, shielding or quietly supplying - while a widening energy shock punishes nations far from the front lines. Iran has struck at least 10 countries since the war began, hitting U.S. and Israeli bases, Persian Gulf capitals, oil infrastructure and civilian areas in an attempt to impose maximum pain on Washington and its allies, and has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. Prices for oil, gas, plastics and fertilizers are soaring across the globe. Israel is fighting on two fronts - pounding Iran while battling Hezbollah on the ground in Lebanon, where more than 500,000 people have been displaced in a week. The war is pulling European militaries into the conflict, forcing NATO to shoot down Iranian missiles over allied territory. France has dispatched its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to the Eastern Mediterranean, joining British warships after an ’Iranian-made drone’ struck a U.K. air base on Cyprus, a member of the European Union. Greece and Turkey - bitter rivals within NATO - also have rushed forces to Cyprus, where their fighter jets now face each other across a partition line that has divided the island for 50 years. Australia said yesterday it's sending missiles and a radar plane to help the UAE and other Gulf countries defend themselves from Iran. Russia has been sharing satellite imagery of U.S. warships and aircraft with Iran, the Washington Post first reported. China, which is set to welcome Trump for a state visit in a matter of weeks, ’is navigating the war from both sides’. It has been calling for a ceasefire and pressuring Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Beijing relies on for roughly 40% of its oil imports. U.S. intelligence shows China may be preparing to supply Iran with financial assistance, spare parts and missile components, according to CNN. India is back to buying Russian oil after the U.S. waived sanctions to help manage the energy crisis. (Source: Axios – U.S.)

10.03.2026  Late yesterday, in an interview with CNN, Kharazi, a foreign policy adviser to the office of Iran’s supreme leader ruled out diplomacy and said Tehran is prepared for a prolonged war with Washington and may continue attacking Gulf countries to pressure them to urge US President Trump to step back from the conflict. ’Trump had been deceiving others and not keeping with his promises, and we experienced this in two times of negotiations - that while we were engaged in negotiation, they struck us,’ Kharazi told CNN yesterday. Asked whether Iran’s military and leadership remain unified, Kharazi said they do. “The responsibility of the leader of Islamic Republic of Iran is to lead the defense capability of Iran, and therefore, as Ayatollah Khamenei was doing that, now the new leader would do that,” he added. Trump said last week that Mojtaba’s appointment as his father, Khamenei’s successor would be ’unacceptable’ to him. “That is not his business,” Kharazi said. Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf countries that are home to US military assets. Iran also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which normally handles about 20 million barrels of oil shipments daily and around 20% of global liquefied natural gas trade, most of which is destined for Asian markets, also cutting off the region’s large exports of crop nutrients used in fertilizer production. The supply shock, combined with rising energy and freight costs, is expected to increase pressure on global food supply chains and contribute to higher food prices worldwide. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Iraq
(Tuesday), Mar. 10, 2026  Kataib al-Imam Ali, which makes up the PMF's 40th Brigade, today said that 'a cowardly American attack' targeting one of its bases in Kirkuk's Dibis had killed four of its fighters. Shortly after the pro-Iran group's announcement, Iraq's Joint Operations Command condemned the attack as 'a blatant attack on Iraq.' On Saturday, another position of Kataib al-Imam Ali was attacked in the Qayyarah town south of Mosul, in which at least one person was killed. Iran-backed Iraqi factions have claimed responsibility for several recent attacks on US interests in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, including the US Embassy in Baghdad, the Consulate General in Erbil, and American military bases. The attacks have also targeted bases of Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups, the Turkish consulate in Sulaimani, the Emirati consulate in Erbil, and civilian infrastructure like hotels and telecommunication towers. At least three people have so far been killed in the attacks on the Kurdistan Region. (Source: The NewRegion - headquartered in Erbil Governorate, Iraq)

