Iran Archives - Page 6 of 10

Strangely enough, Iran is exporting more oil now in the middle of the war than before the conflict

March 12, 2026 by usatoday24

The global crude oil market is experiencing “the largest supply disruption in history,” as the International Energy Agency warns. But the almost total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz hides a brutal irony: the same waters that are closed to the rest of the world are being used by Iran to export more oil than it sold before the war. The incessant flow. Far from paralyzing, the Iranian export machinery has accelerated. According to data from Kpler, In recent days, ships have loaded a daily average of 2.1 million barrels of Iranian crude oil, surpassing the barrier of the 2 million daily they exported in February. The big question is where all this crude oil is going. The answer is unanimous: towards China. A graph of Statista illustrates that the Asian giant It is, by an overwhelming margin, Iran’s largest buyer, accounting for 90.8% of its oil exports in 2024. Since the war began in late February, at least 11.7 to 12 million barrels have crossed the strait bound for China, according to estimates from TankerTrackers and Kpler collected by CNBC. In fact, how to detail Wall Street Journal, There is an anecdote that borders on the surreal to illustrate this situation: small Chinese tankers navigate the strait communicating by shortwave radio with the Revolutionary Guard. “We are a Chinese ship. We are going to pass; we are friendly,” they announce in English to ensure safe passage. A question of survival. As an expert explains consulted by Deutsche WelleChina has become the “indispensable lifeline” for Iranian exports in a context of harsh Western sanctions. This has created a “parallel market” where independent Chinese refiners buy discounted crude oil by operating outside the US financial system, according to the agency Anadolu. However, global panic is evident. The crisis promptly shot up oil prices close to $120 per barrel, levels not seen in four years. The impact has been such that, how to explain BloombergBeijing has ordered its refineries to cancel export shipments of refined fuel to ensure domestic supply in the face of the volatility of the conflict. The dilemma of Kharg Island. Although the United States and Israel have bombed thousands of military and strategic targets in Iranian territory, there is one enclave that remains mysteriously intact: Kharg Island. This small piece of land, just about 20 square kilometers, is the true jewel in the energy crown, channeling 90% of the country’s crude oil exports. According to analysts Guardian and France 24the answer is economic terror: an attack on Kharg could catapult the price of a barrel to $150, sending global markets into a “nose dive.” Also, how my colleague Carlos Prego explains in Xatakadestroying the facilities would deprive a hypothetical successor government of the main source of income necessary to rebuild the country once the war ends. Iranian evasion tactics. Iran’s export success is not based only on military intimidation, but on complex sanctions evasion engineering. According to The Wall Street Journalthe regime uses a “shadow fleet” made up of old oil tankers that sail without tracking systems and under false flags, such as those of Comoros or Guyana. On a financial level, the sophistication is just as high. Intelligence documents revealed by Euractiv show that Iran uses shell companies in China to carry out euro-denominated transactions, moving hundreds of millions through accounts at European banks such as Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas. Simultaneously, a report of ACAMS exposes how the Revolutionary Guard uses the cryptocurrency ecosystem (with multi-million dollar transactions in stablecoins such as USDT) to launder money and finance their affinity groups without going through traditional banking. Finally, although Iran is trying to diversify its departures using the Jask terminal in the Gulf of Oman – thus avoiding the Strait of Hormuz -, CNBC warns of its extreme inefficiency: Loading a supertanker there can take up to 10 days, compared to the one or two days it takes in Kharg. Triumph in the midst of chaos. The conflict in the Middle East has drawn a counterintuitive scenario. While the large producers of the Persian Gulf are bleeding economically due to the paralysis of trade routes, Iran has capitalized on the chaos. The panic of a global energy collapse acts as an invisible shield that protects the island of Kharg from Western bombing. Under this umbrella of armed immunity, war has not suffocated the Islamic Republic; On the contrary, it has given it a maritime monopoly that allows its ghost fleet to continue feeding insatiable Chinese demand in broad daylight. Image | Photo by Fredrick F. on Unsplash Xataka | China just found a hole in the US’s quietest weapon: an algorithm has hacked its B-2s in Iran, and they have the audio

Without helium there are no chips or RAM. And the largest producers are in the eye of the Iran war

