Expert reporting on the Israel-Iran conflict and U.S. involvement, from the June 2025 Twelve-Day War to ongoing military escalation, strategic signalling, regional spillover risks and great power implications across the Middle East.
Often overlooked, Oman also has a voice in how traffic flows through the Strait, and both Oman and Iran will have to reconcile their opposing visions for the future of Hormuz.
Years of planning by the Islamic Republic for a theoretical war with the United States was finally put to the test. Now with the ceasefire, both Iran and the U.S. will look at what went right and what went wrong.
While many hope the U.S. and Iran are now aligned in regards to opening the strait, the reality is both countries have created two different realities that they refuse to compromise.
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has long described water as the "strategic commodity" of the Middle East, and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has highlighted how water has emerged as both a powerful potential weapon and also a durable drag on conflict escalation.
A special report for Intelligence subscribers that breaks down the positions and possible paths forward for over 20 countries trying to navigate around the U.S.-Israel-Iran war
The war on Iran's economy has been running for decades. U.S.-Israeli strikes on economic infrastructure in 2026 brought cascading effects on the country's economy. The result will not be collapse, but it is something more dangerous for ordinary Iranians than the war itself.
The UAE exits OPEC. Islamists seize two Malian cities and kill the defence minister. Iraq gets a compromise PM Washington can live with. And in Washington, a royal visit, an assassination attempt and a social media post that says everything.
