SDG NEWS DEFENSE BRIEF The reported role of Iranian hard-liners in derailing diplomacy with Washington raises a larger question for Iran deterrence: can governments deter, or negotiate with, a state when responsibility for escalation is increasingly difficult to identify? A new account of the breakdown of U.S.-Iran diplomacy is drawing
The capture of Mocha and Houthi advance to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait strengthen the group’s position around one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints, raising new risks for Saudi Arabia, global shipping and the widening confrontation involving Iran and the United States. Iran-aligned Houthi forces have seized Yemen’s strategic
The United States is intensifying economic pressure on Iran while keeping military force in reserve, signaling a new phase of the conflict centered on sanctions, maritime enforcement and selective strikes rather than sustained large-scale combat. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the cost imposed on Iran would now be
A month-long pause in direct U.S.-Iran military exchanges has ended, exposing the fragility of efforts to contain a six-month conflict that increasingly resembles a war of attrition. U.S. forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz on August 30. U.S. Central Command said Iranian
Washington has dramatically widened its economic campaign against Tehran. For governments, the key question is how far the United States is prepared to push its Iran sanctions into China and other critical trading hubs. WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has opened a new phase of its campaign against Iran, threatening
A new commercial joint venture between French quantum company Pasqal and Saudi-based Eleven Ventures signals the Saudi quantum push to build domestic infrastructure, talent and commercial capacity, with ambitions extending across the Middle East and North Africa. Saudi Arabia is expanding its frontier-computing ambitions as Pasqal and Eleven Ventures move
WASHINGTON/TEHRAN: The U.S.-Iran truce framework, a 60-day diplomatic window intended to turn a temporary U.S.-Iran cessation of hostilities into a broader settlement has expired without a deal. President Donald Trump has ruled out extending the framework, Iran is warning that it could adopt a more offensive military posture, and Trump
Tehran says it is preparing to join the BRICS-backed New Development Bank, potentially expanding its access to development finance as war and sanctions constrain Iran’s economy — while testing how effectively emerging-market institutions can broaden financing options for countries facing international restrictions. Iran says it is moving toward membership in
Six people were killed near the Bab el-Mandeb as the Iran war puts simultaneous pressure on two of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints. The Iran war entered a more dangerous maritime phase this week after an attack by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis killed six people near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan’s new mutual-defense pact underscores a broader shift toward overlapping security partnerships as conflicts increasingly cross borders and challenge traditional alliance structures. Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan signed a landmark defense agreement Friday committing the three countries to regard an armed attack against one as an