March 12, 2026 by usatoday24

Think of the world as if it were a puppet. It is supported by threads that move, but when one of those threads breaks, the whole wobbles. If several strings break at once, the puppet falls apart. In the technological world, 2026 has started on the wrong foot. The main RAM memory companies They have turned to producing memory for AI, leaving the consumer market. This has caused an unprecedented increase of prices that affects consumers, but also companies. Right now, it’s impossible to guess when it will return to normal because each party involved thinks one thing. And, for a few days now, we have another of those threads that I talked about at the beginning: the iran war. The consequence We are already seeing it immediately: the Strait of Hormuz boilingthe barrel of crude oilreaching stratospheric prices and a gasoline –dieselabove all- through the clouds. But since everything that goes wrong can get worse, now there is another crisis knocking at the door: that of helium. And it is the perfect union between RAM crisis and the war in Iran because without helium… well, without helium there are many things that do not work. Neither does artificial intelligence. RAM crisis + Iran war = no helium For many, helium is that gas that gives us such a funny voice and allows us to inflate balloons that float. For the semiconductor industry, helium is a critical and irreplaceable element in the manufacturing process. Being a noble gas, it does not chemically interfere with the materials of the silicon crystal growth process. inside the huge machines that companies use to create the wafers that are later used to make chips. They prevent materials from reacting with oxygen or other contaminants, so the results are purer. They are like a shield, but helium is also essential to dissipate the heat of the extreme lithography machinesto eliminate waste after each manufacturing cycle and even to identify any leaks in one of these machines. Its particles are among the smallest that exist and are what reveal even the smallest leaks in manufacturing chambers that must be under vacuum. Come on, it is not an element that can be easily replaced. There are two companies that right now have such a deep dependency that any variation in supply would be fatal. What companies? Exactly: Samsung and SK Hynix, the same ones that have dedicated themselves to AI and the same ones that do not plan to lift a finger to alleviate the crisis of RAM memory prices (and therefore of SSDs and any device that has a NAND chip). Both are involved in the manufacturing process of the sophisticated HBM4 memoryand both need helium. The problem is that helium is a byproduct in natural gas production, and some of the world’s largest refineries are in the Middle East. With the war in Iran, it is clear that the civilian targets are data centers and energy producers. If these infrastructures are attacked, the rest of the West is paralyzed, and they have begun to launch kamikaze drones against them. There is the oil company Ras Tanurabut also that of Ras Laffan, from QatarEnergy. It is one of the whales in the production of natural gas and, therefore, in the production of helium. And if the refineries close and the ships do not arrive, the smelters’ reserves begin to run out. There are already voices that they point to problems in the medium term if the situation persists. SK Hynix claims that they have a “diversified supply chain and sufficient helium inventory”something similar to what has commented another of the large chip manufacturers: TSMC. The problem is that these guarantees are short-term. If the situation continues with a prolonged closure of Hormuz, more than 25% of the world’s helium supply will be affected. This will cause the companies that ‘use’ gas the most to begin to see that their reserves are depleted at a faster rate than they are replenished. the market, always so unstablehas already reacted and actions Both Samsung and SK Hynix have fallen in recent hours due to supply concerns. Because we are no longer talking about a price of RAM and runaway gasolinewe are talking about helium being necessary for the manufacturing of any advanced chip, but also in quantum computing or for the numerous space launches. And as Hormuz continues, there will be many entities fighting for an essential, irreplaceable and very valuable good. Faced with SK Hynix’s moderate optimism, more pessimistic voices are already seeing echoes of the component crisis of 2020. Images | VALGO, ASML In Xataka | ‘Focus: The ASML Way’: the book that reveals the secrets of the most powerful European company in the chip industry