March 10, 2026, 8:19 AM  The most important question: why this war has erupted at this particular moment, and what ’the major powers’ seek to achieve through it. The most common explanation links the war directly to Iran: its nuclear programme, its missile capabilities and its regional influence. Iran may be the immediate target, but it is not the only objective. The first dimension relates to Israel. Iran is not merely a hostile state; it is a country with a large industrial, military and demographic base, capable of developing advanced military programmes and building a network of regional influence that stretches across several countries. The deeper objective is to eliminate Iran’s ability to re-emerge in the future as a threatening regional power. This explains why some strands of Israeli strategic thinking go beyond simply targeting Iran’s nuclear or missile programmes, extending instead to weakening the Iranian state itself or altering the nature of the system that governs it. The war unfolding today appears closer to an attempt to reshape the balance of power in the Middle East. Since the fall of Saddam’s regime in Iraq in 2003, a new regional order has emerged, characterised by a fragile balance among several key powers: Iran, Turkey, Israel and the Gulf states. This balance enabled Iran to expand its influence across several regional arenas, making it a central actor in the region’s strategic equations. The current war may represent an attempt to redraw this balance. Iran emerges weakened or exhausted, thereby opening the way for a new regional order in which Israel assumes a greater economic and military role, alongside an expanded role for other regional powers. The third dimension relates to Iran’s ability to threaten maritime navigation or target energy infrastructure - a strategic concern for countries ’around the world, primarily the US’. Weakening Iran militarily could effectively secure the flow of global energy in the Gulf region and the Strait of Hormuz under a security umbrella led by Washington, thereby strengthening its capacity to influence one of the most vital levers of the global economy. The fourth dimension concerns great power competition. In recent years, Iran has strengthened its relations with both Russia and China, in military as well as economic spheres. In some western strategic circles, this growing alignment has been viewed as part of a broader axis seeking to reduce western influence in the Middle East. From this perspective, weakening Iran could also reduce the scope of Russian and Chinese influence in the region. And there is the dimension of military dominance. The region remains a strategic crossroads within the international system for the US at the intersection of global trade routes, energy flows and vital maritime corridors. One of the war’s unstated objectives may be to send a broader deterrent message within the international system, reasserting American military dominance in the region. In light of these factors, the current war may represent a moment of profound transformation in the regional order of the Middle East. The region could change significantly, potentially giving rise to a new regional order. Political and security vacuums’ effects of a weakened emerged Iran may extend across a number of countries in the region. For Iraq, the post-war phase represents both a challenge and an opportunity. By virtue of its geography and its political and economic relations with Iran, the Gulf states and the US, Iraq is likely to be among the countries most affected by the outcome of this war. It becomes essential for Iraqi foreign policy to adopt a pragmatic approach built on three fundamental principles. The first is to insulate Iraq from regional conflicts and prevent its territory from becoming a battleground among competing powers as much as is feasibly possible. The second is to maintain balanced relations with major international and regional actors, enabling Baghdad to act as a bridge for dialogue rather than as an arena of confrontation. The third principle is to use regional transformations as leverage to strengthen Iraq’s role as a balancing state in the region – capable of playing a greater political and economic role within the emerging regional order. (Source: The National – United Arab Emirates)
by Alaaldin, a foreign affairs adviser to the Prime Minister of Iraq

Israel
10.03.2026  Israel said today that a total of 2,339 injured people, including both civilians and soldiers, have been admitted to hospitals since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran on Feb. 28. At least 191 injured people were admitted to hospitals in the past 24 hours. 95 people are currently hospitalized, including one in critical condition. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

March 10, 2026 at 8:55 am  Speaking yesterday, an Israeli official has criticised remarks by US President Trump suggesting the war with Iran is close to ending, saying: ’Nothing has been completed yet’. ’Our initial assessment was that the battle would take about two weeks,’ the senior Israeli official said, reported by Israel’s privately owned Channel 15 television, which did not name the official. Earlier yesterday evening, Trump told CBS News that the war was nearly over. He said: ’I think the war is very complete, pretty much. They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force.’ He added: the US is ’very far’ ahead of his initial 4-5 week estimated time frame for the war. (Source: Middle East Monitor – located in London, United Kingdom, financed by the State of Qatar)

Jordan
10 March 2026 12:21 (UTC +04:00)  On the night of March 10, a missile strike was launched at the military base in Al-Azraq, Jordan, where Bundeswehr and U.S. Air Force personnel are stationed. The missiles were launched from Iran. One of the projectiles hit a building where the FRG contingent was housed, however, the military personnel were in shelters at the time of the attack, so no one was injured. The Bundeswehr has been at the Al-Azraq base for several years, participating from there in the international coalition against the terrorist group islamic state. (Source: APA – Azerbaijan)

Lebanon
(Wednesday), 05:12-11 March 2026 AD ـ 22 Ramadan  The Israeli military ordered reinforcements to the area bordering Lebanon including its elite Golani Brigade. It has also sent more soldiers into south Lebanon, where some of its troops had remained since 2024, establishing what it has called forward defensive positions to guard against the risk of Hezbollah attacks on northern Israel. Hezbollah fighters were braced for the possibility of a full-scale Israeli invasion of the south. Around 5:30 a.m. (0330 GMT) an Israeli strike hit an apartment block in central Beirut today in Aisha Bakkar neighborhood, beyond the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs where heavy bombardment continued. On Sunday, an Israeli strike hit a hotel in the seafront Raouche neighborhood. The Israeli military said that strike killed five senior members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, which established Hezbollah in 1982. Israel kept up heavy strikes on the southern suburbs, known as Dahieh, overnight and into today, sending towers of smoke billowing across the skyline. Israel has ordered residents of Dahieh to leave, along with residents of a swathe of southern Lebanon and parts of the east - all areas where Hezbollah has a grip on security and political sway. Since March 2, Israeli strikes have killed 570 people in Lebanon, and uprooted 700,000 more, Lebanese authorities say. Adding to the death toll, Israeli strikes killed seven people in the eastern Bekaa Valley today morning, and another seven in south Lebanon. After fleeing their homes, around 100,000 people are in organized shelters. France will provide 60 metric tons of humanitarian aid for Lebanon, French Foreign Minister Barrot said. (Source: Asharq Al-Awsat - based in London, United Kingdom, owned by a member of the Saudy royal family)

