Who owns the Strait of Hormuz? It is the question the entire 2026 war now turns on, and the honest answer is uncomfortable: three separate parties claim authority over that water, and not one of them has the law cleanly on its side. Iran says it administers the strait. Oman shares the water but rejects … Read more
On July 9, 2026, ten Iranian ballistic missiles flew toward a Jordanian air base called Al-Azraq. Jordan’s military shot down eight of them. Nobody died. Nothing important was destroyed. So why does this small, mostly-failed attack matter more than its body count suggests? The Iran Jordan attack is not really about Al-Azraq. It is about … Read more
Standing beside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Ankara on July 8, 2026, President Trump was asked a simple question about the US-Iran ceasefire. His answer was not simple at all: “I think it’s over.” Why did Trump say the Iran ceasefire is over, and does that actually change anything? Why Did Trump Say the … Read more
Why is the stock market down today? The honest answer keeps changing shape. On Monday, July 13, it was Iran and a chip-stock meltdown. By Thursday, July 16, Iran had faded into the background and a single word from an earnings call — “capex” — was doing most of the damage. This page tracks the … Read more
Air raid sirens sounded across Bahrain and Kuwait early on July 8, 2026, after Iran said it struck “85 US military installations” in both countries. It was the sharpest escalation since a ceasefire quieted the region weeks earlier. So why is Iran attacking Kuwait and Bahrain again, and what changed? Why Is Iran Attacking Kuwait … Read more
Ali Khamenei died on February 28, 2026, killed alongside his top military command in a joint US-Israeli strike on his Tehran compound — an opening blow covered in detail in our 100-day retrospective on the Iran war. His funeral did not begin until July 4 — more than 125 days later. In a Shia tradition … Read more
After four marathon days of US-mediated talks in Washington, Israel and Lebanon signed a trilateral framework agreement on June 26, 2026, aimed at dismantling Hezbollah and ending the conflict that has devastated southern Lebanon since March. The Israel Lebanon framework agreement is being described by US officials as a historic first step — but Hezbollah … Read more
For more than three months, missiles and drones rained down on a single piece of American territory in the Persian Gulf: Naval Support Activity Bahrain, the home of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. By the time the fighting wound down in June 2026, the Iran Bahrain naval base attack campaign had left the Pentagon facing … Read more
On June 23, 2026, the U.S. Senate did something it had failed to do nine times before: it passed a war powers resolution directing President Donald Trump to pull American forces out of hostilities with Iran. The vote was 50 to 48, with four Republicans crossing party lines to join Democrats. It marked the first … Read more
Within hours of President Trump signing a framework agreement with Iran at the Palace of Versailles, a former Trump administration insider went on television to call it “the worst deal in American diplomatic history.” It was a striking line — and it spread fast. But a closer look at what the deal has actually delivered … Read more