An algorithm has hacked their B-2s in Iran, and they have the audio

March 12, 2026 by usatoday24

In modern military history there are weapons so sophisticated that for decades they seemed practically impossible to follow or anticipate. However, as satellites, sensors and massive data analysis multiply, the battlefield begins to change. change nature: It is no longer always whoever wins the most advanced plane, but rather whoever is able to interpret before anyone else millions of seemingly unconnected signals. In this new scenario, algorithms begin to play a role that previously only radars had. The bomber that changed war. He B-2 Spirit It is one of the most exclusive and secret pieces of the American arsenal. There are only 20 operational units and each one cost more than 2 billion dollars, making it the most expensive airplane ever built. Its flying wing design eliminates vertical surfaces and reduces to a minimum the signal that bounces off enemy radars. Added to this are radar-absorbing materials, engines hidden within the fuselage and flight profiles designed to remain undetected. The result is a true “bug” capable of penetrating dense air defenses, penetrating deep into enemy territory and attacking strategic objectives. without being seen. For decades, that combination of stealth and range has made the B-2 the silent weapon par excellence from the United States, a platform designed precisely to operate without the adversary even knowing it is there. Epic Fury, the invisible attack on Iran. That capability was tested again when the US Air Force launched four B-2As (identified by the callsigns Petro 41, Petro 42, Petro 43 and Petro 44) to attack Iranian facilities hidden in mountainous complexes during Operation Epic Fury. The mission was part of the coordinated military campaign between Washington and Tel Aviv and was designed to hit high-value targets, including centers linked to the Iranian missile program. The B-2 is designed precisely for those types of operations: fly thousands of kilometers, penetrate advanced air defense systems and launch precision-guided munitions against strategic targets. Its greatest advantage is not speed or firepower, but the stealth. The enemy doesn’t have to intercept it if he doesn’t even know the attack is happening. The Chinese spy: an algorithm. But as we said at the beginning, modern warfare is beginning to introduce a new type of sensor: the software. A Chinese technology company, Jingan Technologyhas announced that its artificial intelligence-based military analysis system (one called Jingqi) detected linked signals to the American deployment weeks before the attack. The system reportedly combines satellite images, flight paths, ship movements, public records and other open sources to reconstruct patterns of military activity. According to the companythis analysis made it possible to identify since January an accumulation of US forces in the Middle East that even exceeded that registered before the Iraq war. The AI would have followed transport aircraft routes, reconnaissance missions and movements of aircraft carrier groups until reconstructing the sequence that led to the military operation. A hole. The most striking statement came after the attack. Jingan assured that his system detected radio communications from the bombers during their return flight, despite the fact that operations of this type are usually carried out under strict silence on radio. The company maintains that it could rebuild the route of the bomber group and even published an audio fragment to support your claim. If this interception is correct, it would imply something much more significant: the weak point would not be in the enemy radar, but in the data ecosystem surrounding the operation. Put another way, the B-2 may be nearly invisible to traditional sensors, but the accumulation of indirect signals (communications, logistics, support movements) can allow trained algorithms to find patterns that previously went unnoticed. Algorithm war. If you like, the episode illustrates the extent to which artificial intelligence is transforming the way to wage war. Analysis systems like the Chinese Jingqi compete with American platforms that also use AI to plan military operations. In the campaign against Iran, Washington used tools like the model Claude by Anthropic and the Maven Smart System developed by Palantir to analyze large data streams and generate attack recommendations. This type of technology makes it possible to reduce in a lot the time needed to identify objectives: processes that could previously take three days are now completed in a matter of hours. The ultimate goal is to compress the entire attack chain (detect, evaluate, hit and re-evaluate) in just minutes. A new front. Plus: artificial intelligence is also altering another front of the conflict, the informative. The proliferation of AI generated videos is starting to make it difficult to distinguish between real and manipulated images on social media. Platforms like X have warned that they will penalize users who share AI-generated war content without warning, after numerous fake videos will begin to circulate during the crisis. Thus, in a scenario like the current one, where algorithms analyze military operationsgenerate propaganda and detect invisible patterns To the human eye, the battlefield is no longer limited to air, sea or land. It is also released in data centers. And in that terrain, even the quietest bomber on the planet can leave traces that no one knew before hear. Image | Jonathan Cutrer, goretexguy In Xataka | The arrival of the B-2s to Iran can only mean one thing: the search for the greatest threat to the United States has begun In Xataka | Iran is planting sea mines in Hormuz. And what threatens to blow up is not ships: it is the world economy

Saudi Arabia wants to invest 38 billion dollars to be the capital of gaming. The Iran war is going to ruin everything

March 12, 2026 by usatoday24

First it was footballafter video games. Saudi Arabia wants to become the world capital of entertainment at the stroke of a checkbook (and at the same time whitewash his authoritarian regime). Now their plans are in jeopardy because of the war in Iran. 38,000 million. This is what Saudi Arabia plans Invest to become a gaming powerhouse. However, the conflict in the region and Iran’s attacks have put their plans in check. In an interview during the Game Developers Conference echoed by Bloombergthe CEO of Savvy Games has said that “This escalation clearly does not benefit the region and will likely change or cool the perception of it as a stable and calm place where people want to go.” He hopes that the war will end soon and they can continue with their business plans. Entertainment capital. Savvy Games Group, subsidiary of the Saudi Sovereign Fund (the same as bought Electronic Arts for 50,000 million), has very ambitious plans for the region, such as the esports district in Qiddiya Citya megaproject focused on entertainment where there is giant amusement parksstadiums for video game competitions and much more. Their plans go beyond buying companies, they want to hold events that attract gaming enthusiasts. In 2025, Rihyad hosted the Esports World Cup, an event that lasted seven weeks and featured events related to up to 25 esports. They also want to attract foreign investment and large video game companies to move there. It sounds great, until the threat of Iranian drones appears and the dream is shattered. Vision 2030. All this is part of a long term plan promoted by Prince Mohamed bin Salmán since 2016, whose main objective is to diversify its wealth beyond oil and turn the country into an attractive destination for investors. This serves another purpose: to project a more moderate image beyond its borders. Iran attacks. Iran has targeted key infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, such as the Ras Tanura refinery and the Shaybah sitemilitary bases with American presence such as Prince Sultan and, on the rebound, even residential neighborhoods and diplomatic areas of Riyadh. Several of these attacks were intercepted, but it is clear that Saudi Arabia is a target for Iran. There are other companies concerned, such as Wynn Resorts, which is building the country’s first casino on the artificial island Al Marjan. They had to stop the works a few days ago due to the conflict, but They have already resumed work. Image | Wikipedia In Xataka | The US has turned off the tap on satellite images of the Iran war. A Chinese startup has left it open

