Trump Sends Thousands of Pentagon Troops to Confront Iran and Its Allies

Other NATO countries have failed to join the United States in a purported effort to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz which is being controlled by the Islamic Republic 

By Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Wednesday March 18, 2026

Geostrategic Analysis

By the third week in March, it had become obvious that the potential for a protracted war between the United States, the settler-colonial state occupying Palestine against the Islamic Republic of Iran, Lebanon and other resistance forces throughout the region were well in evidence. 

The forces of the apartheid Israeli regime and the Pentagon began their latest campaign against Iran and Lebanon with a series of targeted assassinations of top leadership figures within Iran and Lebanon. 

Yet the resistance and retaliation against Tel Aviv and Washington continues at a feverish pace militarily. Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) are striking Pentagon bases which are in close proximity. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kingdom of Bahrain, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar all house military bases of the largest imperialist state in the world. 

Within the Occupied Palestinian Territories, the IRGC and Hezbollah have attacked areas deep into the nerve center of the Zionist state. News of the heavy damage being caused by the resistance forces is being censored and criminalized. However, independent videographers are recording and posting actual scenes of Iranian and Lebanese resistance missiles landing on targets in Tel Aviv. News reports from southern Lebanon strongly indicate that attempts to bring in Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ground troops have been met with fierce resistance from Hezbollah.

After the War Department and the White House declared victory in the first days of the conflagration, Trump announced on March 14 that 5,000 additional naval and ground forces were being shipped to the West Asia region. There was no specific announcement on when they would attempt to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz. 

The questions raised regarding where these troops will be deployed remain unanswered. If they are deployed in or near the existing bases in the Persian Gulf monarchies these territories will become even more of a target by the IRGC and the resistance. If they attempt to bolster the existing U.S. military presence in northern Iraq and neighboring Syria, this could prompt further attacks on Washington’s interests in Iraq. There were reports of an attack on the U.S. embassy inside the country which was subjected to a genocidal war of destabilization, invasions and occupations.

The Response of the EU and NATO

Moreover, other leading states within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have failed to join the U.S. in Washington’s obvious attempt to implement the overthrow of the Islamic Republic government and political system. The ruling Labor Party government in the United Kingdom has repeatedly articulated its opposition to joining the war. France along with Germany have also said emphatically that they will not be sending ground troops or naval forces to join the Pentagon in attempts to take over the Strait of Hormuz. 

After decades of failed interventions costing the lives of millions in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Libya, Haiti, Syria, Palestine and now Iran proves that the ruling class within the leading capitalist states cannot sustain its hegemony absent imperialist interventions and appropriations. When Trump entered office for the second time in early 2025, the administration immediately threatened Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark demanding they join the U.S. in the case of Ottawa while claiming sovereignty over the territory of Greenland. 

The intervention in Iran has given the Trump administration reason to publicly criticize and condemn NATO and its affiliates. The president disparagingly referred to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer as being “no Churchill”. Trump erroneously enunciated that the U.S. had been protecting the European Union (EU) states while those NATO governments on the continent are being forced to allocate larger percentages of their national budgets to military defense. 

In a quagmire of desperation, Trump said he was partially lifting the embargo on Russian Federation oil. He later requested that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army join with the Pentagon to remove Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz.

A report in the London-based Financial Times said of the current situation:

“The European response risks a showdown with Trump whose war against Iran has led to missile and drone attacks across the Gulf and upended global energy markets, with oil and European natural gas prices up about 70 per cent since the start of the year…. Iran has struck at least 19 vessels in the Gulf in the past two weeks, killing 13 seafarers, as well as attacking storage tanks and other energy infrastructure. The total number of strikes recorded on Gulf countries has surpassed 3,400 since the conflict began, according to figures compiled by the FT. More than half of all attacks have targeted the UAE, and on Monday Dubai International airport was briefly forced to suspend operations after a drone strike. Starmer said European allies wanted to find a ‘credible, viable plan’ to protect the Strait of Hormuz, with assistance from Gulf states as well as the US.” (https://www.ft.com/content/ab860148-6d39-403b-a810-a906bd9ce414?syn-25a6b1a6=1)

These developments illustrate the worsening isolation of U.S. imperialism and Zionism internationally. Washington and Tel Aviv have provided a false rationale for their genocidal wars in Palestine, Lebanon and Iran. 

Domestically in the U.S. recent polls reveal the declining support for the war against Iran and the perennial underwriting of the State of Israel. Demonstrations across the U.S. and UK highlight the public awareness related to the Palestinian question and the role of imperialist war.

Siege Against Lebanon Aimed at Territorial Expansion 

Hezbollah, the Lebanese resistance movement, has been under attack by U.S. imperialism and the Zionist state for decades. The Zionists and their imperialist backers want to dominate the politics and territory of Lebanon. 

Since the beginning of the latest phase of the war against Iran, Hezbollah has been compelled to enter the battle as a defensive measure. Hezbollah, like Hamas and other resistance movements in Palestine as well as the Islamic Republic have been assailed through the targeted assassinations of their leaders. 

Nonetheless, Hezbollah and the other forces within the “Axis of Resistance” throughout West Asia have remained steadfast in their commitment to rid the region of imperialist and Zionist domination. Lebanon has been impacted by the thousands of violations of the ceasefire between the IDF and Hezbollah over more than a year. 

During March 2026, IDF fighter jets bombed civilian residential areas under the guise of targeting Hezbollah officials and infrastructure. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres visited Lebanon in mid-March in a failed attempt to resume the “ceasefire.” In neighboring Palestine in the West Bank and Gaza, the IDF continues its terror campaign against the people. 

Violating ceasefires are common in any dealings with Tel Aviv and Washington. Any potential just resolution of the Palestinian question and the sovereignty of other states in the West Asia region will be rejected by the settler-colonial regime and its sponsors in the U.S. 

Consequently, the Lebanese resistance concludes that it has no other choice than to escalate the armed struggle against the occupation. The IDF wants to reenter and occupy southern Lebanon in the interests of the overall imperialist designs on the region.

In an article published by Al Mayadeen, it notes that: 

“The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah carried out multiple operations early on Tuesday (March 17), targeting Israeli occupation forces, military positions, and settlements inside Lebanese territory and northern occupied Palestine. The operations are being carried out as part of Operation Devoured Straw to defend Lebanon and its people, in retaliation for Israeli attacks that have targeted numerous Lebanese villages and cities, including the Southern Suburb of Beirut…. On Tuesday, the Islamic Resistance in Lebanon announced the launch of Khaybar 1 operations, signifying a new phase of escalation as part of the battle against the Israeli occupation. The launch was marked by simultaneous operations consisting of dozens of rockets targeting illegal settlements and key Israeli military sites. Israeli media reported non-stop sirens across the occupied north, as well as continuous rocket launches from South Lebanon.” (https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-targets-iof-gatherings--downs-drones--strikes-merk)

Judging from these reports emanating from Occupied Palestine, Lebanon and Iran, the struggle for the control of the West Asia region is by no means complete. The Trump administration and its settler-colonial proxies in Tel Aviv are being met with determined political will on the part of the peoples. 

Inside the U.S., growing opposition to this latest imperialist war will erode the capacity of the administration to influence public opinion. Even among the hardcore MAGA elements, cracks have emerged over the direction of the administration. 

For those tens of millions who are opposing the Trump administration through mass demonstrations such as “No Kings Day”, the popular and labor resistance which is being exemplified in Minneapolis and other municipalities along with the electoral arena, serious discussions must take place on how to strengthen the movements against rising fascism and imperialist war. Only the workers, oppressed and youth can provide the necessary social elements to end the underlying causes of the contemporary crisis.

Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Featured on 1+1 with Youri Smouter Discussing the History and Contemporary Affairs of Chad

Hello everyone. Welcome to another edition of 1+1, your place for inconvenient truth telling and myth busting. 

To watch this episode recorded on Fri. March 13, 2026, just go to the following link: 1+1 E372 Youri talks to Abayomi Azikiwe on the history of Chad, Jesse Jackson & Bernard Lafayette Jr

This is another one of our all-things Africa edition. We continue our series looking at the history of the continent and the regions. 

We are still exploring North Africa. We now turn our attention to the country of Chad.  

