Oil

One such strike was on the Asaluyeh petrochemical complex, and was carried out with Israel, the WSJ wrote, and led to international condemnation.

The ships receiving the oil are often part of Iran’s “shadow fleet,” a fleet of old, rusting tankers that obscure their owners and may switch their flags to those of countries with little oversight.

As attacks spread across Gulf energy infrastructure, Iran may discover its own oil economy cannot survive prolonged attrition.

The strike in Yaroslavl is the latest attack on Russian oil facilities this year. Zelensky stated that Ukrainian forces had struck another oil refinery in Syzran for the eleventh time

Any decision to launch a mission would require the approval of all NATO's 32 members, and several have already signaled opposition.

“Iran’s shadow banking system facilitates the illicit transfer of funding for terrorist purposes,” said Scott Bessent, Secretary of the Treasury.

Ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz now face tolls and strict Iranian oversight as Tehran launches the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, with JPMorgan forecasting 11‑figure annual revenue from tolls.

The future of Emirati relations appears less tied to traditional binaries of friend and foe and more to the logic of the useful partner, the workable path.

Iran’s Kharg Island shows the hidden cost of sanctions: empty oil terminals, environmental damage, and mounting pressure.

Following his Beijing summit, Trump says Xi supports reopening the Strait of Hormuz, while China calls the Iran war a conflict that “should never have happened.”