Building data centers in the Middle East seemed like a great deal. Until Iran arrived

March 12, 2026 by usatoday24

A few days ago we said that Iran had attacked two data centers in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain. It is the first deliberate attack on a data center and proof that it has become critical infrastructure at the level of power plants. The question is who thought it was a good idea to build data centers in one of the most unstable areas on the planet. A plan that comes from afar. In a trip to Saudi Arabia last yearTrump was accompanied by an entourage of technological leaders among whom were Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Sam Altman or Sundar Pichai among others. At this meeting, massive investments were announced in the region with the construction of a massive data center complex. However, although it has been strengthened by this administration, the previous one was the one that started the path. In September 2024, Biden met with the leader of the Emirates to seek a strategic alliance that would allow them to develop their AI ecosystem. The reason. What has led technology companies to build in the Middle East is evident: saving. They count in Financial Times that the Gulf countries offered very interesting incentives, such as subsidies and cheaper energy. Furthermore, in this way all the problems they are having at home with the electrical gridpermits and resistance from many communities. The business seemed good. The map of AI in the Middle East. Emirates and Saudi Arabia are the countries with the most data centers, with 57 and 61 facilities respectively, according to Data Center Map. Of all of them, many are from American companies. Amazon alone has nine in the area, including those in the Emirates, Bahrain and also Saudi Arabia. Microsoft has data centers in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and is building one in Saudi Arabia. Oracle, OpenAI and other partners are building a mega data center in Abu Dhabi which they expect to reach 5GW. The damage. Although the Middle East has gained presence on the map of big tech data centers, the concentration of infrastructure is still ridiculous compared to that of the United States itself, which has more than 4,000 installations. All in all, build a data center It’s not exactly cheap. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, said a few months ago that Each gigawatt costs about $50 billion.. The irony. The same leaders who posed for a photo with Trump on that trip now see how their infrastructure is threatened and suffering the consequences of the conflict caused by the president himself. The idea of investing in so much digital infrastructure in an unstable area was not such a good idea. The war against Iran It looks like it’s going to get longer. and nothing prevents Tehran from continuing to attack energy and technological facilities in the region. They were looking to reduce costs and it may end up being expensive, although seeing the projected capex for this yearthey can afford it. Image | Data Center Map (edited) In Xataka | The US is beginning to realize something worrying: AI data centers are skyrocketing its electricity bill

The US ignored Ukraine’s pleas to Russia, and now Iran has turned the US into Ukraine

