Iran’s War-Shattered Economy Means It Has an Urgent Reason to Negotiate The damage done by U.S. and Israeli attacks will take years to repair and puts pressure on Tehran to seek financial relief in talks.

Iran suffered way worse destruction during the 40-day war than it did through the 1980-88 war with Iraq. The scale of reconstruction ahead puts pressure on Iran to negotiate sanctions relief. My story:

www.wsj.com/world/middle... #trump #israel

Graph from NetBlocks showing network connectivity in Iran from 24 February 2026 to 16 April 2026. The y-axis represents normalized connectivity, ranging from 0% to 100%, and the x-axis represents the dates. The green line representing Iran's connectivity is high through the initial time period, with a sharp drop on the morning of 28 February. The continued drop in connectivity aligns with a nation-scale internet blackout imposed by authorities after joint military strikes by the US and Israel. A brief restoration was observed on 18 March. The minimum and current connectivity levels are indicated as 1% and 1%, respectively. The chart has a dark background with a red horizontal arrow labeled 'SHUTDOWN' indicating the disruption period, and the NetBlocks logo in the lower left corner with the Mapping Internet Freedom slogan.

📉 Metrics show the internet blackout in #Iran is ongoing into its 48th day after 1128 hours. The censorship measure, unsurpassed in scale and severity in a connected society, has had an economic impact of ~$1.8bn to date per COST methodology in addition to human rights harms.

Exclusive | Europe Is Accelerating a NATO Fallback Plan in Case Trump Pulls Out The Continent is drawing up a contingency for greater European involvement as tensions rise over the Iran war.

In side discussions and over dinner meetings in and around NATO, a fallback plan to ensure Europe can defend itself it the U.S. leaves the alliance is gaining traction. The crucial shift is happening in Germany.

www.wsj.com/world/europe...

America Has Wanted Greenland for Over a Century. Trump Isn’t Giving Up. The remnants of Bluie East Two stand as a reminder of the last time the U.S. tried to own the island.

Donald Trump is only the latest U.S. president to flirt with owning Greenland

I recently travelled across Greenland to find an old abandoned American military base that dates back to the last time the U.S. tried to own the island.

My story:

www.wsj.com/world/americ...

"Any deal Trump gets now is worse than the one that was on the table when he decided to blow things up"

Sounds about right.

www.wsj.com/world/middle... #iran

Trump’s Mission Impossible for Allies: Reopening the Strait of Hormuz European leaders say forcing the passageway open militarily is unrealistic and more likely to come about through international pressure.

President Trump says it's now up to other countries to secure the Strait of Hormuz. That gives Iran even more power over the strait, and one-fifth of the world's oil.

Our story about what makes the strait so tricky, and what securing it would look like.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Inside the Trans-Atlantic Trade in Iranian Weapons for Colombian Coke A recent conviction offers a rare window into the illicit global network that brings money into the Islamic Republic.

A recent trial against Antoine "Tony" Kassis, a cousin of Bashar al-Assad, offers a rare window into a trans-Atlantic trade in weapons and drugs between Iranian allies in the Middle East, and cartels and rebel groups in South America.

My story for @wsj.com

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Drones Like Bicycles | Esfandyar Batmanghelidj Assessing the cost of a Shahed kamikaze drone

Interesting piece by @yarbatman.bsky.social who does the math on the Iranian Shahed-136 drones. He concludes the production cost of one Shahed is not $35,000, as is often cited, but roughly $7,000.

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/cos...

A Former Prisoner of the Iranian Regime Watches Trump’s War A journalist who was wrongfully detained for five hundred and forty-four days never got to say goodbye to Tehran. Now he’s fielding messages about chaos and destruction in the home he left behind.

"For now, there is but one certainty—that the hopes and lives of Iranians don’t matter. Not to Israel, not to the U.S., and certainly not to their own regime, gunning them down in the street."

Excellent by @rezaian.bsky.social

www.newyorker.com/news/the-led... #iran

"Houthi militants in Yemen waged a two-month campaign last year with missiles, drones and unmanned boats against international shipping. The U.S. struck more than 1,000 targets but never succeeded in halting Houthi attacks fully until a truce"

And that's the Houthis.

U.S. War Planes and Helicopters Kick Off Battle to Reopen Hormuz The effort has taken on new urgency nearly three weeks into the war with Iran, as oil prices soar above $100 a barrel.

This is what it looks like when the U.S. gets bogged down in a Middle East war it thought would be swift.