10.03.2026  Israel and the US launched a joint attack on Iran on Feb. 28. The conflict spilled over to Lebanon, with Israel launching deadly airstrikes that have so far killed nearly 500 people and displaced thousands. The Israeli army launched attacks in southern Lebanon today, shortly after issuing in a statement on the US social media company X immediate evacuation orders for residents in areas south of the Litani River to move north ahead of attacks. The army also ordered immediate evacuation orders for residents in the coastal cities of Tyre and Sidon ahead of attacks against what Tel Aviv described as Hezbollah infrastructure. It called on residents of buildings marked in red on the attached maps, as well as nearby structures, to evacuate immediately and move at least 300 meters away. Two airstrikes targeted the towns of Deir Siryan and Taybeh in Marjayoun. Fighter jets also struck a building in Aabbasiyyeh town in Tyre. The Israeli army confirmed that its aircraft bombed what it called Hezbollah infrastructure in the town of Ansariyah in southern Lebanon. The army said airstrikes yesterday targeted assets and cash storage facilities belonging to Al-Qard Al-Hassan, claiming the funds are used by the group to purchase weapons, and pay Hezbollah fighters. In recent days, Israeli forces have carried out airstrikes on facilities linked to the association at multiple locations across Lebanon, including the capital Beirut. The attacks came as Israeli forces attempted to advance on the ground in southern Lebanon amid cross-border attacks with Hezbollah. Earlier today, Hezbollah said its fighters engaged in intense clashes with the advancing Israeli force in Khiam, damaging two Merkava tanks. It also said it targeted an Israeli force with rockets as it attempted to infiltrate toward the border town of Houla. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

Oman
Mar 11, 2026, 10:15 AM CDT  Today, Iranian drones struck oil storage facilities at the Port of Salalah, located on Oman’s southern coast along the Arabian Sea. Fuel storage tanks at the port were hit in the strike. No merchant vessels in the area were damaged. The strike raises fresh concerns that Iran is expanding the conflict beyond the Gulf chokepoint and into alternative export routes used by oil producers and shipping companies. Earlier this month, drones hit a fuel storage tank at the Port of Duqm in Oman, another strategic energy hub located outside the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also targeted vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz today, according to statements from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reported by Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency. The Thai-flagged bulk carrier Mayuree Naree and the Liberian-flagged Express Rome vessel was struck by Iranian projectiles after ignoring warnings from Iranian naval forces, according to the statement. According to the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), at least 13 vessels have been attacked across the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, and Gulf of Oman since hostilities began on February 28 following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory response. With attacks now targeting ports, storage facilities, and commercial shipping simultaneously, analysts warn the conflict is increasingly evolving into a broader campaign aimed at disrupting the Middle East’s energy supply network. (Source: OilPrice.com – Global)

Persian Gulf
11/03/2026 - 11:33  Iran continues to target Gulf states. Dubai airport, Qatar, and Saudi oil field among targets of Iranian drones. (Source: France 24)
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(March 10, 2026) 8:44 PM CET  There are currently about 400 oil and product tankers idle in the Gulf. One oil tanker passed through the Strait of Hormuz without incident yesterday, according to data from MarineTraffic, a project that tracks the movement of vessels around the globe using publicly available data. (Source: AP - U.S.)

Qatar
11/03/2026 - 11:24  Iran adoption a strategy of 'war of attrition on several fronts' (Source: France24)
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Strait of Hormuz
March 11, 2026, Wednesday // 11:40  The Revolutionary Guard emphasized it would not allow even a single litre of oil to leave the region for hostile countries until further notice. The US Central Command reported destroying 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels yesterday. President Trump confirmed on social media that the US had taken pre-emptive measures against the vessels. Trump assured lawmakers that US operations were significantly ahead of schedule and predicted the war might end “very soon.” Casualties among US forces continue to mount, with the Pentagon reporting seven deaths and around 140 injuries, mostly minor, among service members. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed that military action would continue until Iran and its regional proxies no longer posed a threat to his country. Contrasting with Trump’s optimistic timeline, the conflict shows no signs of de-escalation, both Iran and Israel continue to engage in heavy exchanges of fire. Early today, Iran and Israel exchanged additional strikes, with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia intercepting multiple Iranian drones targeting oil facilities. Residents in Tehran described some of the heaviest strikes they had witnessed since the war began, with reports of damaged residential buildings and civilians seeking refuge in the countryside. Iranian casualties have been significant, with at least 1,230 reported killed. Lebanon and Israel reported over 480 and 12 deaths, respectively. (Source: Novinite - Bulgaria)

09:17-11 March 2026 AD ـ 22 Ramadan  Three vessels have been hit by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz today. The Japan-flagged container ship One Majesty had sustained minor damage from an unknown projectile 46 km northwest of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates. Its crew members are safe and the vessel is sailing towards a safe anchorage. The Thailand-flagged bulk carrier Mayuree Naree was targeted and damaged north of Oman. The fire had been extinguished, there was no environmental impact. Necessary crew remained on the vessel. The Marshall Islands-flagged Star Gwyneth, a bulk carrier, was also hit by an unknown projectile approximately 50 miles northwest of Dubai. The vessel's crew were safe. There were no reports of Iran planting explosives in the Strait of Hormuz, US President Trump said in social media posts. The US said it took out more than a dozen minelaying Iranian vessels yesterday to help prevent any attempt to close the waterway. Some tankers, believed linked to Iran, are continuing to get through the Strait of Hormuz. Seven ships had passed through the strait since March 8. Of those, five were linked to Iranian-associated shipping. Iran has restarted crude exports through its Jask oil terminal on the Gulf of Oman. A tanker loaded roughly 2 million barrels at Jask on March 7. (Source: Asharq Al-Awsat - based in London, United Kingdom, owned by a member of the Saudy royal family)

(March 10, 2026)  Iran has begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. The mining is not extensive yet, with a few dozen having been laid in recent days. Iran still retains upward of 80% to 90% of its small boats and mine layers, so its forces could feasibly lay hundreds of mines in the waterway. Severe volatility was on the crude oil market today, with the price per barrel fluctuating between more than $90 and less than $80 in a series of peaks and valleys. Nearly 15 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude production, plus another 4.5 million bpd of refined fuels, are now effectively stranded in the Gulf. Producers like Iraq and Kuwait have no alternative to shipping oil through Hormuz. US Central Command said in a social media post later today that the military destroyed multiple Iranian naval ships - including 16 minelayers - near the Strait of Hormuz. (Source: CNN – U.S.)