March 11, 2026 by usatoday24

In recent years, something curious has happened in the military world: the most influential drones on the battlefield are not the most advanced, but some of the cheapest. Small devices with triangular wings and simple engines, inspired by Iranian designs, have ended up starring thousands of attacks in several conflicts and forcing entire armies to rethink how to defend their skies. Paradoxically, stopping them usually costs much more than making them. And the United States has realized it late. The war that changed the battle. we have been counting. The Russian invasion of Ukraine inaugurated a new phase in modern warfare marked by the massive use of cheap drones capable of overwhelm the defenses traditional aerials. Since 2022, Russian forces have launched tens of thousands of Shahed drones (of Iranian origin) against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, forcing kyiv to develop an improvised but increasingly sophisticated defense. This experience, acquired in extreme conditions and under constant bombing, has turned the country into the most advanced laboratory in the world to combat this type of weapons. What began as a desperate fight to protect their airspace ended generating new tacticselectronic warfare systems and interceptor drones specifically designed to destroy these low-cost loitering munitions. The weapon that changes the economy of war. The success of Shahed drones is based on brutally simple logic: its price. Each can cost between $20,000 and $50,000, a paltry figure compared to the systems designed to stop them. For years, Ukraine and other countries have been forced to use anti-aircraft missiles that can cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars to shoot down a single drone. This asymmetry turns each interception into an economic defeateven when the target is destroyed. To solve the problem, Ukraine began to develop cheaper solutions: interceptor drones that pursue and attack the Shahed, mobile teams with machine guns, electronic jamming systems and surveillance networks adapted to detect these devices before they reach their objectives. The great strategic paradox. Here appears one of the most striking ironies of the current conflict. For years, Ukraine asked for more help to defend against Iranian drone attacks used by Russia and developed specific technology to combat them in view of the fact that no one (or few) paid attention to them. Even now we know who came to offer that experience and those systems to the United States in meetings held at the White House, where he presented proposals to create anti-drone defense networks in the Middle East. That offer was ignored at that time. Ironies of fate, months later, after the start of the war with Iran and the launch of thousands of drones against American bases and allies, Washington has been forced to knock on kyiv’s door and ask for help. In a sense, the conflict has reversed the roles: The most powerful military power in the world is now facing the same dilemma that Ukraine has been trying to solve for years, defending its positions from swarms of cheap drones that force it to spend fortunes to be neutralized. The world calls kyiv. This accumulated experience has turned Ukraine into a unexpectedly valuable partner for countries now suffering similar attacks. Governments in the Middle East, Europe and the United States have begun to request advice, technology and training to defend themselves against Iranian drones. Zelensky himself confirmed that his government has received multiple requests to share knowledge on interceptors, electronic warfare and air defense tactics adapted to this type of threat. kyiv has responded sending experts and systems to some US bases in the region as it tries to balance that aid with its own defensive needs against Russia. From laboratory to export power. The war has also transformed the Ukrainian defense industrial sector. Local companies produce now thousands of interceptor drones every month and have developed models capable of pursuing and destroying Shahed at a fraction of the cost of traditional missiles. Some manufacturers claim to be able manufacture tens of thousands of monthly units, which has aroused enormous international interest. Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabiahave begun negotiations to acquire Ukrainian interceptors and technology, seeking more sustainable solutions than relying exclusively on extremely expensive Western anti-aircraft systems. A new global race: anti-drone defense. The rise of these technologies reflects a change unimaginable until recently in contemporary military logic. The great powers have discovered that systems designed to intercept ballistic missiles or fighter jets are not necessarily effective against swarms of cheap, mass-produced drones. In the Persian Gulf, Israel and the Arab states have had to spend large quantities of missiles Patriot, THAAD or Iron Dome to stop relatively cheap attacks. This dynamic has caused a global career to develop more economical solutions, from interceptor drones to automatic air defense systems capable of confronting massive threats. A global lesson. In short, what began as a regional war in Eastern Europe it’s over redefining the way many countries understand air defense. Ukraine, which for years fought almost alone against massive Iranian drone attacks operated by Russia, has unexpectedly become the world reference to combat this threat. The paradox is simple and obvious, because the technology and tactics developed by a country that was fighting to survive have become essential to protect some of the most advanced military powers on the planet. In the new drone war that extends from Europe to the Middle East, the experience accumulated in the skies over Ukraine has become one of the most valuable strategic assets of the moment. So much so that even has invested the papers with the United States. Image | ArmyInform, Lycksele-Nord, Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine In Xataka | The United Kingdom has opened the kamikaze drone that exploded at the European base. The surprise is capital: it is not from Iran, it is “made in Russia” In Xataka | Shahed drones are spreading terror in the Gulf. Ukraine has offered the solution and the price to pay has a name

Thousands of people were following the Iran war with satellite images from Planet Labs. So the US has closed it

March 11, 2026 by usatoday24

The satellite images are a key piece for modern military intelligence. They are the eyes on the ground, they allow you to see where the enemy is, their supply routes, their defenses and plan more precise attacks. For the public, they are the direct window to the battlefield and in the Iran conflict there are two companies that are deciding whether to let us watch or not, one is American and one is Chinese. Guess who is who. The Planet Labs blackout. It is a satellite earth imaging company based in San Francisco. It operates a network of more than 200 satellites that allows them to provide global coverage of the planet, recording more than 300 million square kilometers of images collected every day. Planet Labs images have been key in conflicts such as the ukrainian war or the escalation of tensions between China and Taiwan. However, when it comes to a conflict in which the US is the protagonist, things change. The restriction: On March 6, Planet Labs announced a four-day delay in the publication of its images of the Middle East, a measure they described as “temporary and intended to protect personnel and operations.” The controversy: What is striking is that the delay affected countries with a US military presence (Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), while the images of Iran continued to be published almost in real time. This unleashed reviews on Xcalling it a measure to manipulate public opinion by hiding the damage to US bases, while only showing the damage caused to Iran. The extension: The company recently extended this delay to 14 days. According to statements to Reutersseek to ensure that your data “does not contribute in any way to attacks against allied, NATO personnel or civilian populations.” Mizar Vision. Given the Planet Labs blackout, there is a company that continues to offer satellite images almost in real time. It is about Mizar Vision, a Chinese startup based in Shanghai that does not have its own satellites, but instead purchases commercial images. Its value is that it applies an AI layer that detects, geolocates and tags military assets in almost real time and publishes them on Weibo, the Chinese social network. There is an account on X with the same name, but the company has already confirmed that It is not an official account. Attack prediction. Two days before the attack on Iran, Mizar Vision published images which showed planes lined up on the runway of the Diego García base, signaling that the attack was imminent. They were high resolution images in which details such as the model of the aircraft could be distinguished. They also identified other key infrastructures such as the anti-missile systems that the US has in Jordan and the al-Udeid base in Qatar, all of them. attacked by Iran days later. Mizar Vision is the open window to the battlefield, but we can all look, the Iranian army too. The shadow of Beijing. The images prior to the attack were shared by accounts with links to Chinese People’s Liberation Army. They count in The Country That analysts wonder to what extent the Chinese government is encouraging the publication of such detailed images, with such precision and in real time in a context of such tension. The company continues to publish images of US military movements in the region. In Xataka | A creepy sound is being repeated in the Middle East: it is called C-RAM, it comes from the US, and it is the prelude to a firestorm Image | Mizar Vision

