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The Kingdom Can Withstand the Current Pressure Caused by the Iran War, but Only If It Defines Its Priorities Because of the Iran war, Saudi Arabia has fewer barrels of oil to sell but receives more money for every barrel it does sell. Attacks on energy facilities and the Strait …

US attacks on Iranian oil tankers could make it far harder and more expensive for Tehran to keep selling its crude, but the strategy carries a potentially much larger cost: turning the Persian Gulf’s energy infrastructure into an expanding battlefield. The latest US strikes on three Iranian oil tankers mark …

President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Syria as a possible alternative to the Strait of Hormuz has pushed an old energy-security problem back to the center of Middle Eastern strategy. On September 3, Trump reacted positively to a Washington Post report describing Syria’s effort to market itself as an overland corridor from …

The Eastern Mediterranean’s importance is often measured by its gas discoveries, but reserves acquire strategic value only when they can reach consumers. Egypt’s Zohr, Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan, and Cyprus’s Aphrodite, Glaucus and Cronos have given the basin a substantial resource base. Yet Egypt occupies the pivotal position because its Idku …

Iran’s large-scale fuel losses appear to go beyond the smuggling cited by officials in Tehran, with evidence pointing to organized diversion within the country’s fuel distribution system. Iranian officials repeatedly say around 20 million liters of fuel are smuggled out of the country every day, costing Iran between $4 billion …

With President Donald Trump threatening to launch an “economic D-Day” against Iran, one of the Islamic Republic’s most important wartime lifelines is its geography. And while the resumption of a U.S. naval blockade last month has substantially limited Iran’s maritime trade, land routes are becoming an increasingly vital source of commerce. Located at …

The 2025-2026 Iran-Israel-U.S. conflict marked a turning point in global energy politics. Direct attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure, such as South Pars and the Kharg Island export terminal, along with Iranian threats to disrupt the Strait of Hormuz, revealed the weakness of maritime chokepoints. About 20% of the world’s seaborne …

Enforcement Will Test Abu Dhabi’s Appetite to Absorb Domestic Costs While Pressuring Tehran On August 19, 2026, the United Arab Emirates announced it had stopped “all trade, commercial exchanges and financial transactions” with Iran “until further notice.” But the Foreign Ministry did not cite a new statute, cabinet resolution, sanctions list or …

Iran has announced another major gas discovery, but with the world’s second-largest reserves already beneath its soil, Tehran’s problem is not finding gas but finding the money and technology to extract it. Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said the newly discovered field in southern Fars Province contains more than 7.5 trillion …

Iran, already drained by years of sanctions and a brutal military onslaught from the United States and Israel, now faces another test as President Donald Trump moves to further tighten the economic screws on the Islamic Republic. The US Treasury Department on Monday threatened sweeping new sanctions on countries that refuse to cut economic ties …