United Arab Emirates
March 11, 2026 at 10:25 am  In a statement issued early today Houthi- and Hezbollah-linked group calling itself the Brigades of the True Promise in the Arabian Peninsula threatens to target Barakah nuclear facility in Abu Dhabi. (Source: Middle East Monitor - located in London, United Kingdom, financed by the State of Qatar)

(10 March 2026)  The UAE is considering a crackdown on Iran’s financial assets. Estimates range high, could be $20 billion to $50 billion or more. The figure includes Iran-linked trade, real estate, gold, and corporate accounts. Annual UAE-Iran trade is about $27 billion, with Emirati exports to Tehran amounting to $22 billion. The UAE has long been Iran's gateway to the world, it has implicitly allowed a number of Iranian businesses and individuals to operate in the shadows, away from the sanctions spotlight cast by the treasury departments of Western governments. Iran uses shell companies registered in Dubai’s free-trade zones to mask the origin of its oil. Iran-linked entities conduct business through hundreds of shell companies in the UAE that sell oil, petrochemicals, and other commodities to global buyers. The UAE allows this in self-interest, as Abu Dhabi balances its US military alliance with Iran ties. A large Iranian diaspora of about 400,000 people forms the backbone of the UAE workforce, while Iranian capital boosts the Emirati property market. The UAE’s potential freezing of Iran-linked assets can mirror the West’s actions against Russia. Gulf states once criticised the West for freezing the assets of the Central Bank of Russia to browbeat Moscow into ending the war against Ukraine. Freezing assets can spark further Iranian attacks on key infrastructure, such as ports and refineries, analysts say. The UAE’s real estate market can face a slump, while its image as a neutral destination for investments and tourists from around the world remains at stake. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)

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Caribbean

Haiti
10 March 2026 10:32 (UTC +04:00)  Haitian security forces, with support from Vectus Global, have carried out anti-gang operations using quadcopter drones strapped with explosives, often in densely populated parts of the capital Port-au-Prince. Since last March, explosive drone strikes by Haitian security forces targeting gangs have killed 1,243 people, Human Rights Watch said in a report today. The strikes also injured 738 people. Vectus Global is a private U.S.-based military company led by Blackwater founder Prince. The operations have ramped up in recent months - from November to January there were nearly double the number of drone operations compared with the prior three months. The drones can maneuver between buildings and moving vehicles while their controllers track suspects using live video feeds. The U.S. charge d'affaires in Haiti told a Senate committee last month that the State Department had licensed Vectus to export its services to Haiti. A spokesperson for the U.N.-backed Gang Suppression Force in Haiti declined to comment. Despite Kenyan, U.S. and U.N. support, armed gangs have expanded well beyond the capital and security forces have yet to capture a major gang leader. The gangs have killed thousands, displaced over a million and crippled the economy. The U.N.'s human rights chief said last October the drone strikes were disproportionate and likely unlawful. Last month, the United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) said it had no indications the deaths and injuries were being investigated. HRW said there was no evidence drones were being used widely by gangs. (Source: APA - Azerbaijan „citing Reuters” – United Kingdom)