Iran is planting sea mines in Hormuz. And what threatens to blow up is not ships: it is the world economy

March 11, 2026 by usatoday24

On the maps it looks like just a gap of water between deserts, but it passes through that narrow corridor every day. a gigantic portion of the energy that moves the planet. So narrow that in some sections the ships navigate in maritime lanes of just a few kilometers, constantly monitored by radars, drones and military fleets. For decades, any tension at that point in the Persian Gulf has been capable of shake up prices of oil in a matter of minutes. Imagine if will plant mines. A war also at sea. As bombings and missiles focus attention on the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran, a parallel battle has begun to unfold in the Persian Gulf. From the start of the warUS intelligence services They detected signs that Tehran could try to disrupt maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz by deploying naval mines and small fast boats. The threat is serious enough to have triggered public warnings of Washington and preventive military operations against Iranian ships suspected of participating in these maneuvers. In this context, the control of this narrow maritime corridor has become one of the strategic points more delicate of the conflict, because any disturbance there has immediate repercussions on the global energy supply. The strait, the global energy artery. There is no doubt, the tension is explained by the central role that Hormuz plays in the global energy system. Approximately a fifth of the oil consumed by the planet circulates through this strait of just a few dozen kilometers, in addition to a similar proportion of the international trade in liquefied natural gas. Every day they go through it in normal conditions about twenty million of barrels of crude oil from the producing countries of the Gulf heading to Asia, Europe and America. Powers like China, India, Japan or South Korea depend largely of this step to secure its energy supply, which turns any threat in these waters into an immediate global problem. It is no coincidence that even rumors or minor incidents in the area provoke immediate reactions in the oil markets. The new war. In that scenario it has begun a new phase of the conflict: that of oil tankers navigating between the risk of mines capable of shaking the planet’s economies. American intelligence reports indicate that Iran has begun deploying dozens of these explosives in the strait and keeps intact most of its fleet of small boats capable of planting hundreds more in a short time. The Revolutionary Guard controls much of the area next to the Iranian navy and has a combination of speedboats, minelayer boats, drones and coastal missile batteries that can turn the sea passage into a navigation trap. The goal would not necessarily be to sink large numbers of ships, that too, but to create enough uncertainty enough to paralyze global energy traffic, raise transportation costs and trigger a shock in international markets. In other words, a well-placed mine in these waters can have an economic impact that goes much further of the ship that hits it. First shocks. Faced with this threat, Washington has chosen for acting before mine deployment reaches a larger scale. The US military has confirmed (with videos included) a few hours ago the destruction of at least sixteen Iranian vessels involved in mining operations near the strait, in what US officials describe as pre-emptive strikes based on intelligence about Tehran’s operational plans. These actions seek to prevent Iran from turning the strait into a practically closed area to navigation before the deployment of explosives multiplies. At the same time, the White House has warned that any attempt to block the flow of oil will provoke a much more forceful military response than the operations carried out so far. Trapped oil and markets in panic. The economic consequences are already beginning to become visible. Since the start of the war, oil transit from the Gulf has seriously upsetwith millions of barrels per day that cannot leave the region normally. Countries like Iraq or Kuwait depend almost exclusively of this route to export its crude, which amplifies the potential impact of any interruption. Energy companies have started diverting ships or to look for alternative routeswhile Saudi Arabia tries to compensate for part of the problem by increasing the use of its oil pipeline to the Red Sea. In parallel, the International Energy Agency studies a massive liberation of strategic reserves to contain the impact of the energy crisis. A few kilometers to shake the world. The fragility of the situation is also explained by the geography of the enclave itself. At its narrowest point it barely has 34 kilometers wide and the navigation lanes through which the ships circulate barely exceed three kilometers in each direction. This narrowness makes the place extremely vulnerable to mines, drone attacks or coastal missiles. It is not the first time this has happened, in fact, since how do we countduring the so-called “tanker war” in the eighties, Iran already used mines in these same waters to pressure its adversaries during the conflict with Iraq. History, therefore, suggests that these types of tactics can be surprisingly effective in destabilizing global trade. A planetary blow. The extreme sensitivity of the energy markets to any news coming from Hormuz was fully demonstrated very recently, when a wrong message on social media suggested that the US Navy had successfully escorted a tanker through the strait. The simple rumor caused an immediate collapse of crude oil prices and a shake-up in financial markets before authorities clarified that no such operation had occurred. The episode illustrates the extent to which the world watches every movement in these waters with nervousness. In a global energy system so dependent on a few strategic corridors, the mine threat in the Strait of Hormuz has opened a new dimension of war: one in which fate of the world economy it may depend on a maritime corridor just a few kilometers wide. Image | nara, Picryl, naraNZ … Read more

