Middle East

U.S. and Iraq to 'Intensify Cooperation' Against Attacks

The United States and Iraq will "intensify cooperation" to prevent attacks and ensure Iraqi territory is not used to launch assaults against US facilities, Washington's embassy in Baghdad said in a statement. Since the war began on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Iraq has been increasingly drawn into a conflict it had sought to avoid ...

Israel Strikes Key Iranian Naval Facility as U.S. Considers Troop Buildup in Middle East

Israel on Friday struck a key Iranian naval weapons facility, escalating Middle East tensions as the United States weighs a major troop buildup in the region.  The Israeli military announced that it has carried out a major airstrike targeting what it described as Iran’s most central facility for the production of naval missiles and sea ...

Kuwait Says Arrested Six People Planning 'Assassinations' Linked to Hezbollah

Kuwait arrested six people linked to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group who were planning "assassinations" in the Gulf state, the interior ministry said on Wednesday. Those arrested were planning "assassinations targeting symbols and leaders of the state and recruited people to carry out these missions," the ministry ...

Hezbollah Rejects Truce Talks as Israel Presses Lebanon Strikes

Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem said negotiations with Israel under fire would amount to "surrender", as the Iran-backed group launched attacks and Israel said it was expanding a "buffer zone" inside Lebanon. Israel, which occupied southern Lebanon for around two decades until 2000, has kept up strikes on its northern neighbour and sent ground troops ...

Cautious Optimism as Oil Prices Decline and Stock Markets Rebound

Oil prices continued to decline on Wednesday, leading to a rebound in stock markets, as traders appeared willing to believe in the possibility of a peace plan proposed by Donald Trump to Iran. “Market movements are driven by narratives and headlines: today, everything revolves around the prospect of a ceasefire,” summarized Neil ...

New Wave of American Troops Heads to the Middle East

Tensions in the Middle East are spiking as the United States ramps up its military presence while diplomatic efforts with Iran falter. Thousands of troops are on the move, and the region braces for potential escalation. Thousands of U.S. Marines are slated to arrive imminently, signaling heightened strategic pressure. According to U.S. officials, ...

Israel Strikes South Lebanon, Beirut Suburbs as Hezbollah Keeps Up Attacks

Israel launched strikes on south Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs on Wednesday, Lebanese state media said, as Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah said it kept up attacks on Israeli troops. Lebanon was pulled into the Middle East war when Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge the killing of Iran's supreme ...

Ghalibaf: Iran's New Strongman Running War Effort

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament speaker and a veteran of the Revolutionary Guards, has emerged as the highest-profile political figure in the Islamic republic after the killing of its leaders. A pillar of the Iranian establishment for some three decades and one of the Islamic republic's most prominent non-clerical figures, Ghalibaf, ...

Ship Traffic Down 95% in Strait of Hormuz

Just a trickle of cargo ships and tankers—most of them Iranian—have made it through the Strait of Hormuz since Iranian forces effectively blocked the crucial trade route in the Middle East war. Here are facts and figures about vessels that have passed through the 167-kilometre (104-mile) long strait since the war broke out with US-Israeli ...