Politics, war, diplomacy and state power across the Middle East.
Rerouting crude through Oman is easing immediate supply fears, but it also highlights the strategic value of alternative export corridors during regional conflict.
Intelligence and targeting assistance offer a middle path between abandonment and direct strikes, but proxy support can still drag patrons toward escalation.
A movement built partly on contempt for 'forever wars' now owns a widening conflict whose exit conditions remain unclear.
Reopening shipping lanes and degrading Iranian capacity are military objectives. Neither answers the harder question of what political outcome ends the conflict.
Data centres, chips and power infrastructure are strategic assets. Regional conflict is forcing Gulf states to price physical security into the AI boom.
Israel's prime minister faces pressure from Washington, far-right coalition partners and voters while the basic sequencing of withdrawal and disarmament remains unresolved.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE increasingly treat great-power competition as something to arbitrage rather than a binary alliance test.