North America

United States
March 11, 2026  ' A summary of the Iran war, so far. As it stands now, the United States and Israel are conducting an air war that appears bent on destroying Iran’s nuclear program. Both see a nuclear weapon as dangerous to themselves, regardless of how it’s delivered. It’s unclear whether Iran can build a deliverable nuclear weapon, but even if there’s a small possibility, it could lead to catastrophic consequences. The first U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear development program having only partially succeeded, the U.S. and Israel then mounted a far broader aerial assault to bring about a second objective: to force regime change or, failing that, inflict enough damage to elongate the recovery time, during which perhaps a more prudent government might emerge. The anti-regime demonstrations that had filled the streets and resulted in many deaths made regime change appear a possible outcome of a military attack ending Iran’s nuclear program (as the primary goal) and creating an Iran that would be less destabilizing to the region. A new supreme leader has since been appointed to head the government, of the same demeanor as the last one. But he is perhaps less powerful because he seems to be sharing decision-making with the head of the Supreme National Security Council and does not seem to have full control over Iran’s primary military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Given the destruction of much of the governing system, including its leadership, and national infrastructure – meaning, a loss of command and control and a semi-functional government – it seems as though the IRGC is executing operations under decisions made by its own commanders by default, perhaps according to its own preference. This is evident in the fact that the Iranian president – considered weak because he is a reformist – apologized to countries in the region that were attacked by drones and missiles in the opening stages of the conflict. It seems likely that the IRGC acted as a military force without political guidance, striking long and deep at all threats, that the first strike left it playing the roles of both military force and decision-maker. The government’s apologies were designed to limit the degree to which the attacked nations would join the Western-led hostilities. It follows from this that the primary goal of the U.S and Israel is to cripple or systematically destroy the IRGC before the new government becomes effective, putting it militarily impotent, in a vulnerable and even desperate situation. The IRGC is a well-armed and trained organization with both ground forces and sophisticated weapons, including drones and missiles. It is widely dispersed throughout Iran, where it is responsible for internal security as well as conventional ground warfare. The group’s drone and missile systems would need to be resupplied with new weapons from storage areas. The primary mission for the U.S. and Israel is to identify the logistical system supplying these dispersed forces and destroy them. These logistics networks are identifiable by satellite, immobile and located far from major population centers. Much of the combat between U.S. and Israeli forces on one hand and the IRGC on the other would take place in remote locations, rather than in cities. Only a few Western aircraft have been shot down, which means either that Iranian air defense systems are ineffective or destroyed, or that the information coming out of Iran is limited. Another vital dimension to this war: oil. In the long run, it is likely that the IRGC will be crippled and that other oil producers will increase production, or that Russian oil, under U.S. pressure now, will flow more readily. This is the war’s shelf life for the U.S. and Israel. They need to end it before prices, particularly in the U.S., rise dramatically - Iran is a less important issue than the cost of living. Iran has attempted to close the Strait of Hormuz. If this creates enough sensitivity to, say, energy prices, it would be a fundamental problem for the U.S. and, as such, would undermine the war effort. „The Strait of Hormuz seems to me to be the critical place where the war will be largely decided”. Sending troops into Iran to occupy it, even with limited opposition, would be difficult and tremendously expensive. A war in Iran would likely be very long and unsuccessful. The key to the war will be the battle to keep Hormuz open as air power shatters the IRGC – something that could potentially be done in months, not decades. The IRGC has not completely halted its attacks on other oil-producing states in the region. Increasing production in other parts of the world can be difficult and time-consuming. If the new Iranian government is unwilling or unable to rein in the IRGC, and it intensifies attacks on regional oil facilities, what could follow would be a significant decline in global oil capability and a dramatic uptick in prices, threatening the global economy. If the IRGC is able to renew its attacks on regional oil producers, simply keeping the strait open would not by itself eliminate the threat of a global economic crisis. This leaves the U.S. and other oil consumers in an extreme economic crisis that will take time to recover from, even after production is resumed. This scenario would leave Trump facing a political crisis in the United States. Washington, then, has three options. The first is to try to cripple the IRGC’s missile and drone capabilities quickly. ’The second is to create’ a new regime that is able and willing to take control over the IRGC. The third is to battle it out in the Strait of Hormuz. It could also pursue a combination of the three, with each facing severe challenges. This brings us to Russia and China. Russia’s army is fighting in Ukraine, and it stands to benefit greatly from the destruction of oil production in the Middle East – which would give Moscow much-needed money and political leverage. China even has diversified its sources of energy, high oil prices would still hurt its economy, dependent as it still is on exports. The Chinese foreign minister has condemned the attacks, even as he confirmed that Trump would meet with President Xi in late March (earlier than the original date). Given China’s exposure, and given the ongoing negotiations between Washington and Beijing, ’China is unlikely' to provide military assistance to Iran. The consequences of the war come down to whether Tehran can or will control the IRGC, or whether the U.S. and Israel will risk launching an even greater attack. The stakes are now getting higher globally, with the most likely option being that the U.S. will destroy the IRGC. From a military standpoint, the fundamental question is whether these goals can be reached primarily from manned and unmanned air power, given that a ground war would likely be long and costly in terms of both lives and money, due to Iran’s size. If airstrikes cannot achieve the goal, the unknown is whether in the end the U.S. would follow with a ground war, which has been since World War II very costly and in many cases a failure.  '  (Source: Geopolitical Futures - U.S.)
By Dr. Friedman, an internationally recognized geopolitical forecaster and strategist on international affairs and the founder and chairman of Geopolitical Futures. He holds a doctorate in government from Cornell University. His book, THE STORM BEFORE THE CALM: America’s Discord, the Coming Crisis of the 2020s, and the Triumph Beyond, published February 25, 2020 describes how ’the United States periodically reaches a point of crisis in which it appears to be at war with itself, yet after an extended period it reinvents itself, in a form both faithful to its founding and radically different from what it had been.” The decade 2020-2030 is such a period which will bring dramatic upheaval and reshaping of American government, foreign policy, economics, and culture. His most popular book, The Next 100 Years, is kept alive by the prescience of its predictions. Other best-selling books include Flashpoints: The Emerging Crisis in Europe, The Next Decade, America’s Secret War, The Future of War and The Intelligence Edge. His books have been translated into more than 20 languages. For almost 20 years before resigning in May 2015, Dr. Friedman was CEO and then chairman of Stratfor, a company he founded in 1996.

(March 10, 2026) 7:35 PM CET  About 140 US troops have been wounded in the Iran war, including 8 severely. “The vast majority of these injuries have been minor, and 108 service members have already returned to duty,” Pentagon spokesman Parnell said. Eight U.S. service members are currently 'severely injured,' Parnell added. Retaliatory rocket and drone strikes from Iran have also claimed the lives of seven soldiers in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. (Source: AP - U.S.)