And who better to teach us about this country and or any African country than our returning champion and tour guide, Abayomi Azikiwe of Pan-African News Wire. 

Abayomi Azikiwe is an historian, journalist, longtime leftist activist and more.  

As always we want to remind our audience to please share widely all of 1+1’s content, past and present episodes, our playlists while helping us overcome the far-right algorithms and the dominant monopoly Western corporate/state media and pseudo-leftists websites have in the social media by sharing our content. 

Share us across social media and e-mail, and please donate if you can to 1+1 at our PayPal and if people are having trouble and would prefer an alternative form to donate then please get in touch with me at yourismouter@gmail.com.

Iran's Top Security Official, Dr. Ali Larijani, Martyred in American-Israeli Aggression

Tuesday, 17 March 2026 9:49 PM

Dr. Ali Larijani, the martyred secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC)

The secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has ascended to martyrdom in the ongoing American-Israeli aggression against the Islamic Republic.

In a statement issued late Tuesday, the SNSC's Secretariat announced Ali Larijani's martyrdom alongside his son, Mortaza, the Secretariat's deputy for security, Alireza Bayat, and a number of their bodyguards.

The statement described martyrdom as Dr. Larijani's "long-held dream," attained following a lifelong struggle aimed at the advancement of the country and its Islamic Revolution.

It noted the martyred official's sustained endeavor "up until the very final moments of his blessed life" towards realization of the nation's supreme interests and his consistent advice for the people and their authorities to retain their unity in the face of the country's adversaries.

The martyrdom, the Secretariat added, would further resolve the nation and its officials to persist in elevating the Islamic Republic's stance.

Larijani also used to be a member of Iran's Expediency Council and a senior advisor to the martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

He additionally used to serve as the speaker of Majlis (Iran's Parliament) for 12 years before being superseded by the legislature's current top parliamentarian, Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf.

Throughout his sustained political longevity, he also partook in the country's presidential elections and headed Iran's national broadcaster.

The aggression that began late last month has so far prompted at least 60 waves of successful and decisive retaliatory strikes by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) against sensitive and strategic American and Israeli targets throughout the region.

The Corps has vowed to sustain the reprisal until the enemies' "complete defeat."

US-Israeli 'Cowardly' Strike Assassinates Iran’s Basij Commander: Statement 

Tuesday, 17 March 2026 6:56 PM

Basij forces, Major General Gholamreza Soleimani (File photo)

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced the martyrdom of the head of the Basij forces, Major General Gholamreza Soleimani, in a targeted strike by the American-Zionist enemy.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the IRGC praised Soleimani's strategic decades-long service, highlighting his unparalleled efforts to modernize the volunteer force and assist vulnerable populations. 

The military body emphasized that this "cowardly assassination indicates the importance and role of the Basij in the all-out battlefield against the terrorist US army and the Zionist regime, especially in the recent war."

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale, unprovoked war against Iran on February 28, assassinating former Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and a host of senior commanders. 

Subsequent terrorist strikes on civilian targets have killed hundreds of civilians including more than 200 children. 

In their legitimate response to the aggression and widespread damage, Iranian Armed Forces have been conducting massive missile and drone strikes against US regional interests and Israeli military targets in the occupied territories. 

Promising to intensify these retaliatory operations, the IRGC issued a fierce ultimatum to the perpetrators of the strike. 

"We warn the wicked and terrorist killers of this high-ranking martyr that the combatant Basijis will never abandon seeking revenge for the blood of the martyred Leader, martyred commanders, and the various martyred people," the statement said. 

The IRGC noted that the spilled blood of these martyrs will undoubtedly "double the resolve of the heroic Iranian nation" and its forces to continue the path of resistance against global arrogance.

59th Wave of Strikes: IRGC Debuts ‘Haj Qassem’ Missiles in Fierce Retaliation

Tuesday, 17 March 2026 5:21 PM

Screengrab from footage released by IRGC shows the moment an Iranian missile is launched towards US-Israeli targets in the 59th wave of Operation True Promise 4 on March 17, 2026.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) has launched a new barrage in the 59th wave Operation True Promise 4, deploying the advanced "Haj Qassem" missile for the first time.

In a Tuesday statement, the IRGC said that its "effect-based" strike targeted Israeli positions in Beit Shemesh, Tel Aviv, and occupied al-Quds.

The devastating strikes simultaneously pounded regional bases belonging to the US "terrorist army," directly targeting installations in Al Udeid, Ali Al Salem, Fujairah, Sheikh Isa, and Erbil, added the statement.

Dedicated to Iran's aerospace martyrs and launched under the sacred code "Ya Heidar Karrar," the operation utilized suicide drones alongside pinpoint-accurate Ghadr, Emad, Fattah, and Haj Qassem missiles.

Meanwhile, the IRGC announced the dawn of a "new phase of effective and heavy blows" across the region against the American-Zionist enemy.

Promising an inevitable defeat for the aggressors, the military force issued a stark warning: "The bones of arrogance will be broken in the streets and squares."

This fierce retaliation serves as continuation of Iran's legitimate response to the unprovoked, large-scale war launched by the US and Israel on February 28.

Despite ongoing indirect nuclear negotiations, the enemy conducted extensive aerial strikes across Iranian civilian and military installations, causing significant casualties and assassinating former Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei alongside high-ranking military commanders.

IRGC Chief: Defenders of Persian Gulf Islands Fully Ready for Any Aggression

Tuesday, 17 March 2026 6:36 PM

Brigadier General Mohammad Karami (L) shakes hands with soldiers stationed on Kharg Island, March 17, 2026. (Photo via social media)

During a visit to islands in the Persian Gulf, Commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Ground Forces Brigadier General Mohammad Karami said forces stationed there are fully prepared to confront any scenario.

While inspecting military bases on the islands on Tuesday, Karami said IRGC forces would respond swiftly and decisively to any “stupid move” by the enemy.

Meanwhile, Sayyed Ismail Hosseini, spokesperson for Iran’s Parliament Energy Committee, said several members of the committee had also visited the islands. He added that oil industry personnel continue to carry out their duties without disruption and with high morale.

Speaking to journalists, Hosseini said the delegation included the committee’s head Mousa Ahmadi, Bandar Abbas representative Ahmad Moradi, Lamerd representative Sayyed Mousa Mousavi, and Bushehr representative Jafar Pourkapkani. The team traveled to Kharg Island as part of their visit.

The lawmakers visited petrochemical facilities, the Kharg oil terminal, and the island’s oil hospital, where they met with staff and discussed issues that require attention from parliament and the government.

On Saturday, American fighter jets attacked several petrochemical facilities on Kharg Island amid the ongoing Israeli‑US aggression against Iran.

In response, Iranian armed forces targeted several US military bases in the region, damaging aircraft and avionic systems, including six A‑130 refueling transport planes.

The United States and Israel launched a joint military aggression against Iran in late February, striking 30 targets across Tehran and assassinating the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, along with several senior Iranian officials.

Since then, Iranian armed forces have retaliated by launching waves of missiles and drones at Israeli‑occupied territories as well as US bases across the region.

Dena Martyrs Make Army's Foundation 'Firmer', Says Larijani as Tehran Prepares for Massive Funeral 

Tuesday, 17 March 2026 5:48 PM

Bodies of Iranian sailors assassinated in a cowardly US terrorist strike against IRIS Dena received in Tehran on March 15, 2026. (Photo by Tasnim)

As the Iranian capital gears up for a massive funeral honoring 84 martyred sailors of the IRIS Dena, top officials declared that the cowardly assassination of these naval heroes will only make the foundation of the country's armed forces "firmer for years."

The farewell ceremony for the recovered victims of the American terrorist attack will be held today and tomorrow across 34 main squares and locations in Tehran. 

These massive processions will see the presence of the martyrs' families, high-ranking civil and military officials, armed forces commanders, and citizens from all walks of life paying their respects to the sacrifices of the Dena crew.

Ahead of the grand processions, Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, released a handwritten note. 

He emphasized that the martyrdom of these naval heroes in the Dena proves the zealous nation's sacrifices "in this era of fighting international oppressors."

