Via Semafor, a look at how sanction busting occurs in the Strait of Hormuz: They move best at night, in a swarm. Twenty, maybe 25 small boats side-by-side. Up to 100 boats at a time: “Waterworld” without Kevin Costner. Simple speedboats, around six meters long, each with a powerful engine, traversing the fabled Strait of […]
Read more »Courtesy of Foreign Affairs, a detailed look at the clash of visions between Saudi Arabia and Iran: There are many Middle Eastern conflicts that could reshape the global political order. But the one most likely to do so is the battle between the region’s two dominant powers: the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Islamic […]
Read more »Via The Economist, an article on Hezbollah’s increasingly vulnerable financial empire: Residents of Beirut are, by now, used to warnings from the Israel Defence Forces ahead of bombing runs. Typically, these instruct locals to stay away from a tower block suspected of harbouring fighters, or perhaps a school said to double as a weapons cache. The […]
Read more »Via Phenomenal World, an article on how Iran has attempted to adapt to a sanctioned economy: The oil boom of the late 2000s created significant headwinds for Iranian manufacturers. As the value of oil exports surged, the Iranian rial appreciated, real wages rose, and foreign goods flooded the Iranian market. Middle-class families relished in their […]
Read more »Via The Economist, an article on the growing relationships between the rulers of China, Iran, North Korea and Russia: Antony Blinken, America’s secretary of state, was unusually blunt on a recent visit to Europe: “One of the reasons that [Vladimir] Putin is able to continue this aggression is because of the provision of support from […]
Read more »Via Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, analysis of the growing dependence of the Iranian economy on China: The tightening of relations between China and Iran is considered one of the main factors preventing the collapse of Iran’s economy, which has been subject to sanctions since the United States withdrew from the nuclear agreement in […]
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