(March 10, 2026) 4:41 PM CET  First 2 days of Iran war cost the US $5 billion in munitions alone. An estimate the Pentagon sent to Congress does not appear to include other war-related expenses besides munitions. The war is currently in its 11th day. (Source: AP - U.S.)

14:08, 10 Mar 2026  To date, the US has a total of six unaccounted-for nuclear warheads from 32 documented Broken Arrow accidents. One incident in 1958 involved a fully-armed B-47 carrying a Mark 15 hydrogen bomb, which dropped its nuclear bomb following a mid-air collision. The weapon was never retrieved despite initial assertions it was a dummy. The B-47 was transporting a 7,600-pound Mark 15 hydrogen thermonuclear bomb. The Mark 15 possessed an explosive yield of 3.8 megatons, 190 times more devastating than the Fat Man bomb, which flattened Nagasaki. The B-47 sustained damage, the pilot worried the bomb might explode and released the Mark 15 into the waters of Wassaw Sound, near Tybee Island. Over 100 Navy personnel searched for the jettisoned Mark 15. The search continued for two months, and they discovered nothing. The Air Force informed the public that the bomb's plutonium warhead had been removed before the flight and replaced with a lead substitute. Decades later, in 1994, documents released from a 1966 Congressional testimony revealed the Tybee Mark 15 was actually an intact nuclear weapon. In 1966, a B-28 thermonuclear bomb was lost in the Mediterranean Sea following a collision between two U.S. military aircraft, and its warhead remains missing. One Spanish shrimp fisherman witnessed the misshapen white package descend. It was one of four B28 thermonuclear bombs that had been dispersed after two US military aircraft collided over the Mediterranean. Three of the B-28s were recovered on land but the warhead has never been located. (Source: Mirror - United Kingdom)

(11.03.2026)  US President Trump said yesterday that the United States will build its first new oil refinery in five decades with investment from Indian billionaire Ambani’s Reliance Industries. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump described the project as a historic $300 billion deal, the biggest in US history, thanking India’s largest private energy company, Reliance Industries, for the investment. Reliance Industries, which operates the world’s largest refinery complex in Jamnagar, India, has a market capitalisation of about $206 billion. „The cleanest refinery in the world” will be built at the port of Brownsville, Texas, and is expected to process 100 percent American shale oil. The refinery is being developed by America First Refining. The company said it received a nine-figure investment from a global energy major at a 10-figure valuation but did not disclose the investor. America First Refining also said the same investor has signed a 20-year agreement to purchase, process and distribute US-produced shale oil. According to the company, the facility will process about 1.2 billion barrels of US light shale oil valued at $125 billion and produce roughly 50 billion gallons of refined products worth around $175 billion. (Source: TRT World - Turkey)

10.03.2026  The Trump administration is mulling a ground operation to retrieve Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium, believed to be sitting in a storage facility deep underground, according to military officials who spoke to CNN. They said that the move would require a significant number of US ground troops, not just a special forces operation - mark of ’the first major commitment of US ground forces to the war.’ Much of the uranium is believed to be at Iran’s Isfahan nuclear site. The military escalation would put a large number of troops in danger, as it would require a complex mission to safely recover and transport a large amount of highly radioactive material. US intelligence agencies believe the Iranians who have been working to clear the debris from damage to Isfahan facility’s above ground facilities caused by US military air strikes in June last year, have access to the underground tunnels where the uranium was hidden. Officials believe that 200 kilograms of uranium is probably still at the Isfahan site. Iran’s uranium is currently enriched at around 60%, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency. Additional radioactive material also believed to be stored at Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility. Iran has claimed that it uses the uranium only for peaceful energy purposes. Experts said enriching the material above a certain threshold - around 90% - means it can be used to create nuclear weapons. Trump has repeatedly said that Iran can never be allowed to have a nuclear weapons program. ’One thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon’, the president said last month. (Source: Anadolu Agency - Turkey)

(Tuesday), March 10, 2026 9:51 AM (= 02:51 CET)  Trump, Putin talk of war and peace as US weighs easing Russian oil sanctions. US President Trump and Russian counterpart discussed on Monday the war in Iran and prospects for peace in Ukraine, just hours after the Kremlin chief warned that a global energy crisis threatened the world economy, cautioning that oil production dependent on transport through the Strait of Hormuz could soon come to a halt. The Kremlin said Trump called Putin, in the leaders' first telephone call this year, and they discussed Russian ideas for a speedy end to the conflict in Iran, the military situation in Ukraine and the impact of Venezuela on the global oil market. The US and Israeli attack on Iran triggered the biggest spike in oil prices since the turmoil following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Gulf producers reduce output after the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. "I had a very good call with President Putin," Trump told a press conference at his Florida golf club, adding that Putin wanted to be helpful on Iran. "I said, 'You could be more helpful by getting the Ukraine-Russia war over with. That will be more helpful." Putin said Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter and holder of its biggest natural gas reserves, was ready to work again with European customers if they wanted to return to long-term co-operation. Amid the turmoil on global energy markets, Trump's administration is considering reducing oil sanctions on Russia, with an announcement possible as soon as Monday, according to three sources familiar with the planning. The move would be intended to boost world supplies of oil following massive disruptions to Middle East shipments from the expanding conflict. It could also complicate US efforts to deprive Russia of revenue for its war in Ukraine. Talks could cover broad sanctions relief as well as more targeted options for certain countries, such as India, to buy Russian oil without fear of US penalties, including tariffs. "We're also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices. So we have sanctions on some countries. We're going to take those sanctions off until this straightens out," Trump told reporters, without identifying the countries. "Then who knows, maybe we won't have to put them on; there'll be so much peace. But when the time comes, the US Navy and its partners will escort tankers through the Strait if needed." Last week, the United States allowed India to temporarily buy Russian crude oil already on tankers at sea, to help it cope with the cuts to Middle East supply. On Friday, Treasury Secretary Bessent said the United States could free more Russian oil from sanctions. Russia's special presidential envoy on investment, Dmitriev, said on Saturday he was discussing the issue with Washington. Kremlin foreign policy aide Ushakov said the discussion with Trump was "very substantial" and "likely to have practical significance for further work between the two countries". Ushakov said Trump believed it was in the US interest to see a "rapid end to the conflict in Ukraine with a ceasefire and a long-term settlement". (Source: AsiaOne Singapore / Reuters - United Kingdom)