"Their memory will always remain in the heart of the Iranian nation, and these martyrdoms will make the foundation of the Islamic Republic's Army firmer in the structure of the armed forces for years," Larijani wrote.

Meanwhile, President Masoud Pezeshkian issued a message inviting the great Iranian nation to participate gloriously alongside one another to lay these heroes to rest. 

He noted that the brave and patient people of Iran are welcoming maritime youth who were echoing the call for peace in international waters, thousands of miles away from the area of the the imposed war when they were targeted by enemies. 

The enemies of freedom and security martyred these honorable soldiers in a massive crime and a cowardly, blind attack, trampling on all international, moral, and human laws, Pezeshkian stated, adding that the perpetrators once again revealed their terrorist nature to the world.

"Our deceitful enemies must know that in the shadow of the name of each of these high-ranking martyrs, thousands of other brave men will rise, and they will take the wish of the surrender of the children of the land of Iran to the grave," the president warned.

The IRIS Dena was brutally targeted on March 4 in international waters while returning from a multinational naval exercise in India, an event it had been officially invited to attend. 

The vessel was struck by an MK-48 torpedo launched by a United States submarine approximately 40 nautical miles off the coast of Galle, Sri Lanka.

According to reports, the maritime terrorist attack claimed the lives of 104 crew members. 32 sailors were rescued.

This unprovoked assault occurred in the middle of a large-scale war launched against the Iranian nation by the US and Israel on February 28. 

The war was ignited by the cowardly assassination of the former Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, alongside several high-ranking military commanders.

Within the framework of their legitimate response to these ongoing atrocities, the Iranian Armed Forces continue to execute massive missile and drone strikes against US interests in the region and Israeli positions in the occupied territories.

Top US 'Counterterrorism' Official Resigns, Says 'Cannot in Good Conscience' Back War on Iran

Tuesday, 17 March 2026 3:57 PM

Joseph Kent, the Trump administration’s director of the National Center for Counterterrorism (NCC), has resigned in protest over the US‑Israeli aggression against Iran.

In a post on the social media platform X on Tuesday, Kent wrote: “I cannot in good conscience support the war against Iran.”

“Iran posed no imminent threat to our country, and we entered this war because of Israel and pressure from its powerful American lobby,” he added.

Kent cautioned that continuing down this path would only deepen the crisis facing the United States.

"You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further towards decline and chaos," he wrote in the letter addressed to Trump.

Kent’s resignation exposes widening divisions within Trump’s political base over the war and signals that serious questions about the justification for attacking Iran have spread to both senior administration officials and the US president’s core supporters.

Trump has offered shifting reasons for the strikes and has pushed back on claims that Israel forced the US to act.

Earlier this month, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., suggested that the White House believed Israel was determined to act on its own, leaving the Republican president with a “very difficult decision.”

The White House also had no immediate comment on Kent’s resignation.

The US and Israeli armed forces launched a joint military aggression against Iran in late February by attacking targets across Tehran, assassinating the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei and several senior Iranian officials. 

Since then, Iranian armed forces have retaliated swiftly by launching barrages of missiles and drones at Israeli‑occupied territories as well as US bases across the region.

According to Iran’s Ministry of Defense, Iranian forces have killed and injured at least 600 American troops at various US bases since the start of the aggression.

Iranian officials say targeting US military bases in the region constitutes “legitimate self‑defense.”

Referring to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, they say the Islamic Republic has the legal right to defend itself against “acts of aggression” by the United States or the Israeli regime.

Migrants Vanish at Sea as Silence Deepens in the Mediterranean

African migrants

Bodies washing ashore, unanswered phone calls and abandoned camps — a growing number of migrants attempting the dangerous Mediterranean crossing are disappearing without a trace, in what experts describe as “invisible shipwrecks.”

According to the International Organization for Migration, the first weeks of 2026 have been the deadliest on record, with hundreds confirmed missing — and many more feared lost. But the true scale of the tragedy remains unclear, as access to information from authorities continues to shrink.

Julia Black, Missing Migrants Project, IOM: “The first two months of this year are the deadliest, January and February, we've ever recorded, with more than 600 deaths that we've unable to verify at sea. There are a lot more, especially surrounding the Cyclone Harry departures that we weren't able to get any information on. We don’t know any details on where these boats were when they departed, who was on board and whether search and rescue operations were conducted by anyone in the area."

Human rights groups say the lack of transparency is making it increasingly difficult to track what is happening along the world’s deadliest migration route. Governments in countries such as Italy, Malta and Tunisia have been accused of limiting data on rescues and shipwrecks, leaving families and journalists in the dark.

Matteo Villa, researcher, ISPI: “we've been recording also an increase in this kind of strategy of silence, where authorities in Italy and Malta deprive the public of information in order to not to talk that much about what 's been going on in the central Mediterranean, even as the Italian coast guard continues to actively carry out search and rescue operations there."

For migrants and their communities, the consequences are devastating. In Tunisia’s coastal town of El-Amra, many say they are witnessing a surge in disappearances following departures earlier this year.

Josephus Thomas, migrant and community leader: “Since the 15th of January 2026, to date, each day we discover friends, comrades that are, we saw or we have met along different kilometers around this relief area, who are missing because every day they either write RIP, the people are worried, no response from them, even if we try to reach out their phones unreachable. They are not... neither in desert, neither in prison or Libya. None of that. As I was saying, since the January 15th to date, it's more than 1,000 people who have gone missing at the Mediterranean Sea.”

As families search for answers, aid groups warn that without greater transparency and coordinated reporting, many deaths at sea may never be recorded — leaving a humanitarian crisis largely hidden from view.

Hundreds of Migrants are Vanishing in the Mediterranean. Authorities are Withholding Information

Migrants are vanishing in the Mediterranean, so is access to information from authorities

By RENATA BRITO and PAOLO SANTALUCIA

5:23 AM EDT, March 17, 2026

ROME (AP) — Bodies washing ashore day after day. Phone calls from relatives going unanswered. Migrants’ tents abandoned overnight.

Migrants trying to reach Europe are vanishing in droves in what are known as “invisible shipwrecks” but governments responsible for search and rescue are withholding information about what they know.

The beginning of 2026 ranks as the deadliest start to any year for people trying to cross the Mediterranean — an unprecedented 682 confirmed missing as of March 16 — according to the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration. But the real death toll is almost certainly much higher.

Human rights groups are increasingly struggling to verify tolls as Italy, Tunisia and Malta have quietly restricted information on migrant rescues and shipwrecks along the deadliest migration route in the world. The news barely makes headlines, in part because the lack of transparency prevents journalists from confirming reports.

“It’s a strategy of silence,” said Matteo Villa, a researcher focusing on migration and data at the Italian Institute for International Political Studies think tank.

The organization Refugees in Libya and other human rights groups have been sounding the alarm since late January, reporting more than 1,000 people missing after Cyclone Harry hit the region. But authorities have not confirmed, denied or corrected those reports.

In the weeks that followed the cyclone, more than 20 decomposing bodies washed ashore in Italy and Libya while other human remains were spotted floating in the middle of the sea.

For the families of missing migrants, not knowing their fate is excruciating.

“Europe should know that these people who got drowned in the sea have family members, have dreams, have passions,” Josephus Thomas, a migrant from Sierra Leone and community leader in Tunisia’s coastal town of El Amra, told AP.

Sparse information means fewer deaths recorded

Even the U.N.'s migration agency is increasingly unable to verify cases of migrants who die in what are known as “invisible shipwrecks” because of the growing lack of information.

Last year, at least 1,500 people were reported missing whose fates IOM could not confirm, said Julia Black, who leads the organization’s Missing Migrants Project. The issue persists in 2026.

“We started a new secondary data set of what we are calling unverifiable cases because it’s just become so many,” Black said. For this year, they already have more than 400 missing they could not verify.

Many humanitarian organizations that previously filled some of the information gaps are no longer able to do so because of the global wave of funding cuts and government-imposed restrictions across the region.

“We’ve seen the restriction of access for humanitarian actors, which is not right. And now we’re seeing even the restriction of information,” Black said.

The Associated Press repeatedly asked authorities in Tunisia, Italy and Malta why they aren’t sharing information related to migrant rescues at sea and what their policies are. Not one responded.

