Jacob Wirtschafter

Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia put new three-country mutual defense pact to test

The ramped-up ballistic missile and drone barrage targeting sites, including the holy city of Mecca, across Saudi Arabia in recent days is providing an eye-opening test of the mutual defense pact the kingdom signed last month with Turkey and Pakistan. So far, the Saudis' new partners have shown little appetite for joining the widening Middle East war against Iran and its Houthi proxies.

September 24, 2026

An isolated, wounded Iran spreads the pain across a divided Middle East

The Gulf monarchies that supply much of the world's oil spent the summer building ways around Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. This week, the backup routes came under fire, too, and Washington opened its own line to the militia threatening them.

September 17, 2026

A Muslim NATO? Concerns over U.S. reliability, Israel’s rise fuel new Turkey-Pakistan-Saudi alliance

The public statements around the new alliance among Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have been unfailingly diplomatic, but make no mistake: The pact the three Muslim nations signed last month has captured the wary attention of the U.S. and is generating concern in India and Israel.

September 4, 2026

Israel’s airstrikes, ground action in Syria escalate tensions with Turkey

Conflict with Arab neighbors is nothing new for Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but growing tensions between the Jewish state and Turkey threaten to superheat a Middle East that's already close to boiling.

August 20, 2026

Trump administration’s plan to open Libyan oil as alternative hits a snag

The Trump administration's push to open Libyan oil as a Gulf-supply alternative during the war with Iran is on the rocks after an assassination, a central banker's move to quit, and a week of drone strikes and explosions that ran into Sunday.

August 17, 2026

Houthis’ Red Sea attacks pressure Saudis to back ground war Riyadh has spent 3 years trying to avoid

Saudi Arabia has stopped loading crude from its Red Sea coast amid ramped-up attacks from Iran-backed Houthis and is weighing whether to back a new Yemeni ground campaign to retake the shoreline from the rebel militants.

August 11, 2026

Qatar offers Iran a fund, not a toll, and says it will stop shipping before it pays

Qatar has told Iran, the United States and Oman that it will stop shipping altogether rather than pay to cross the Strait of Hormuz, and has proposed an alternative.

August 10, 2026

Drone strikes on Egyptian port end Cairo’s exemption from Iran war

Egyptian officials said Thursday a drone attack one day earlier caused a fire aboard two vessels -- a U.S.-owned storage facility and a Greek tanker -- at the Mediterranean port of Damietta, confirming that the war between the U.S. and Iran has reached the one Arab state that had managed to stay on the sidelines.

July 30, 2026

U.S.-Saudi strikes on Iraq’s pro-Iran militias underscore Baghdad’s fragile grip on country

Iraq's national security council on Wednesday condemned the predawn American and Saudi airstrikes that killed at least 20 members of government security forces whom the U.S. said were actually taking orders from Tehran. The council called the strikes an act of aggression.

July 29, 2026

Lithuania’s foreign minister sets a red line on Russian sabotage

Days after Lithuania said its intelligence services had caught Russia preparing sabotage against the infrastructure that ties the Baltics to Europe, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys drew a public line.

July 17, 2026

Ankara markets drones, air defense to states looking to reduce reliance on U.S. weapons

Ankara will use its turn hosting this week's NATO summit to market its own drones and air-defense systems, turning a meeting about how much allies spend on defense into a showcase for Turkey's weapons industry.

July 5, 2026

Geopolitical genie: Azerbaijan’s value increases with Hormuz blockade, Russia-Ukraine war

Trump administration officials are in talks with Azerbaijan to fine-tune deals with the leaders of a Western-friendly Caspian state that offers potential land-based Asia-to-Europe connections that would bypass Russia, Iran and the still-closed Strait of Hormuz.

June 3, 2026

Pakistan’s relationship with Tehran, Trump leads to mediation role in Iran war

Pakistan, and specifically Field Marshal Asim Munir, was picked to mediate the negotiations between Iran and the U.S. because of his long history with Iran and good standing with Mr. Trump.

May 22, 2026

U.S. universities in Qatar’s ambitious Education City weather war, missile threats, skepticism

For Northwestern, Virginia Commonwealth, Georgetown and the other U.S. universities with satellite campuses in Qatar, the commencement ceremonies earlier this month came with a sobering complication: concerns about a surprise Iranian drone or missile attack.

May 20, 2026

UAE’s surprise OPEC exit throws a wrench into a U.S.-friendly global oil production machine

The United Arab Emirates' OPEC withdrawal is forcing Washington into a new phase of energy diplomacy -- one that requires direct coordination with Abu Dhabi as the cartel structure the U.S. has relied on for decades unravels.

April 30, 2026

Lavrov targets NATO as Europe readies for a reduced American role

Russia's foreign minister delivered a prosecution of the American-led world order from Turkey's annual diplomacy forum over the weekend. Sergey Lavrov called NATO an "aggressive bloc" and the rules-based international system a slogan that "never existed." He said the war the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran was "a plan to control the oil through the Strait of Hormuz."

April 20, 2026

Hormuz blockade, production repairs will leave Qatar’s European customers scrambling for years

After damage to energy production facilities and the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, Qatar's largest liquefied natural gas export facility will need at least three years to resume honoring its prewar supply obligations, a former QatarEnergy commercial official says.

April 15, 2026

As Iran ceasefire wobbles, Houthis hold next potential choke point on oil, commerce

The ceasefire Pakistan brokered named no Houthi obligations and set no conditions on Yemen. What the militant group has done instead is begin screening ships transiting the Red Sea by political identity -- using the same selective-pressure formula Iran applied to the Strait of Hormuz.

April 9, 2026

Egypt, Pakistan join neutral Oman in trying to mediate end to Iran war

Countries around the Persian Gulf are scrambling to mediate an end to the Iran war.

March 26, 2026

Airstrikes push Qatar, Turkey to the brink

The deaths of seven people on a Turkish military helicopter together with President Trump's threat to target Iranian power plants framed in one morning a central question of the war's fourth week: what Turkey's military presence in Qatar means if the Persian Gulf stops being a pressure point and becomes a battlefield.

March 22, 2026