 Space

March 10, 2026 / 10:35 AM EDT  A 1,300-pound NASA probe is set to re-enter Earth's atmosphere today, nearly 14 years after it was launched. The Van Allen Probe A, which was launched in August 2012, is likely to reenter Earth's atmosphere around 7:45 p.m. ET today. There is a 24-hour margin of uncertainty. Most of the probe is expected to burn up as it reenters the atmosphere, NASA said, although some components are expected to survive re-entry. 'There is a 1 in 4,200 chance of anyone on Earth being harmed', NASA said, noting that the risk is low. The probe and a twin spacecraft, Van Allen Probe B, were sent to explore Earth's permanent radiation belts and determine how particles within them are gained and lost. (Source: CBS News - U.S.)

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European Commission
March 4, 2026 2:40 pm CET  'EU didn’t want' to reveal names of Covid jab negotiators - but in crisis, we might expect leaders to be more accountable. The Commission’s refusal to release der Leyen's messages came to be known as 'Pfizergate. Commission President der Leyen was coming under fire for her text messages with the CEO of Pfizer, which secured a multibillion-euro agreement with the Commission. The General Court ruled that the Commission was ultimately wrong not to reveal the messages. The Commission signed six advance purchase agreements with pharma companies at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, promising to buy a certain amount of vaccines for European citizens as part of the EU’s bloc-wide approach to tackling the virus. When MEPs made requests for access to documents, the Commission published redacted information. More than 3,000 members of the public, many of them skeptics of the EU’s approach and some hostile to mass vaccination policies, brought a separate legal action against the Commission. Lawyers for both the MEPs and the EU citizens were in court today, arguing in front of a packed public gallery that the Commission should uphold the highest standards of transparency, a “constitutional value.” To laughter in the court, the president of the court Lenaerts repeated the Commission’s argument that disclosing the names of staffers could lead to harassment, 'particularly by conspiracy theorists.' Would disclosing those names “not be the best way of combating these conspiracy theorists?” he asked. The next step in the case will be a legal opinion on June 11 by Advocate-General Rantos. (Source: Politico - U.S.)

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European Union
04/03/2026 - 13:27 GMT+1  What are Europe's oil route alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz? North Sea production remains one of Europe’s most secure alternative supply sources. Crude from offshore fields in Norway and the UK can be shipped directly by tanker to European ports. The US and West Africa also offer viable substitutes, with producers such as Nigeria and Angola shipping crude directly to Europe along Atlantic tanker routes. North Africa, particularly Algeria and Libya, provides very short-haul Mediterranean supply routes into Southern Europe. But political instability, especially in Libya, poses recurring risks to sustained supply. Caspian and Central Asian producers such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan offer additional diversification. Their crude typically travels by pipeline to Black Sea export terminals before being shipped through the Turkish Straits into the Mediterranean. Latin American suppliers - Brazil and Guyana - can deliver crude to Europe via Atlantic tanker routes. Many European countries like Belgium, Greece, Italy, Poland and Spain rely on the Strait of Hormuz for imports or refining. The closure of this corridor will not cut off Europe’s oil supply, but will continue to drive up crude oil and natural gas prices and disrupt markets. Prices will begin stabilizing once credible prospects of US–Iran talks emerge, once a structured agreement is reached, or if flows via the Hormuz restart. The bloc's oil imports are diversified, with Norway (14.6%), the United States (14.5%), and Kazakhstan (12.2%) ranking as the top three major suppliers. Several EU countries do import oil from Gulf producers. Saudi Arabia accounted for 6.8% of the bloc's total imports in the first 9 months of 2025, with France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, the bloc's top importers. Iraq has already recorded oil production shut-ins as a result of the military strikes. Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and The UAE have roughly 10–20 days of flexibility before shut-ins are required, assuming normal production rates. There are two viable oil pipelines that could serve as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. The Saudi East-West crude oil pipeline has a capacity of 5 million barrels per day. It runs east-to-west across Saudi Arabia from the Abqaiq processing center to Yanbu on the Red Sea. The second alternative is the Habshan–Fujairah oil pipeline in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which could transport crude oil to the Fujairah terminal on the Gulf of Oman. It has a daily capacity of 1.8 million barrels. The UAE already uses it as a routine export route. The recently built Goreh-Jask Crude Oil Pipeline in Iran would, in theory, be capable of bypassing the Strait. Already under heavy US sanctions it’s infrastructure is under direct military attack. Its confirmed capacity is around 300,000 barrels per day. Ultimately, only a small fraction of what normally flows through the Strait could transit alternative pipeline routes, compared to the 20 million barrels per day that transit that corridor. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman has ground to a near halt after vessels in the area were hit as Iran retaliated against US and Israeli strikes. Shipping insurers have announced they are cancelling war risk coverage, and tankers are also likely to avoid transiting the Red Sea via the Suez Canal to reach Europe. An alternative is to re-route tankers around the Cape of Good Hope to reach Europe, which adds substantial time and cost to transit. This only helps oil not already trapped in the Persian Gulf. The security strategy is currently reduced to responding to fossil fuel-induced crises, ’both in terms of fossil fuels themselves, but also the powers that depend on fossil fuels to support their power, including the United States,’ Heinrichs, Lecturer in War Studies at King's College London said. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