“Six. Four. Zero. Nine.” A mysterious radio has been repeating numbers in Iran since the start of the war, and no one knows why

March 11, 2026 by usatoday24

The short waves They were for decades one of the strangest territories on the radio planet: anyone with a cheap radio could hear metallic voices reciting meaningless numbers, repetitive melodies or absurd phrases that seemed straight out of a spy movie. During the Cold War, thousands of radio amateurs recorded these emissions mysterious things spread all over the world, many of them active for years without anyone officially knowing who was behind them. Some disappeared after the fall of the Soviet bloc. Others, surprisingly, they never left altogether. A voice in the middle of the war. I told the story this morning the financial times and begins shortly after the United States and Israel They will start their attacks against Iran on February 28. Then a sound began to be heard strange transmission on short wave directed at the country: a male voice in Persian that bursts through the static repeating “Tavajjoh” (attention) three times before reciting long sequences of numbers with an almost mechanical cadence. The emissions, detected by radio amateurs and signal trackers, apparently come from somewhere in Western Europe and are repeated twice a day for about an hour and a half. Although its exact origin has not been confirmed, former US intelligence officials consider it very likely that it is a emergency communication system to maintain contact with agents inside Iran at an especially sensitive time, when the war has raised the risks for any informant and the Iranian government has restricted access to the internet and other international communications. What the V32 station really is. The mysterious emission has been identified by observers like V32a call “number station”a type of shortwave transmission historically used by intelligence agencies to send encrypted orders to spies on the ground. The system works in an extremely simple way: the agent only needs a radio and a code book (the so-called one-time pads) to convert the figures heard into understandable messages. The station began broadcasting in Persian exactly coinciding with the start of the war and has already tried to be interfered with through electronic noises which probably come from Iranian jamming systems, but the mysterious voice has been limited to change frequency and continue with his reading of numbers. These types of broadcasts are almost impossible to completely neutralize, because anyone can tune in and because counterintelligence can only act if it detects a spy transcribing the message or if the operators make mistakes. The shadow of the Cold War. The pattern that this station follows is directly reminiscent of one of the most disturbing elements of 20th century espionage: the digital radios that proliferated during the cold war. For decades, services like the CIAthe KGB or the Stasi emitted metallic voices that recited numbers, letters or even melodies followed by coded sequences aimed at agents infiltrating enemy territory. These transmissions could heard around the world and yet its meaning was indecipherable to anyone who did not possess the proper key. Some stations became famous among radio amateurs for its peculiarities (childish voices, strange music or seemingly absurd phrases), but its logic was always the same: to offer an untraceable and extremely secure communication system. The method survived for decades because it was cheap, discreet and resistant even the most sophisticated espionage systems, and although the phenomenon decreased after the end of the Cold War never disappeared full. The Cold War Morse/Voice Generator is a machine that has been used in many well-known number stations Old, but it works. The reason why these stations continue to be useful in the 21st century is precisely their simplicity. If the internet goes down, if phones are tapped, or if digital communications are blocked, a simple shortwave radio still works and allows orders to be transmitted without leaving an electronic trace. For the secret services, it also offers additional benefits: The recipient can listen to the message in seconds, destroy their codebook immediately afterwards, and disappear without leaving any evidence. That simplicity makes even a single person well located can receive instructions capable of causing enormous consequences, from sabotage to more complex intelligence operations. By the way, messages are usually repeated several times to minimize the risk that the agent in question will have to expose himself for too long listening to the transmission. What could the mysterious voice be saying. Although they are all hypotheses and no one outside of their operators knows the real meaning of the sequences, former intelligence officials they point to several plausible possibilities. Emissions could serve to activate agents who remained waiting inside Iran, order evacuations to meeting points or even coordinate operations covered up during the conflict. There is also another more strategic interpretation: that the station is deliberately designed to sow doubts within Iranian counterintelligence, suggesting that there are high-level infiltrators awaiting instructions from the West. In that case, even without transmitting specific orders, the very existence of the station would force Tehran to mobilize cryptographers, researchers and resources to try to decipher a message that may never be understood. Weird, but still alive. Number stations are one of the few times when the normally invisible work of intelligence services becomes audible for anyone with a radio. Although they are much less common today than during the confrontation between blocs of the 20th century, they still there are transmissions regulars associated with countries such as Russia, Poland, Taiwan or North Korea. Some even preserve an almost ceremonial style, such as the Taiwanese station known as New Star Broadcastingwhich begins with a flute melody and ends by wishing “health and happiness” to its listeners before issuing coded numbers intended for agents on extremely sensitive missions. Iran and the difficulty. For the United States, maintaining intelligence networks inside Iran has always been especially complicatedpartly because it does not have an embassy in the country and because the Iranian security apparatus is one of the most vigilant in the world. That forces Western services to retain emergency communication methods capable of working when all else fails. … Read more