Countries quiet on reports of boats missing after cyclone

Over the years, authorities in the Mediterranean have gradually reduced information related to migrants. But their silence was even more pronounced in late January after Cyclone Harry unleashed heavy rainfall, winds of 100 kph (62 mph), and 9-meter-tall (30 feet) waves.

Hundreds of people had departed from Tunisia’s coastal region of Sfax and disappeared, according to information the group Refugees in Libya gathered from migrants in Tunisia and their relatives abroad.

The group acknowledged it was difficult to be precise “because there is no central system recording departures, losses, or recoveries,” but it warned that the death toll was likely even higher.

“We are looking at boats that never counted how many kids are inside,” Refugees in Libya founder David Yambio told AP.

The AP sent five email requests to the Italian coast guard seeking information on the boats reported missing and search efforts but received no response. An officer who answered the phone said the coast guard did not have “any further verified and confirmed information regarding the circumstances.” AP also filed a Freedom of Information request, which is pending.

The coast guard also declined to comment on an alert it issued on Jan. 24 asking vessels sailing between the Italian island of Lampedusa and Tunisia to be on the lookout for eight small boats in distress carrying some 380 people. The alert was made public by Italian journalist Sergio Scandura.

One survivor rescued from the boats

There is only one known survivor from the boats reported missing during Cyclone Harry. He was floating in the water when a merchant vessel rescued him on Jan. 22. The man told crew members he had been traveling with another 50 people, some of whose bodies could be seen in the water in video of the rescue. Thanks to his testimony, their deaths were included in IOM’s tally.

According to the captain, the survivor was evacuated to Malta. The Maltese Armed Forces did not respond to multiple requests about their involvement or reports that they recovered the man and the bodies.

The Tunisian Foreign Ministry and the Tunisian National Guard also have not responded to multiple requests for information by email and phone.

Frontex, a European Union agency that assists nations with border surveillance, told AP that it spotted eight boats carrying about 160 migrants between Jan. 14 and 24 when the cyclone hit. It said six boats were rescued by Italian authorities, but the fate of the other two remains unknown.

On Feb. 8, migrants prayed and cried during a memorial ceremony in the olive groves near Sfax, presuming their loved ones could not be alive after so many days without news.

“All of us here are in deep trauma, are in deep agony,” Dr. Ibrahim Fofana, a migrant in Tunisia whose relatives have been missing since late January, said in a video shared by Refugees in Libya. He pleaded for authorities to identify the bodies that washed ashore in Italy.

Tighter information follows migration crackdown

Until mid-2024, Tunisian authorities regularly shared the number of migrants they were intercepting at sea, eager to show their European partners compliance with a 2023 deal to curb migration in exchange for financial aid. But the deal was also followed by a brutal crackdown against migrants on land that resulted in thousands being detained or dumped in the desert.

Nongovernmental organizations such as the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, known by its French acronym FTDES, which used to compile and share reports on migrant interceptions, were also caught in the crackdown.

In June 2024, Tunisia’s Ministry of Interior stopped releasing any information on migrants, citing security reasons, said Romdhane Ben Amor, FTDES’ spokesperson. But in his opinion, the motives were political. The numbers were incompatible with the narrative that Tunisia was not Europe’s border guard, he said.

Italy’s erosion of information on migrant rescues is even older than Tunisia’s. The Italian coast guard used to provide detailed monthly data on migrants rescued. The monthly reports became quarterly before stopping completely in 2020, Villa said. In 2022, previous reports were also removed from the coast guard’s website.

This year, the Italian coast guard did not share any migration-related press releases despite nearly 5,000 migrants disembarking on Italian shores, according to Italy’s Interior Ministry statistics.

“It is very clearly a political strategy to repress as much information as possible from the public,” Villa said.

___

Brito reported from Barcelona, Spain. Trisha Thomas contributed to this report from Rome.

A Timeline of Attacks in Nigeria’s Northeastern Borno State

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

6:53 AM EDT, March 17, 2026

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) — At least 23 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in suspected suicide bombings Monday night that targeted Maiduguri city in northeastern Nigeria, police said Tuesday.

It was one of the deadliest attacks in the capital of the conflict-battered state of Borno in recent history.

Here is a timeline of major deadly attacks in Borno in the last five years:

Feb. 23, 2021

Suspected Boko Haram militants fired rocket-propelled grenades into densely populated areas of Maiduguri, including a university and a children’s playground, killing at least 10 people.

June 29, 2024

Female suicide bombers targeted a wedding, a funeral and a hospital in coordinated attacks in the town of Gwoza that killed at least 32 people and injured over 100. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the use of suicide bombers has been attributed to Boko Haram,

Jan. 26, 2025

A suicide bomber drove a vehicle with explosives into a convoy of Nigerian troops that were targeting Islamic State militants in the remote village of Malam-Fatori, killing himself and scores of soldiers.

June 20, 2025

A suicide bomber killed at least 10 people and injured several others in an explosion in a restaurant in the town of Konduga.

Sept. 5, 2025

Boko Haram killed over 60 people during a nighttime attack on Darul Jamal, a village that was home to residents who had recently returned from a camp for internally displaced persons.

Dec. 24, 2025

A bomb exploded during prayers at a mosque in Maiduguri, killing five people in what police described as a likely suicide attack.

Jan. 26, 2026

Suspected Boko Haram militants killed seven Nigerian soldiers and captured 13 others during an ambush on troops patrolling the Damasak area of Borno.

March 16, 2026

Multiple suicide bombings rocked Maiduguri, targeting a hospital and two markets, killing at least 23 people and injuring over 100.

23 Killed, 108 Wounded in Suspected Suicide Bombings in Northeast Nigeria

By HARUNA UMAR

10:40 AM EDT, March 17, 2026

MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) — Three suspected suicide bombings have killed at least 23 people and wounded 108 others in northeastern Nigeria, police said Tuesday. It was one of the deadliest attacks targeting the city of Maiduguri in recent history.

Residents and emergency services earlier told The Associated Press that the explosions were reported on Monday night in crowded places in Maiduguri, the capital of Borno state, including at a major market and the entrance of the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital.

The wounded “sustained varying degrees of injuries,” Borno police spokesperson Nahum Kenneth Daso said in a statement, which blamed the attacks on suspected suicide bombers.

President Bola Tinubu, who left the country on Tuesday for a two-day state visit to the United Kingdom, expressed his condolences for the victims and directed security chiefs to “take charge of the situation” in Maiduguri.

“The Monday attacks were desperate acts of the evil-minded terrorist groups,” Tinubu said. “Our gallant military and civilian task forces will curtail and put them down.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but suspicion quickly fell on the Boko Haram jihadi group, which in 2009 launched an insurgency in northeastern Nigeria to enforce their radical interpretation of Shariah, or Islamic law.

Boko Haram has since become stronger, with thousands of fighters and different factions, including the Islamic State West Africa Province, which is backed by the Islamic State group.

Near simultaneous blasts

The first explosion was recorded at about 7:30 p.m. at the entrance of the teaching hospital, while the second and third blasts followed a few minutes later at the popular Monday Market and nearby Post Office business hub, both located about 4 kilometers (2½ miles) from the hospital.

Witnesses recounted the chaos that followed at the scenes and at hospitals, as security forces and emergency services quickly intervened.

Caleb Jonah, a survivor of the explosion at the hospital entrance, told the AP that he sustained injuries to his legs and hands.

“I was coming to the hospital to check (in on) a patient when I saw two men struggling with the security men at the gate,” Jonah said. “Before I could process what was going on I heard the deafening blast and I passed out.”

Another resident, Mamman Usman, 52, said that his younger brother who worked at the Monday Market was about to close his stall when the blast occurred.

“He was badly injured and rushed to the hospital unconscious,” Usman said.

Mohammed Hassan, a member of a volunteer group assisting security forces in fighting extremists said the attack was one of the deadliest in Maiduguri in years and that hospitals were “in dire need of blood” to treat victims.

Heavy security deployed

Maiduguri has been at the heart of deadly violence in Nigeria in the past, but has experienced relative peace in recent years, even as the countryside is often battered by extremists.

The attack took place less than 24 hours after the Nigerian military repelled attacks by militants on the outskirts of Maiduguri, in what some residents say could have been planned as a distraction.

