Tag: Iran

A.I. Drones Are Coming. We Are Not Ready.

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On a clear afternoon this month, high above the Mojave Desert, an A.I.-powered drone launched a missile in a test that could reshape modern warfare. Since the dawn of the jet age, the U.S. military has used the isolation over this stretch of sand to push secret, experimental aircraft to their aerodynamic and technological limits. It’s doing the same today: fine-tuning machines capable of engaging in aerial combat with barely any human intervention. These drones’ flight is controlled not by a pilot, not by human remote control, but entirely by…

Russia Bill Broadens Sanctions but Could Fuel Fears Over the Dollar

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A Russia sanctions bill is posing a dilemma for the Trump administration: Lawmakers are pushing to wage further financial warfare just as the administration worries that heavy use of sanctions may erode the U.S. dollar’s supremacy. The bill, which was the brainchild of Senator Lindsey Graham before his death, aims to impose mandatory sanctions on Russia and its allies and potentially broaden the reach of penalties to include tariffs on buyers of Russian energy. The White House has said that the scope of the sanctions could broaden to include Iran…

Trump, not Iran, is the world’s greatest danger. He’s a one-man weapon of mass destruction | Simon Tisdall

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Feckless and clueless, Donald Trump is lost in Iran, unable to find a way out of the disastrous war he started. Once again, the US military is pummelling the country and, increasingly, its civilian infrastructure. As before, this unlawful bludgeoning strengthens the resistance of a hardline regime that cares little for its people’s suffering. How often have Trump and Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon’s wildling lord of bones, hailed a bogus victory? The president claimed this week to be “winning big”. No one believes him. Even as it counts the vast…

Will Oil Prices Rise as the US-Iran Truce Frays? The Answer Lies With China.

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The passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz has been slowed significantly by the persistent cycle of hostility between the United States and Iran. But whether prices at the gas pump rise or fall will depend not only on how much oil flows out of the Persian Gulf but also on decisions made by China. Typically the world’s largest oil importer, China slashed purchases this spring, reducing demand so much that it prevented oil prices from soaring even higher earlier in the war. Now, one of the biggest…

Shippers Face Deepening Dilemma as U.S. and Iran Vie for Control of the Strait

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Harry Vafias, a chief executive of a shipping company, recently got one of his vessels out of the Persian Gulf on a route protected by the U.S. military. But after Iran and the United States attacked each other this week, all but ending the truce the countries agreed to last month, Mr. Vafias, the head of StealthGas, based in Athens, said he was holding off on moving another ship through the Strait of Hormuz. “Things are becoming uglier by the minute,” he said in an email, “so we are not…

For allies and adversaries alike, America at 250 is a solid global citizen gone rogue

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China: Confident rival hopes to eclipse US Amy Hawkins in Beijing On the shores of Beijing’s central lakes, elderly Beijingers relax under the shade of willow trees. Some swim, some play mahjong, and one old man plays darts: US and Chinese-flagged arrows competing for the bullseye. The adversarial view of US-China relations is typical among people like these who lived through the cold war. Wen Feng, a 60-year-old retiree, described the US as a “troublemaker” – a viewpoint fanned by years of state propaganda casting Uncle Same as a villainous,…

China is a clear winner from Trump’s war in Middle East, report concludes

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China has emerged as the sole winner in Asia from the strait of Hormuz crisis, according to a report published on Tuesday. The report by the Asia Group thinktank concluded that China had weathered the storm of the global commodities crisis resulting from the closure of the Middle Eastern waterway, and also stood to gain from the economic and geopolitical trends sparked by the wider conflict. Iran virtually closed the strait, a vital waterway through which much of the world’s oil and gas flows, after the US and Israel launched…

Iran Just Taught the World a Dangerous Lesson

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The United States and Iran have a deal: For 60 days, Tehran will allow ships to sail through the Strait of Hormuz without charging tolls; in return, Washington will lift its naval blockade, waive sanctions on Iranian oil and help Iran get access to its frozen assets. Negotiations on the future of Iran’s nuclear program are also set to begin. Even if the deal holds, Iran is poised to emerge from the war battered militarily and economically but strengthened strategically, the newly empowered gatekeeper of the world’s most important energy…

‘A hunting ground for foreign regimes’: why violent attacks on dissidents are on the rise in Britain

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As Pouria Zeraati was crossing the street between his Wimbledon home and his car in south London in March 2024, he was confronted by two men. One held him firmly as the other stabbed him three times in the leg before they both fled. It was later said to be a targeted attack on behalf of the Iranian regime in Tehran. A punishment for Zeraati’s work as a journalist covering Iran. He survived, but the ambush is one of dozens of violent incidents in recent years linked to foreign states.…

While the World Scrambles for Oil, China Sits on Full Tanks

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While the United States and Iran haggle over reopening the Strait of Hormuz and restoring oil exports from the Persian Gulf, China, the world’s largest oil importer, is not expected to quickly ramp up purchases from the region. If normal traffic through the strait fully resumes in the coming weeks, numerous tankers carrying oil bound for China that have been stranded in the Persian Gulf during the war would be on the move again. Their eventual arrival at Chinese ports is likely to produce a temporary surge in deliveries. China…