This Boat Was Sailing To Yemen
On the evening of 8 October 2026, three hundred and five people boarded a boat on the coast of Djibouti. It sank soon afterwards, close to shore, near Guehere, north of the town of Obock.
Read analysisTopic
Middle East
The Middle East desk follows the region’s wars and diplomacy: the confrontation between Iran, Israel and the United States, the Strait of Hormuz, Gaza and Lebanon, and the Gulf states balancing between them.
73 political cartoons and analysis on Middle East, newest first.
Who Actually Closed Saudi Airspace
On Monday, around a hundred energy ministers and some five hundred chief executives are due in Riyadh for the 25th WPC Energy Congress. On Thursday afternoon, just under half of Riyadh's departures were cancelled.
Read analysis
"They Invented the Term": Netanyahu's UN Speech, Claim by Claim
Dozens of envoys walked out before he reached the substance. Which is a pity, because what followed was a list of specific, checkable factual claims — so we checked them.
Read analysis
The Case Against the E1 Sanctions Bill — Set Out at Full Strength
Fourteen Senate Democrats want to sanction anyone who bids on a housing tender. Here is the argument against the bill, stated as its opponents state it — and then what that argument has to answer. What this piece is.
Read analysis
The Case Israel Will Make at the UN — Set Out at Full Strength
Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the General Assembly on Thursday and has said he will "tell the truth" about Israel's conduct. Here is the argument he will make, stated as its defenders state it — and then the findings it…
Read analysis
Saudi Arabia Was Sold $24.3 Billion of Fighters. What It Asked For Was Missiles.
On Thursday 18 September 2026, the US State Department approved a potential Foreign Military Sale to Saudi Arabia: 48 F-35 Lightning II aircraft, 49 Pratt & Whitney engines, together with spare parts, communications…
Read analysis
US Officials Say Iran Damaged American Military Aircraft in Jordan, But Trump Contradicts Claims
A fierce clash of narratives has emerged following an Iranian ballistic missile barrage on the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.
Read analysis
Trump Halts Planned Strikes on Iran, Citing Framework for Regional Security and Middle East Peace
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he has called off a planned joint military strike against Iran following urgent diplomatic appeals from Tehran and key regional partners.
Read analysis
Iran Vows 'Appropriate Action' as US Unleashes Strikes for Ninth Consecutive Night Amid Strait of Hormuz Crisis
The Middle East is facing a deepening security crisis as the United States launched military strikes against Iran for a ninth consecutive night.
Read analysis
US Launches Fresh Strikes on Iranian Missile Systems Around Strait of Hormuz Amid Escalating Conflict
Tensions in the Middle East have reached a boiling point as the United States military launched a fresh wave of extensive strikes on Iranian missile systems and military infrastructure around the highly contested…
Read analysis
Iran Declares Strait of Hormuz 'More Important Than Dozens of Atomic Bombs' Amid Escalating U.S. Tensions
Amid rapidly deteriorating relations and a surge in military confrontations in the Middle East, a senior Iranian official has underscored a fundamental shift in Tehran's geopolitical strategy.
Read analysis
Iran Attacks Gulf States, Threatens Talks Amid Strait of Hormuz Crisis
Iran launches missile and drone attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait following U.S. strikes, jeopardizing fragile peace talks and escalating tensions in the critical Strait of Hormuz.
Read analysis
Escalation in Gulf: Iran Strikes Bahrain, Kuwait Amid US Hormuz Action
As the 2026 Iran War escalates on Day 121, Tehran launches drone and missile attacks on Bahrain and Kuwait, triggering US retaliatory strikes near the Strait of Hormuz. Fragile peace talks are now imperiled.
Read analysis
Diplomatic Tensions Flare as Iran Reviews US Ceasefire Plan Amid War, Trump Insists Tehran Seeks Deal
Iran confirms reviewing a US ceasefire proposal while denying direct talks, as former President Trump asserts Tehran is desperate for a deal to end the ongoing conflict.
Read analysis
Nobody Has Read It. Everyone Has Signed It. The Iran MOU Is the Most Powerful Document Nobody Has Seen
Trump's Iran Deal: A 60-Day Clock, a Sealed Envelope, and a World Holding Its Breath In what may be one of the most consequential — and most opaque — diplomatic moments of the decade, the United States and Iran have…
Read analysis
The $60-Day Clock: US and Iran Set to Sign Historic MOU on June 19 — But the Hard Part Is Just Beginning
The United States and Iran are on the cusp of a landmark diplomatic moment. On June 14, 2026, mediators announced a memorandum of understanding between Washington and Tehran, extending their ceasefire for 60 days, with…
Read analysis
Iran's Nuclear Program: Bombed, But Not Buried
The United States launched a war to destroy Iran's nuclear ambitions. Months later, the most important question in global security remains unanswered: did it work?
Read analysis
The Ceasefire That Keeps Dying: Iran, Israel, and the Strikes That Could End Everything
The Agreement That Was Never Really an Agreement On April 7–8, 2026, the United States and Iran announced a ceasefire — the first direct diplomatic halt between the two nations since the outbreak of the 2026 Iran War.
Read analysis
Iran Shot Down a U.S. Apache Over the Strait of Hormuz — And Trump Is Calling It an Act of War
A U.S. Army helicopter is at the bottom of the sea. The pilots are safe. The deal is "two or three days away." Again. On the morning of June 9, 2026, a U.S.
Read analysis
The Ceasefire That Won't Hold: Inside the US-Iran War's Most Dangerous Week
The Middle East is caught in a paradox that has no modern precedent: two nations are simultaneously negotiating peace and trading blows.
Read analysis
The 60-Day Gamble: Can Washington and Tehran Actually End Their War?
A fragile memorandum of understanding is all that stands between a volatile ceasefire and a return to open conflict. As US and Iranian negotiators race to finalize terms, the world watches a single chokepoint — the…
Read analysis
The Ceasefire That Nobody Agreed To: Trump Brokers Lebanon Truce — But Iran Walks Out of Nuclear Talks
In the span of a few hours on June 1, 2026, the Middle East lurched through a full cycle of diplomacy, defiance, and collapse — and the United States sat at the centre of all of it.
Read analysis
The World's Most Dangerous Bottleneck: How the Strait of Hormuz Became the Flashpoint of 2026
Imagine a stretch of water so narrow you could almost shout across it — roughly 33 kilometres at its tightest point. Now imagine that tiny corridor carries 20% of the world's oil, 20% of its liquefied natural gas, and…
Read analysis
Not Yet, Sir: How America's Gulf Allies Talked Trump Out of Bombing Iran
The most powerful military force in human history — 11 aircraft carrier strike groups, 800 overseas bases, a defence budget larger than the next ten countries combined — paused a war because its smaller allies said…
Read analysis