By Tuesday morning, there was a heavy security deployment in the affected locations and along major roads in the city. Many public places remained closed amid heightened fear.

“Investigations are ongoing to further ascertain the circumstances surrounding the incidents and to bring perpetrators to justice,” the Borno police command said.

Jihadi attacks intensifying

Extremists have intensified their attacks against Nigerian military bases in recent weeks, killing several senior officers and soldiers, and stripping the bases of stocks of weaponry and ammunition.

The multiple attacks could be seen as a major victory for the jihadis in a city seen as impregnable, despite attackers often targeting troops and villages on the outskirts of the city.

Last year, an apparent suicide attack killed five at a mosque on Christmas Eve in the city last year.

“Maiduguri being attacked is like an insult for the security forces ... and for the (jihadi) groups, it is symbolic because it shows nowhere is out of their reach,” said Malik Samuel, a Nigerian security researcher with Good Governance Africa.

Last Protester in Immigration Detention After Trump’s Campus Crackdown Has Been Released

By JAKE OFFENHARTZ and KENDRIA LaFLEUR

8:36 PM EDT, March 16, 2026

ALVARADO, Texas (AP) — A Palestinian woman who was the last person still in immigration detention after the Trump administration’s 2025 crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses was freed Monday after a year in custody.

Leqaa Kordia, a 33-year-old from the West Bank who has lived in New Jersey since 2016, had been held in a U.S. immigration detention center in Texas since last March. Her detention was linked, in part, to her participation in a protest outside Columbia University in 2024.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m free! I’m free! Finally, after one year,” Kordia, with a beaming smile, told reporters after emerging from the detention center.

An immigration judge had ordered her released on bond three times. The government challenged the first two rulings, but Kordia was freed Monday on $100,000 bond after it did not challenge the third.

Kordia said she was looking forward to going home and hugging her mother “so hard.” But she also said she would keep fighting on behalf of people still being held at the detention center.

“There is a lot of injustice in this place,” she said. “There is a lot of people that shouldn’t be here the first place.”

Kordia was among a number of people arrested last year after the Trump administration began using its immigration enforcement powers on noncitizens who had criticized or protested Israel’s military actions in Gaza, many students and scholars at American universities.

Among them was Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student involved in campus protests. He spent three months detained in a Louisiana immigration jail before being freed. Rümeysa Öztürk, a Tufts University student who co-authored an op-ed criticizing her university’s response to Israel and the war, was detained for six weeks.

Others did not fight to stay — one Columbia doctoral student fled the U.S. after her visa was revoked and immigration agents showed up at her university apartment.

Arrests of activists like Khalil drew condemnation from elected officials and advocates. But Kordia was not a student or part of a group that might have provided support, so her case remained largely out of the public eye while her detention carried on.

Kordia said she joined a 2024 demonstration outside Columbia University after Israel killed scores of her relatives in Gaza, where she maintains deep personal ties. She was around 100 people arrested by city police at that protest, but the charges against her were dismissed and sealed. Information about her arrest was later given to the Trump administration by the New York City Police Department, which said it was told the records were needed as part of a money laundering investigation.

Kordia was arrested during a March 13, 2025, check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New Jersey. She was detained immediately and flown to Prairieland Detention Center, south of Dallas.

Federal officials have accused Kordia of overstaying her visa, while scrutinizing payments she sent to relatives in the Middle East. Kordia said the money was meant to help family members suffering during the war.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, had previously criticized Kordia for what she said was “providing financial support to individuals living in nations hostile to the U.S.”

The department said in an email Monday night, “The facts of this case have not changed: Leqaa Kordia is in the country illegally after violating the terms of her visa.”

“The Trump administration is committed to restoring the rule of law and common sense to our immigration system, and will continue to fight for the arrest, detention, and removal of aliens who have no right to be in this country,” read the statement.

An immigration judge found “overwhelming evidence” that Kordia was telling the truth about the payments.

Kordia was recently hospitalized for three days following a seizure after fainting and hitting her head at the privately run detention facility.

At a hearing Friday, Kordia’s attorneys said she had a neurological condition that had worsened while in custody, putting her at an elevated risk of seizure. They reiterated that she could stay with U.S. citizen family members and did not pose a flight risk.

The immigration judge, Tara Naslow, agreed.

“I’ve heard testimony. I’ve seen thousands of pages of evidence presented by the respondent, and very little evidence presented by the government in any of this,” Naslow said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on X that he asked for her release when he met with President Donald Trump last month

“I am grateful that Leqaa has been released this evening from ICE custody after more than a year in detention for speaking up for Palestinian rights,” Mamdani said.

___

Offenhartz reported from New York.

Pakistani Strike on Kabul Hospital Kills 400

By Al Mayadeen English

Afghanistan accuses Pakistan of killing 400 in a strike on a Kabul drug treatment hospital, as Islamabad denies targeting civilians and border clashes continue to worsen

The Pakistani military has carried out a deadly strike on a hospital treating drug users in Kabul, with officials reporting mass casualties and widespread destruction at the facility.

Deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat stated that the death toll has "so far" reached 400 people, with approximately 250 others wounded in the attack.

According to officials, the vast majority of those killed and injured were patients undergoing treatment at the facility at the time of the strike.

Sharafat Zaman, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Health, confirmed that all sections of the drug treatment hospital had been completely destroyed. Local media outlets broadcast footage showing firefighters battling intense flames amid the rubble of the collapsed structure. On Tuesday morning, photographs showed rescue teams searching through the debris for survivors.

An ambulance driver named Haji Fahim described arriving at the scene to find scenes of utter devastation. "Everything was burning, people were burning," he recounted. "Early in the morning they called me again and told me to come back because there are still bodies under the rubble."

A patient identified as Yousaf Rahim, who was inside the hospital when the strike occurred, described the terror of the moment.

"We were inside the wards when the explosion happened. My bed was in the corner, and I suffered injuries to my leg and thigh. It was a horrific scene," he said. "Patients fell from their beds, screaming and running as fire and smoke filled the wards and rooms. Thick smoke and dust spread throughout the hospital. Many people lay on the ground. Dozens died instantly, and the critically injured were pleading for help. I didn't know what to do. I stepped over bodies and managed to escape outside."

Dejan Panic, the Afghan director of the Italian NGO Emergency, reported that their facilities had received three bodies from the strike and were currently treating 27 wounded individuals.

Pakistan denies targeting civilian facility

Islamabad has rejected Kabul's claims, dismissing them as "false and misleading."

In a statement, Pakistan's Ministry of Information said that Monday night's operations "precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure including technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of Afghan Taliban," as well as Afghanistan-based Pakistani militants in the capital.

The ministry further asserted that "this misreporting of facts as a drug rehabilitation facility seeks to stir sentiments, covering illegitimate support to cross-border terrorism."

This marks the third time in recent weeks that Pakistan has reportedly targeted Kabul with missile strikes. Islamabad has previously described the situation with Afghanistan as an "open war" amid escalating hostilities along their shared border.

Border tensions continue to escalate

The strike on Kabul came just hours after Afghan officials reported that the two sides had exchanged fire along their common border, resulting in four fatalities in Afghanistan as neighboring relations continue their sharp deterioration.

Earlier, Afghan officials confirmed that four people, including two children, were killed and 10 others wounded in southeastern Afghanistan during Monday's exchange.

Mustaghfar Gurbaz, a spokesperson for the provincial governor in Khost, reported that mortar shells fired from Pakistan overnight struck villages in the province, destroying multiple homes.

On Sunday, Pakistan reported that a mortar fired from Afghanistan struck a house in the northwestern Bajaur district, killing four members of a single family and wounding two others, including a five-year-old child.

In response, residents and officials indicated that the military targeted Afghan positions along the border on Monday, though Islamabad provided no immediate comment on these operations.

The current wave of fighting began in late February after Afghanistan launched cross-border attacks in response to Pakistani airstrikes inside Afghan territory. Those clashes effectively collapsed a Qatar-brokered ceasefire established in October following previous deadly border confrontations.

International concern and UN action

Fereshta Abbasi, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, expressed deep concern over reports of mass casualties and called for authorities to promptly investigate the incident. "Civilian facilities must never be targeted or put at risk of disproportionate attack," she emphasized.