The United Kingdom has opened the kamikaze drone that exploded at the European base. The surprise is capital: it is not from Iran, it is "made in Russia"

March 10, 2026 by usatoday24

In Ukraine, the drone remains knocked down have converted in one unexpected source of strategic information: Engineers and analysts often rebuild their interior piece by piece to trace their origin, their electronics, and the supply networks that make them. IF you want, a kind of “military archeology” or “war unboxing” that has become common practice in modern conflicts, where a single microchip or a navigation module can reveal geopolitical connections much broader than a simple attack appears. The same thing just happened, but in Iran. A drone and a new unknown. When a kamikaze drone hit against the British air base of RAF Akrotiri, in Cyprus, seemed like another episode within the increasing escalation of drone attacks in the Middle East. However, analysis of the remains of the device by British intelligence has revealed an unexpected detail: inside there was a Russian military navigation system Kometa-Ba sophisticated component designed to resist electronic interference and improve the precision of attacks. The discovery surprised British researchers because the device had been launched by a Iran-aligned group from Lebanon, making the incident the first tangible evidence of Russian military technology used in an attack within the regional conflict. In Xataka Satellite images have revealed that Iran knocked down four of the US’s eight unique defense systems. If they reach zero a new war begins The track that connects two wars. The Kometa-B system is not just any component. It is about of a module which had already been detected in drones intercepted on the Ukrainian front, where Russia uses it to improve the navigation of its weapons against Western electronic warfare systems. Finding it inside a drone that ended up exploding in a European military base suggests that some of that technology has come out from the Ukrainian theater of war and has reached the military ecosystem surrounding Iran. That technical detail has opened a new line of concern among Western intelligence services: the possibility that Moscow is providing equipment, electronics or technical knowledge that is increasing the effectiveness of Iranian attacks and those of its regional allies. An alliance that is becoming closer. The discovery fits within a strategic relationship which has been deepening since the start of the war in Ukraine. During the early years of the conflict, Iran provided Russia with technology to make drones of Iranian design (especially variants of the Shahed model) that Moscow has used massively against Ukrainian infrastructure. Over time, Russia began to produce their own versions already introduce improvements electronics and navigation. Now the indications are that some of that cooperation could have been invested: Components or systems developed in the Russian military industry would appear in weapons used by militias aligned with Tehran on other fronts. {“videoId”:”x89xg5y”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”American aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford – CVN 78″, “tag”:”Ships”, “duration”:”145″} Russian intelligence in the shadows. He discovery of the drone It also coincides with information from Western officials who claim that Moscow has been providing Iran with intelligence information on US military positions in the Middle East, including the location of warships and aircraft. I counted the weekend in an exclusive the Washington Post that such support could explain the increasing precision of some recent attacks against Western military infrastructure and radar systems. Iran has limited space capabilities, with very few of its own satellites, so access to data from Russian observation systems would be a significant advantage for planning more selective attacks. In 3D Games Children under 5 years old in 2026 will never have to work, according to Vinod Khosla. This is what the great era of AI abundance has in store for us Regional conflict with echoes of global war. If you also want, the appearance Russian technology in an attack against a British base suggests that the war in the Middle East could be becoming increasingly intertwined with the strategic confrontation that already exists between Russia and the West since 2022. For Moscow, an escalation that keeps the United States and Europe focused on another front may have strategic advantagesfrom the distraction over Ukraine to the rise in oil prices. Although the Kremlin has avoided getting directly involved in the war, and even Trump maintained in the last hours a first conversation telephone with Putin, the presence of your technology on the battlefield and suspicions about intelligence sharing point to a familiar pattern of indirect conflict: a scenario in which great powers do not fight each other openly, but their weapons, their data and their influence begin to appear in increasingly unexpected places and uncomfortable. Image | National Police of UkraineRAF/MOD In Xataka | The US has begun to take on one last suicidal mission: enter Iran to remove a 441 kg buried “treasure” that gives meaning to the war In Xataka | The war in Iran has confirmed what was sensed in Ukraine: battles are won long before the first missile is launched (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news The United Kingdom has opened the kamikaze drone that exploded at the European base. The surprise is capital: it is not from Iran, it is “made in Russia” was originally published in Xataka by Miguel Jorge .

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