Laura Phillips

BBC Two - Europe on the Edge with Katya Adler, Series 1, Episode 1 Katya visits Italy and Germany to explore how they’re changing in the turbulent new world.

ICYMI at #BBCIplayer.

BBC’s Sebastian Usher: ‘ #Iran: Israeli military says it’s killed Abolghasem Babaeian, head of Supreme Leader’s military office’

@ntarnopolsky.bsky.social: Senator Lindsey Graham: " #Venezuela and #Iran have 31% of the world’s #oil reserves. We’re going to have a partnership with 31% of the known reserves. This is #China’s nicemare… nightmare. This is a good investment."’

Farzad Seifikaran, BBC Persian: ‘Hosseinali Eshkevari, member of Assemby of Experts:
"The new leader has been chosen with the majority of the vote, a person who will continue the path of Imam and Khamenei, will continue in the name of Khamenei.”’

Trump Blames Iran for Deadly Strike on Girls’ School President Trump on Saturday blamed Iran for the bombing of a girls’ school in southern Iran, which Iranian officials say killed more than 160 people. “My opinion, based on what I’ve seen—that was done...

The footage appears to contradict President Donald Trump’s claim it was an Iranian missile that hit the school on Feb. 28. www.wsj.com/livecoverage...

New video footage shows a US Tomahawk missile hitting an IRGC facility in Minab, Iran, on Feb 28, showing for the first time that the US struck the area. The footage also shows smoke already rising from the vicinity of the girls’ school, where 175 people were reportedly killed, including children.

Reuters: Iraqi oil production collapses with Strait of Hormuz blocked by conflict, sources say

@sameerhashmi.bsky.social: Two people have been killed and 12 wounded after a projectile struck a residential building in Al-Kharj, #SaudiArabia according to the civil defence agency. These are the first civilian deaths in the kingdom since the war began. #IranIsraelWar

Osint Defender: U.S. Navy MQ-4C "Triton" high altitude long endurance maritime reconnaissance drone is flying directly over the Iranian port city of Bushehr and the Kharg Island oil terminal in the Persian Gulf, one of the most important areas for Iranian exports.

18. Trump isn't leading the world through alliances and institutions. He's seizing the nodes: the chokepoints and resource pools that make the world - and AI - run. Whether it works or not, this is a coherent imperial strategy.

thehill.com/opinion/ener...

17. Step back: Greenland. Panama. Venezuela. Now the Persian Gulf.

thehill.com/opinion/inte...

How the Power of Siberia 2 Deal Could Reshape Global Energy A new gas deal between Russia and China is a diplomatic coup that raises energy, economic, and geopolitical implications amidst a tectonic geopolitical shift underway.

16. The alternative? Deeper dependence on Russian energy, practically natural gas from Siberia. Which is exactly what Beijing loathes. It does not want to be dependent on the transactional Putin.

www.csis.org/analysis/how...

Iran conflict and China: How it is unsettling Beijing and its ambitions China is not feeling the shock of war in the Middle East - yet. But it is feeling the ripples.

www.bbc.com/news/article...

15. Having the U.S. control the Persian Gulf from which China imports roughly half its crude and a third of its gas is a strategic catastrophe for Beijing.

China can't respond militarily. It prepared its navy to defend the Strait of Malacca, its other vulnerability. Approximately 80% of China's imported crude oil and nearly two-thirds of its total maritime trade pass through the Strait of Malacca. Pictured

14. China can't respond militarily. It prepared its navy to defend the Strait of Malacca, its other vulnerability. Approximately 80% of China's imported crude oil and nearly two-thirds of its total maritime trade pass through the Strait of Malacca.

13. The U.S. is also preparing to escort tanker convoys through the Strait of Hormuz and seeking financial mechanisms to insure ships after Lloyd's pulled out. These services aren't free. In practice, the U.S. would control the straits, the jugular of global energy trade.

After decapitation, what’s next? The US and Israel targeted Iran's leadership, hoping for regime change. But can seizing Kharg Island really give Trump the leverage he seeks? Will Iran sacrifice its revenue to defy American control? ...

12. Ian Bremmer captures the military logic precisely: "The [Kharg] island isn't extensively fortified, and sits isolated enough that US destroyers could establish a credible defensive perimeter well offshore."

www.gzeromedia.com/by-ian-bremm...

11. Southern Iran is being pummeled. These aren't random. They are clearing the operational space for a naval seizure of Kharg.

Sri Lanka moving 208 rescued Iranian ship crew to naval camp, sources say Sri Lankan authorities said on Friday they were escorting a second Iranian naval vessel to ‌harbour and moving 208 of its crew to a camp, two days after a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in the...

10. Meanwhile, the U.S. has systematically destroyed the Iranian navy — operations reaching as far as Sri Lanka, where an Iranian warship was intercepted.

www.reuters.com/world/asia-p...

Pro-American Kurdish Forces Are Preparing Possible Iran Incursion

9. Now: to whom do you delegate? The answer isn't clear yet — so the U.S. is reportedly encouraging Kurdish rebellion in the north of the country, forcing Iran to send forces upward and thin out defenses in the south, where Kharg is.

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/04/u...

‘Decapitate and Delegate’: Trump Tests New Model of U.S.-Led Regime Change Will taking out the leaders of America’s enemies be enough?

www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

8. Everything the U.S. and Israel have done so far fits this strategy. First, "Decapitate and Delegate." That was Israel's role. Khamenei killed. The Iranian leadership is in disarray.

7. Meaning that if the U.S. seizes Kharg, it doesn't need regime change. It directly controls Iran's most importnat source of income.

The oil island that could break Iran President Donald Trump’s allies are urging him to take control of a small spit in the Persian Gulf that controls nearly all of Iran’s oil exports.

6. AEI's Michael Rubin, a former advisor to the George w. Bush admin, who is in direct contact with Trump's advisors, is pushing the same logic. Referring to the Revolutionary Guards, he said: "If they can't sell their own oil, they can't make payroll."

www.eenews.net/articles/the...

Trump has privately shown serious interest in U.S. ground troops in Iran The president’s private comments have not focused on a large-scale ground invasion of Iran, but rather on the idea of a small contingent of U.S. troops that would be used for specific strategic purpos...

5. They may be right. NBC reported that Trump outlined to aides his vision for post-war Iran: "a new Iranian regime cooperates on oil production similar to how the U.S. and Venezuela are." The Venezuela template - out of Trump's own mouth.

www.nbcnews.com/politics/whi...

4. That means that the Iranians read Trump differently than the Western media does. They don't think he's after regime change or democracy. They think he's after oil.

3. Iran's pre-war signal: Before the war, as American forces massed across the region, Iran did something revealing: it ramped up Kharg exports from 1.5 million barrels of oil a day to 4 million — near record levels.

2. What is Kharg Island, & why does it matter? A tiny strip of land, half the size of Manhattan, nestled in the northern Persian Gulf, one hour by boat from the Iranian shore. Gazelles roam next to oil terminals through which Iran exports 90% of its crude.

Guy Laron Historian Hebrew University: ‘Is Trump planning to "Venezuelize" Iran? This analysis deviates from the mainstream media portrayal of a fickle, senile, or Bibi-led president. It assumes Trump is evil but rational.’1/ Kharg Island photo.

Guy Laron Historian Hebrew University: ‘Is Trump planning to "Venezuelize" Iran? This analysis deviates from the mainstream media portrayal of a fickle, senile, or Bibi-led president. It assumes Trump is evil but rational.’1/