The cross-border firing and strikes on Kabul occurred hours after the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on Afghanistan's Taliban administration to immediately intensify efforts to combat terrorism. While the resolution did not specifically name Pakistan, it condemns "in the strongest terms all terrorist activity, including terrorist attacks." The resolution also extended the UN political mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, for an additional three months.

Relations between the former allies have deteriorated significantly over Kabul's alleged role in providing safe haven to radical militants who have been responsible for a surge in deadly attacks inside Pakistan.

Afghanistan's interim government has consistently denied any involvement in cross-border terrorism.

China has attempted to mediate between the two sides, dispatching a special envoy to the region last week in an effort to ease tensions and bring both parties back to negotiations, though those efforts have yet to yield results.

Context: Escalating rhetoric and cross-border operations

The strike on the Kabul hospital comes amid a significant deterioration in relations between Kabul and Islamabad, marked by escalating military rhetoric and conflicting casualty claims from both sides.

In late February, senior Afghan military officials issued direct warnings to Islamabad against continuing hostilities.

Chief of the General Staff of the Afghan armed forces, Fasihuddin Fitrat, stated in a video message on February 27 that Kabul would respond firmly to any attack, explicitly warning that further aggression could threaten the security of Pakistan’s capital. "If they [Pakistan] commit aggression against any area of our country, they will receive the same response. We are confident that if they want to undermine the security of Afghanistan, our forces are capable of making the centers, even the capital, Islamabad, unsafe," Fitrat said.

Those warnings followed a period of intense cross-border clashes.

Afghan authorities reported that Pakistani aircraft were active in Afghan airspace, a claim that was not immediately addressed by Islamabad.

At the same time, Pakistan’s military announced it had launched "Operation Ghazab lil-Haq" ("Righteous Fury"), with a spokesperson for the Pakistani armed forces, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, claiming that 274 Afghan soldiers had been killed and more than 400 injured during overnight fighting. Afghan authorities did not confirm those figures.

According to the Afghan Ministry of Defense, the late-February escalation began with a retaliatory military operation against Pakistani positions along the Durand Line.

Kabul stated the operation was launched in response to Pakistani shelling that allegedly resulted in civilian casualties, with Afghan forces targeting Pakistani military posts in eastern and southeastern provinces.

The announcement of that completed operation provided the backdrop for Fitrat's subsequent warning that further retaliation would follow in the event of continued aggression.

How US Security Guarantees Became a Strategic Liability in the Gulf

By Janna Kadri

Are the current escalations in West Asia creating a new balance of power, or exposing the contradictions of a security architecture in which US bases and guarantees have become liabilities?

What follows in the wake of every escalation in West Asia is not the emergence of a new balance of power but the renewed visibility of an old one. The claim that the region has suddenly been rearranged confuses revelation with transformation. The balance was always there. Moments of crisis simply make the underlying structure harder to disguise: who has the power to destroy, who is made to absorb destruction, and whose territory becomes the geography of war.

The current war on Iran has brought this structure into sharp view, revealing how quickly the region’s military infrastructure, alliances, and logistical networks can become an operational map of retaliation.

This dynamic is not simply a question of deterrence or alliance formation. It concerns the way imperial power organizes space, resources, and violence. War is not an accident that interrupts the system; it is one of the ways the system operates, a sphere in which destruction becomes a mechanism for managing crises and preserving strategic dominance.

Ticking time bombs

For decades, many Arab states built their security strategies around the American military presence: basing agreements, integrated air defense systems, training partnerships, and arms purchases that tied not only weapons systems but military doctrine itself to US force posture.

In official discourse, this arrangement was described as protection. But that description confuses the ideological presentation of empire with its material function. The architecture was never primarily about protecting the region from “chaos.” The language of chaos itself forms part of the ideological machinery that legitimizes foreign military presence while limiting the emergence of autonomous regional forces.

Within that narrative, threats are defined less by actual expansionist capacity than by the degree to which political actors challenge imperial order. Iran is a clear example. The Islamic Republic emerged from a revolutionary movement that overthrew a US-backed monarchy and asserted political sovereignty against external domination. Yet within dominant strategic discourse, that autonomy is frequently recoded as instability and danger.

This does not mean that relations between Iran and Gulf states have been uniformly hostile. They have oscillated between rivalry, accommodation, and pragmatic cooperation. What the US security architecture did was institutionalize a particular interpretation of that relationship, one in which Iran appeared primarily as a permanent threat requiring external military guardianship.

The purpose of the security architecture was therefore not simply deterrence but containment: integrating the region into a wider order in which war, oil, and strategic dependency reproduce US hegemony. In this sense, the system is not designed to resolve conflict but to manage it indefinitely, a fact reflected in the current war on Iran, where analysts increasingly note the absence of a clearly defined political endgame.

This is why West Asia is often described as a region where global contradictions are unusually concentrated. Oil routes, military infrastructure, and geopolitical rivalry converge there in ways that bind regional politics to the broader dynamics of global power.

Infrastructure of empire

Seen in this light, the current escalation does not merely expose a contradiction within the security system. It exposes the system itself.

US bases and infrastructure are not unfortunate assets that have suddenly become vulnerable. They are operational nodes of an imperial architecture designed to project force and sustain strategic dominance.

In periods of calm, this apparatus appears as deterrence. In periods of war, it reveals what it always was: an infrastructure of power, command, and coercion.

That is why these bases become targets. Their vulnerability is not incidental to their protective function; it flows directly from their strategic role. The guarantee becomes the liability because it was always anchored in a machinery of threat.

The same indifference extends to the treatment of the Strait of Hormuz. Roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes through this narrow corridor each day, and the economies of the Gulf depend heavily on its uninterrupted operation.

Yet the willingness of the United States to escalate militarily in the very waters that sustain those economies illustrates the asymmetry of the relationship: most of the risks are regional, while the strategic calculations are external.

As tensions rise, Gulf exporters bear the economic consequences through disrupted shipping, rising insurance costs, and heightened market volatility. Analysts sometimes describe this danger as a miscalculation. But the logic of the war suggests otherwise. Donald Trump himself dismissed the resulting oil spike as “a very small price to pay” for “safety and peace,” effectively acknowledging that such economic losses are treated as acceptable within Washington’s broader strategic calculus.

Security without sovereignty

This also explains why the Gulf’s so-called security guarantees rarely take the form of genuine mutual defense treaties.

Their ambiguity is not a flaw in the system. It is part of how the system works.

They bind peripheral states to Washington without granting them sovereign parity. They generate expectations of protection while preserving American strategic flexibility. The host absorbs the political costs of association, the financial burden of militarization, and the retaliatory risks of escalation.

What is presented as an alliance, therefore, operates more like a hierarchy of managed dependence.

Arms transfers deepen this relationship materially. Weapons sales do more than enhance defense capabilities. They lock states into logistical chains of maintenance, training, spare parts, and doctrinal integration that tie their military systems to the United States.

The result is not simply security cooperation but a structure in which sovereignty becomes progressively weaker while dependence becomes structural.

The normalization of empire

The so-called “Abraham Accords” belong within this same trajectory.

They were presented as peace agreements, but politically they extended a US-anchored security system by formally integrating “Israel” into a regional architecture already organized around American primacy.

What was framed as diplomacy was, in practice, a reconfiguration of the existing order. Military integration, intelligence cooperation, logistical coordination, and economic normalization were meant to consolidate a bloc capable of stabilizing that order under pressure.

What was called peace was therefore the institutionalization of a war system by other means.

In that sense, the abandonment of the Palestinian cause is not merely a moral concession; it is a strategic one. By helping entrench the very regional order that generates instability and dependence, such normalization ultimately turns against the sovereignty and security of the states that embrace it.

Hormuz strategic leverage

Recent escalation has revealed why this arrangement was always unstable. The logic of retaliation does not concern itself with diplomatic language. It identifies the infrastructure that enables power.

Recent escalation has revealed why this arrangement was always unstable. The logic of retaliation does not concern itself with diplomatic language. It identifies the infrastructure that enables power.

A base matters because it launches, surveils, coordinates, and protects the machinery of force. Once hostilities begins, those installations move immediately into the target field.

