The U.S. Navy has been ordered to gun down any speedboats suspected of laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz during the ceasefire; it will also continue its blockade of Iranian ports “for as long as it takes,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Friday. U.S. Central Command announced on Friday that the carriers Abraham Lincoln, Gerald R. Ford, and George H.W. Bush are all in the Middle East, the first time in decades that three have operated in the region. Hegseth said during the Pentagon press briefing that as the number of warships participating in the blockade grows, the U.S.was “not anxious for a deal” and its military had “all the time in the world” as the war extended into its 55th day. “But with this blockade, the clock is not on […]
“Even in the best case, there will be no neat and clean return to the status quo ante,” said International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva at a curtain-raiser event for the Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank. As finance ministers and central bank governors gather in Washington, DC, they must contend with an unprecedented global energy shock caused by the Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. As Georgieva emphasized, the impacts of the conflict will persist far into the future regardless of the outcome of the uneasy cease-fire and efforts to reopen the strait for global shipping. We sent our experts to IMF and World Bank headquarters to gather insights into how the international financial institutions are navigating this uncertain moment for the global […]
U.S. and allied militaries have turned to fighter jets in their struggle to ward off Iran’s cheap, plentiful drones, but former pilots say the mission is expensive, dangerous, and, ultimately, unsustainable with current tactics. Open-source intelligence accounts and news outlets have posted videos of high-powered fighter jets downing Iran’s low-cost unmanned aircraft since the war began late last month. On Tuesday, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that U.S. and allied forces had conducted “intercepts against one-way attack drones using fighters and attack helicopters,” and said it was one reason that Iran’s use of the drones had “decreased 83 percent since the beginning of the operation.” Last week, a Royal Air Force F-35 pilot shot down a drone that had evaded air defenses over Jordan. One former British military officer called […]
In response to the joint US and Israeli attack on Iran, financial markets have so far reacted in a relatively orderly and measured way. Risk, as measured by volatility, has increased across asset classes. However, we have not seen dramatic dislocations in core financial markets, rates, credit, and foreign exchange. Energy markets, however, have reacted more strongly. Natural gas prices have spiked, reflecting the physical disruption and impairment of certain Gulf-based processing facilities. Oil prices briefly crossed the psychological threshold of one hundred dollars per barrel, while shipping in and out of the Strait of Hormuz slowed dramatically. Monday’s comments by President Donald Trump suggesting that the conflict may be nearing an endpoint subsequently brought oil prices back near ninety dollars per barrel, underscoring how sensitive energy markets are to perceptions about […]
From February 26 to February 28, Mr. HORII Iwao, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, will visit Republic of India. State Minister HORII is scheduled to attend the Sixth India Japan Intellectual Conclave, hosted by Asian Confluence, an Indian thinktank, and meet Indian government dignitaries, etc. He will give a keynote speech at the conclave, expressing Japan’s continued commitment to improving connectivity and development in the northeastern part of India.
WASHINGTON—This week marks ten years since the first-ever export cargo of US liquefied natural gas (LNG) departed the contiguous United States from a Gulf Coast terminal in Sabine Pass, Louisiana. Made possible by the twenty-first-century shale revolution, this moment was a turning point in the global energy landscape, after which the United States rapidly grew from a net importer of natural gas in the early 2010s to the world’s top exporter by 2022. In commemorating this milestone, Lithuania’s LNG partnership with the United States stands out as a powerful example of transatlantic cooperation. It demonstrates how expanded US export capacity—combined with strategic infrastructure development, resolute energy-sector reform, and sufficient political will in Europe—can produce real alternatives to Russian gas. Once regarded as an isolated “energy island” on the Baltic Sea, Lithuania today has reshaped the regional energy landscape in Central […]
AURORA, Colorado—A General Atomics MQ-20 drone took orders from an F-22 pilot during a recent mock mission that demonstrated robot-wingman concepts, company officials said in a Monday statement. During a test flight earlier this month at Edwards Air Force Base in California, the pilot used Autonodyne’s Bashi pilot-vehicle interface to order the autonomous drone to “execute tactical maneuvers,” move waypoints, conduct combat patrols, and take on “threat engagement tasks,” the statement said. “We appreciate the flawless execution of this mission using the government’s advanced autonomous systems,” said GA-ASI President David R. Alexander. “This demo featured the integration of mission elements and the ability of autonomy to utilize onboard sensors to make independent decisions and execute commands from the F-22.” The flight followed a November demo in which an F-22 pilot used a tablet to control an […]
WASHINGTON—Experienced foreign-policy observers in the US capital have long learned never to make public predictions. The world is far too uncertain and the downside risks to your reputation are far too high if you end up well off the mark. It’s clearly advisable to wait until events have already transpired and then claim afterward that you saw them coming all along. This is especially the case when it comes to decisions to go to war. Yet those who carry the burden of policymaking are forced to make predictions to inform their policies. So even as negotiations continue between the United States and Iran, US President Donald Trump and his advisers are undoubtedly trying to assess what Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will do in the face of the “massive […]
Today started with ice and ended with a thaw. Shortly after a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland—in which he made his case for why the United States should own the “big, beautiful piece of ice” that is Greenland—Donald Trump announced that he had reached a “framework of a future deal” on the issue. The breakthrough came after Trump met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and led to the US president dropping his tariff threats against European nations that had opposed the US acquisition of the semiautonomous Danish territory. According to Trump, the deal will concern potential US rights over Greenland’s minerals, as well as the island’s involvement in his administration’s proposed “Golden Dome” missile defense system. Below, our experts shed light on all the transatlantic […]
Millions of Ukrainians have spent much of January without electricity and heating amid subzero winter temperatures, sparking fears that the country is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. This desperate situation has been deliberately provoked by a sustained Russian bombing campaign against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, as Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin targets the civilian population in order to pressure Kyiv into capitulation. Russia’s attacks have led to dramatically deteriorating living conditions across Ukraine. Thousands of high-rise apartment buildings in large cities as well as smaller rural homes have been cut off from power, heating, and water for days at a time. As a result, indoor temperatures have dropped to dangerous levels. For the elderly, those with young children, and people suffering from health issues, the risks are particularly grave. Ukrainian […]
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