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Russia
04/03/2026 - 16:25 - 22:06 GMT+1  Hungary is locked in a dispute with Ukraine over the Druzhba pipeline, 'which was damaged in a suspected Russian air strike' at the end of January. Budapest and Bratislava say the pipeline can be made operational, and that Ukraine is blocking repair work for political reasons. Because of the dispute, Hungary has blocked the implementation the EU's €90 billion loan package to Ukraine. Speaking upon arriving in Moscow today, Hungarian FM Szijjártó said the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz posed a fresh challenge in the context of the Druzhba situation. Kremlin spokesman Peskov said both Hungary and Slovakia were suffering from what he called Ukraine's blackmail. He added that no other European countries had asked to restart energy flows from Russia, despite the escalating situation in Iran. Earlier, Hungary and Slovakia demanded that Ukraine allow their experts to assess the condition of the pipeline. Kyiv did not respond to the request. Hungary had also asked the European Commission and Croatia to allow the import of Russian seaborne oil through the Adria pipeline. Zagreb rejected the request. Today, the Hungarian Oil Company MOL, together with Slovakia's Slovnaft, filed a formal complaint at the European Commission over the alleged abuse of a monopoly postion by Croatian pipeline operator JANAF. Russian President Putin handed two Hungarian-Ukrainian prisoners of war to Hungary during FM Szijjártó's visit to Moscow, where energy supply was also discussed. "These are citizens who have both Ukrainian and Hungarian citizenship. They were forcibly conscripted to the front, and we decided to allow them to take two people with them on the plane the minister arrived on and will return home on," Putin said. Ukraine is home to around 100,000 ethnic Hungarians, concentrated in the Transcarpathian region the majority of whom also hold Hungarian passports. The Hungarian government has been a vocal critic of what it describes as the forced conscription of Hungarian nationals into the Ukrainian military. In 2023, Russia released 11 Hungarian nationals from captivity following a request by the Hungarian government. Yesterday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán had asked Putin for the release of Hungarian nationals during a telephone conversation. Later that day, Putin confirmed the decision during Szijjártó's visit. Beyond the prisoner-of-war issue, the Hungarian delegation also discussed energy imports from Russia. "Hungary has received a guarantee that Russia will deliver the natural gas and crude oil needed to supply our country at unchanged prices, despite the international energy crisis," Szijjártó said in Moscow. Budapest has a longstanding diplomatic dispute with Kyiv over the shutdown of the Druzhba oil pipeline and has consistently opposed Ukraine's bid to join the European Union. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)

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Israel
(Tuesday), 03/03/2026 - 13:40 GMT+1  On Saturday evening, the same day that the airstrikes took place, flight-tracking data showed that Israel's government plane had landed at Berlin's Brandenburg Airport. Online, users claimed that Israeli Netanyahu was on board the flight. A protest was organised in Berlin demanding to know whether Netanyahu or another member of the Israeli government was on board. Some claimed that Germany had breached "Article 7" (likely of the Rome Statute) by failing to arrest Netanyahu when the plane landed, as the Israeli leader is subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip. Most of these allegations rely on flight-tracking data from Flightradar, and a review of this data indeed confirms that the Israeli government plane, known as Wing of Zion, departed Beersheba in Israel in the early afternoon of Saturday. The aircraft then spent several hours circling over the Mediterranean before landing at Berlin's primary airport in the evening. There is no evidence to suggest that Netanyahu was on board the plane. A picture posted by his office shows him attending a security meeting in Kirya, in Tel Aviv, with the IDF Chief of Staff and Director of the Mossad one day after the plane landed. A photograph was attached showing him attending the meeting on Sunday. His office also released a photograph showing him on the roof of a building in Kirya. Another video posted on Monday shows him at the site of an Iranian missile strike in Beit Shemesh. His presence there was corroborated by multiple Israeli outlets. A spokesperson for the German foreign ministry said the Israeli government "asked us if they could park the plane here" and only the flight crew and the pilot were on board the flight. Israel's government plane has routinely left Israeli airspace during rounds of fighting with Iran, presumably for safety. (Source: Euronews - based in Lyon, France)
See also: 02.03.2026  Statement by PM Netanyahu at the site of the missile strike in Beit Shemesh (Source: Prime Minister's Office - Israel)
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