The same applies at sea. Naval deployments presented as protecting shipping lanes become part of the war's operational geography the moment they enter military confrontation.

The Strait of Hormuz illustrates this dynamic with particular clarity. In the context of the current war, Iran has openly signaled that vessels linked to the United States or "Israel" may be treated as legitimate targets and that oil transit itself can become part of the battlefield.

Washington’s response has revealed another layer of contradiction. While the United States has floated the idea of escorting commercial vessels through the strait, President Donald Trump has simultaneously called on other powers, including China, to help secure the corridor, arguing that they benefit from the energy that passes through it. Yet the response has been uneven: several countries heavily dependent on Gulf energy have so far avoided committing to a US-led maritime coalition, reflecting both legal constraints and reluctance to be drawn directly into the war.

The request is striking given Washington’s broader confrontational posture toward Beijing, from tariff wars to tensions over Taiwan. It illustrates a deeper asymmetry: the war is prosecuted within a US-led security architecture, yet the burden of stabilizing its consequences is increasingly shifted onto others.

This is not a breakdown of the system. It is the system revealing itself.

Hosting the contradiction

The dilemma for regional states follows directly from this structure.

Integration into a US-led security system may bring access to arms, training, and diplomatic patronage. But it also incorporates those states into the target profile of the same system.

Ports, air bases, radar networks, and command centers cease to be neutral national assets. They become components of a wider war machine.

In this sense, the host state no longer simply hosts security. It hosts contradiction.

That contradiction becomes particularly visible in moments of escalation. Several Gulf governments deeply integrated into the US security architecture have voiced concern about regional instability and have at times lodged diplomatic protests against Iran. Yet their public statements rarely extend the same direct criticism to the US-Israeli strikes that trigger war, instead calling for restraint and de-escalation in more general terms.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov pointed to this asymmetry when he asked Gulf representatives whether they had condemned the US-Israeli aggression against Iran or massacres such as the strike on a girls’ school in Minab, which killed 170 students.

Normalization deepens that dynamic. Once certain Arab territories are openly folded into an order linking US military primacy with Israeli regional integration, they are no longer perceived merely as diplomatic actors. They become enabling structures of imperial power.

That perception carries strategic consequences regardless of treaty language. What appears diplomatically as stabilization can appear materially as alignment with a machinery of aggression.

Empire unmasked

The conclusion, then, is not that a new West Asia is being born. It is that an old order is being exposed.

The security architecture that promised protection was always structured by domination, dependency, and militarized hierarchy. Vulnerability was not an accidental byproduct; it was built into the system.

In a regional war environment, the guarantee and the target become inseparable because both belong to the same imperial structure.

What today’s escalation reveals is not the arrival of a new balance of power but an older truth: empire sustains itself through organized violence, and the Arab region remains one of its central theaters.

Hezbollah Targets IOF Assembly Points, Strikes Merkavas Tanks

By Al Mayadeen English

Hezbollah carried out multiple operations across southern Lebanon, targeting Israeli soldiers, Merkava tanks, and military assembly points as part of Operation Devoured Straw to defend Lebanon and deter Israeli aggression.

The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah carried out multiple operations early on Tuesday, targeting Israeli occupation forces, military positions, and settlements inside Lebanese territory and northern occupied Palestine.

The operations are being carried out as part of Operation Devoured Straw to defend Lebanon and its people, in retaliation for Israeli attacks that have targeted numerous Lebanese villages and cities, including the Southern Suburb of Beirut.

On Tuesday, March 17, the Resistance announced seven key operations targeting Israeli forces and armored vehicles in southern Lebanon and near the Lebanese-Palestinian border.

Rocket salvos targeting Israeli gatherings

At 12:30 am, an assembly point of Israeli soldiers at al-Assi site opposite Mays al-Jabal was targeted with a rocket salvo.

At 12:45 am, fighters targeted an Israeli assembly point in Jdeidet Mays al-Jabal with a rocket salvo.

At 12:45 am, a separate assembly point of Israeli soldiers south of the border town of Maroun al-Ras was struck with a rocket salvo.

At 1:45 am, an assembly point of Israeli soldiers in Hamams Hill south of al-Khiam was targeted with rocket fire.

At 3:00 am, in the settlement of Miskav Am, an assembly point of Israeli soldiers was targeted with a rocket salvo.

Guided missile strikes on tanks

At 1:45 am, a Merkava tank in the Taybeh project area was targeted with a guided missile. As Israeli forces rushed to withdraw casualties under a thick smoke cover, Resistance fighters targeted the area with artillery shells and a rocket salvo.

At 2:00 am, a second Merkava tank in the Taybeh project area was struck with a guided missile, bringing the number of tanks hit since last night to 5.

The Islamic Resistance confirmed on Monday that 23 operations were carried out, including strikes on soldiers, vehicles, tanks, and strategic positions deep inside Lebanese territory and northern occupied Palestine.

The Resistance emphasized that these strikes targeted military objectives only, unlike Israeli attacks, which target civilians, stressing that the operations are meant to deter Israeli aggression and prevent further escalation against Lebanon.

British Airways Cancels Dubai Flights Until Summer

Airline axes services to UAE and other destinations hours after drone attack on Dubai’s main airport

An Emirates plane lands at Dubai International Airport as flights gradually resume following a drone attack © AFP/Getty Images

Peter Campbell in London and Simeon Kerr in Dubai

British Airways has cancelled all flights into Dubai until at least June, in a sign the carrier expects disruption in the Gulf to carry on for months.

The airline said on Monday it would not fly to Dubai, Amman, Bahrain or Tel Aviv until after May 31, and Doha in Qatar until the end of April. Flights to Abu Dhabi will be cancelled until later this year.

This is the longest major airline cancellation announced so far in the conflict, which has entered its third week. European rivals Air France and Lufthansa have announced cancellations until later this month.

Travel agencies have also started cancelling holiday packages travelling through the UAE, citing the insurance risk from passengers transiting through its airports becoming stranded, according to people in the industry.

BA’s decision came hours after Dubai’s main airport was forced into a seven-hour closure early on Monday when a drone attack caused a fire at a nearby fuel tank.

The airline Emirates was forced to reroute flights in mid-air, with services from Heathrow, Edinburgh, Manchester and Dublin among those forced to return to their original departure point.

The UAE early on Tuesday announced a full closure of its airspace in what the Gulf state’s General Civil Aviation Authority described as an “exceptional precautionary measure”.

Carriers based in the region have been increasing services in an attempt to return stranded passengers, using narrow air corridors that are patrolled by military jets.

However, none of the major European airlines has resumed flights to Dubai, with Virgin Atlantic pulling its resurrected service after only a few days.

BA had cancelled its services until later this month, but on Monday said it had extended the period “due to the continuing uncertainty of the situation in the Middle East and airspace instability”.

It will continue to fly to Riyadh and Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, which have been less affected by the airspace closures. 

At Dubai’s main airport — which was the busiest international airport before the war — flights were suspended from about 6am local time after the fire.

Dubai International gradually resumed flights to select destinations later in the day. No injuries were reported from the fire, which authorities said had been brought under control earlier in the day. 

Iranian drone attacks have been decreasing in frequency in recent days but have hit strategically important targets such as the airports, ports and buildings in Dubai’s financial centre.

The drone strike came as Dubai’s airlines had been increasing passenger capacity and restarting destinations to return stranded travellers and resume normal operations. Tens of thousands of passengers had been stranded in the region at the outbreak of fighting.

Emirates on Sunday reached its highest number of services since the outbreak of the war, with 369 flights, about 70 per cent of its pre-conflict levels. Etihad, which operates from Abu Dhabi, passed 100 flights for the first time on Sunday, data from Flightradar24 showed. 

Qatar Airways said it would increase the number of flights from Wednesday, despite its airspace still being closed. “The number of flights that can operate each day is extremely limited under the current operational conditions,” it said. It listed several dozen new destinations including Singapore, New York, Tokyo and Amsterdam. 

Flights in the region have been operating through narrow corridors of airspace, patrolled by local fighter jets. “Each flight requires careful planning and remains subject to regulatory approvals and airspace conditions,” Qatar added. 

The airline has also been running select services between destinations outside the Gulf, bypassing its central base in Doha.

The flights — which require special approval from airports because they break with normal air travel rules requiring airlines to fly in or out of their home market — have allowed the carrier to repatriate some of the tens of thousands of passengers stranded when its regular Doha flight connections were cancelled. 

Other airlines have also added flights between Asia and Europe in an attempt to return passengers. BA said it had added extra services to Singapore and Bangkok to bring passengers back, and would continue to review options to return more customers.

Additional reporting by Ahmed Al Omran in Jeddah

Naval Escorts Will Not Guarantee Safe Passage Through Strait of Hormuz, Says IMO Chief

Arsenio Dominguez does not believe military protection for ships is a sustainable solution

A satellite image shows smoke billowing from Fujairah port in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday © Nasa/Reuters

Naval escorts will not guarantee safe passage through Strait of Hormuz, says IMO chief on x (opens in a new window)

The head of the International Maritime Organization has said that naval escorts through the Strait of Hormuz will not “100 per cent guarantee” the safety of ships attempting to transit the critical waterway.

Arsenio Dominguez, secretary-general of the IMO, told the FT that military assistance was “not a long-term or sustainable solution” to open up the strait.

“It reduces the risk, but the risk is still there. The merchant ships and seafarers can be affected,” the Panamanian official said.

The launch of the US-Israel war with Iran has in effect shut the narrow strait, through which normally about a fifth of the world’s oil trade passes. Iran has struck at least 18 vessels in the Gulf region since the outbreak of hostilities, and its new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei has declared the strait “closed” to shipping.

The choke on the world’s oil supplies has pushed the price of Brent crude above $100 per barrel, prompting fears of global economic shocks.

Despite US President Donald Trump promising that the US would provide naval escorts to commercial vessels in order to get oil flowing again, no protection has been forthcoming.

Trump, in an interview with the FT on Monday, threatened a “very bad future” for Nato if European allies did not join the US effort.

He also said that he would delay a promised summit with China if Beijing did not provide assistance, arguing that Europe and China were far more reliant on Gulf oil than the US.

Dominguez said that part of the problem was the geography of the strait. It is 33km wide at its narrowest point, but the combined width of the deep-water shipping lanes for traffic in each direction is just two nautical miles (about 4km).

The Strait of Hormuz is bounded on the Iranian side by mountains, which favour the aggressors who can strike ships from on high with little notice.

“We are collateral damage of a conflict when the root causes have nothing to do with shipping,” Dominguez said.

The IMO chief said that the UN agency, which sets the rules for international shipping, also had serious concerns about ships stuck in the Gulf running out of food and supplies for their crews.

The IMO has asked shipping companies to gather information about supplies on board in order to target the ships most in need with aid.

“The situation is concerning, particularly because ships are actually not able to operate freely in the Strait of Hormuz or in the region of the Gulf. Access to ports is limited as well because port facilities are being targeted. At some point, supplies will start running low in relation to food, water and oil [fuel] for the ships to continue to operate.”

The IMO will hold an extraordinary council on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss operational risks for shipowners in the Gulf and a call to de-escalate the conflict.

Between March 2 and 14, only 47 cargo vessels and tankers have passed through the strait, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations. Several belong to the billionaire shipowner George Prokopiou, two of which are involved in delivering oil to India.

Dominguez called for ship managers “not to sail and not to put seafarers at risk and not to put the vessels at risk . . . we need to de-escalate the situation before any shipowners or ship operators actually take the risk”.

Iran Earns Oil Windfall as US Turns Blind Eye

Treasury secretary Scott Bessent says White House is prepared to tolerate the trade to avoid sup

Even after the US bombed Kharg Island, business has continued as normal, said Jashan Prema at Kpler © Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Iran earns oil windfall as US turns blind eye on x (opens in a new window)

Iran earns oil windfall as US turns blind eye on facebook (opens in a new window)

Iran earns oil windfall as US turns blind eye on linkedin (opens in a new window)

Malcolm Moore in London

Iran is likely to be earning more than $140mn a day from selling oil as prices surge and the US turns a blind eye to its shipments to avoid further destabilising crude markets that have been shaken by the conflict.

At least 13 supertankers have loaded crude at the country’s main export terminal on Kharg Island since the US and Israel began strikes on the country at the end of last month, according to analysts tracking Iranian shipments through satellite imagery.

About 24mn barrels of Iranian oil have passed through the Strait of Hormuz in that period, according to Kpler, a data firm. Iran has in effect closed the waterway, through which about 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas is normally transported, to all other shipping by firing at tankers in the Gulf.

The disruption has helped drive the price of oil above $100 a barrel as other Middle Eastern countries have dramatically curbed their oil and gas production because they have no way to export or store crude. Oil prices are politically sensitive in the US, where costs at the pump weigh heavily on voters ahead of this year’s midterm elections.

US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said Washington was prepared to tolerate the Iranian sales, despite existing US sanctions. “The Iranian ships have been getting out already and we have let that happen to supply the rest of the world,” he told CNBC.

Iran was also increasingly allowing Indian and potentially Chinese ships to pass through the strait. “We think that there will be a natural opening that the Iranians are letting out and for now we are fine with that. We want the world to be well supplied,” Bessent added.

The US has also removed its sanctions on Russian oil to try to calm the markets, a move that may lead to more competition for Iranian oil with Chinese refiners.

Bessent’s comments came despite growing pressure in Washington for the US to cut off Tehran’s oil revenues. “If we continue up this escalation ladder, a move to restrict Iranian oil exports will likely gain more Oval Office traction,” said Helima Croft at RBC Capital.

Scott Bessent says the US is letting Iranian fuel ships leave the Strait of Hormuz to help with global oil supplies © CNBC

The US said it had struck more than 90 targets on Kharg Island on Saturday, including naval mine storage facilities, but left its oil infrastructure untouched. However, some hawks in Washington have begun pushing for it to take over the island in an effort to regain leverage over Iran.

Gideon Rachman

Why Hormuz will haunt us long after this war ends

Michael Doran at the Hudson Institute said US President Donald Trump “would love to seize Kharg Island. Its seizure would be the perfect way to gain lasting leverage.”

But sending soldiers to take over the facility was fraught with risk, Doran said. “American Marines on Kharg Island would be sitting ducks” in the face of Iranian missiles, he said, adding the US would only approve such a move if it could neutralise Tehran’s drones and missiles and push back Iranian troops from the coast.

While ships carrying Iranian crude typically mask their journeys to avoid US sanctions, analysts are able to track them through satellite images and estimate how much oil is being exported by their size.

Ahead of the conflict, Iran accelerated its oil exports, shipping nearly 4mn barrels a day at one point to try to move crude outside of the Gulf.

Since the conflict began, Tehran had loaded about 1.5mn to 1.6mn barrels each day on to tankers, said analysts at Kpler and Vortexa, another energy data company. This volume of oil, assuming a $10 discount to the price of Brent crude because of US sanctions, represents roughly $140mn a day of revenue.

“This is in line with the averages we have seen over the past year,” said Jashan Prema at Kpler, adding most of the ships Iran uses are supertankers that carry as much as 2mn barrels of oil.

Even after the US bombed Kharg, business had continued as normal, Prema said. “It has been fairly consistent, we have not seen a big change.”

Claire Jungman, an analyst at Vortexa, said seven out of the 13 tankers Iran loaded were part of the so-called shadow fleet, a group of vessels that moves sanctioned oil while concealing their journeys and without western insurance.

However, she noted recently more ships owned by Iran’s national oil company have been loading at Kharg Island, perhaps a sign that shadow fleet tankers are reluctant to risk being attacked by the US while filling at the terminal.

US shale producers not yet tempted by $100 oil

Jungman expected the trade to continue. “It is important to remember that these businesses are very used to taking risks. This is essentially what this fleet was built for,” she said. 

More than 90 per cent of Iran’s oil exports go to China, often to small independent refineries that buy the crude despite sanctions because of its steep discount.

But with crude prices surging since the conflict began, Iran’s revenues are likely to be rising sharply. On Monday, Brent was trading just above $101 a barrel in London.

Satellite image visualisation by Jana Tauschinski and cartography by Allysa Honra