“I think it will take weeks to reach a point where there can be safe operations in the strait... Even then, a lot of the Iranian assets will survive.”

www.wsj.com/world/middle... #iran

Trump’s Greenland Pursuit Gives Danish Leader New Lease on Life Mette Frederiksen is seeking a third term leading the nation of six million people, after getting a polling boost from the president’s push for the territory.

Danish PM Mette Frederiksen is an international superstar, but at home, her party can expect the worst election in a century. The only thing that helps her w Danish voters is standing up to Trump.

The conflict over Greenland has been a lifeline.

My profile of her:

www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Escalating Attacks on Gulf Energy Assets Plunge Iran War Into New Phase Strikes targeting infrastructure in Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have put strategic oil-and-gas facilities at the center of the conflict.

"America’s Arab allies are now fuming that they don’t seem to have any influence with the Trump administration despite heavy investments of time and money."

www.wsj.com/world/middle... #Iran #israel #war

British man charged in Dubai for alleged filming of Iranian missiles Foreign Office officials are understood to be supporting his family.

Good reminder (if we needed it) that for all the talk of Dubai being a safe haven for business and tourists, the UAE is not a democracy

21 ppl have been charged under UAE cybercrime laws for sharing videos and social media posts relating to recent missile strikes

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How Iran Is Building a Religious Mythology Around Its New Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died a martyr. That fate will benefit his son.

Trump might not want Mojtaba Khamenei as supreme leader of Iran, but the US and Israeli war has helped elevate him, and bolstered his legitimacy.

My latest about how Ayatollah Ali Khamenei died a martyr, and how that will benefit his son.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Iran has chosen Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late ayatollah and a close associate of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as the next supreme leader.

Seems unwise, perhaps, to announce a successor while bombings are still ongoing. Israel has said it will target a new supreme leader.

Khamenei’s Death Leaves Iran at Historic Turning Point—Without a Clear Successor The Islamic Republic the late ayatollah led for nearly four decades is in a fight for its survival.

Khamenei leaves behind a system with no obvious successor, largely by design, and an Islamic Republic in a fight for survival.

Any new supreme leader will have less personal authority than Khamenei and serve a more ceremonial role.

My latest:

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei Dies The leader of post-revolutionary Iran expanded the country’s global ambitions while facing domestic anger over a failing economy.

Many of us who have followed Iran for years, and lived there, have imagined and debated Khamenei's death for years. Yet I feel unprepared for what comes next.

My obituary of the man who more than any other one individual shaped the modern Middle East:

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

The Greenlandic Bricklayer Behind Trump’s Plan to Send a Hospital Ship Jørgen Boassen says he was the one who inspired the governor of Louisiana to propose the idea to President Trump.

Greenlanders are perplexed by Trump’s plan to send a hospital ship to the island.

The seed of the idea, I discovered came from one of their own.

Meet Jørgen Boassen, a Greenlandic bricklayer who during Mardi Gras inspired Gov Jeff Landry to propose the idea to Trump

www.wsj.com/world/the-gr...

U.S. Elite Troops Hardened by War on Terror Retrain for Arctic Combat A Wall Street Journal reporter trained for 10 days with a team of Green Berets during a grueling winter warfare training.

I embedded with a team of U.S. Special Forces, veterans the global war on terror, as they retrained for Arctic warfare. The U.S. military is experts on all kinds of warfare, but not in the Arctic.

"People don’t understand how absolutely absurd it is to operate up there"

www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Billionaires’ Low Taxes Are Becoming a Problem for the Economy Tax avoidance by the superwealthy is an economic issue as well as a political one.

The top 0.1% richest households' share of America's new wealth is now more than 14%

Politics aside, the risk is that the U.S. economy becomes increasingly dependent on a narrow group of very rich, whose spending is tied to the performance of the stock market.

www.wsj.com/finance/bill...

How U.S. Special Forces Are Training in an Arctic Warfare Bootcamp WSJ’s Sune Engel Rasmussen is the first civilian to take part in this grueling training with a unit of American Green Berets.

I lived and trained for 10 days with a group of U.S. Special Forces as they learned how to operate in extreme cold, to prep for potential war with Russia in the Arctic.

I took the ice plunge so you don't have to.

www.wsj.com/world/europe... #sweden #russia #arctic #usarmy

Iran’s Protest Crackdown Looks Deadlier by the Day Rights groups’ estimates grow to 10,000 or more dead as new details trickle out.

Even at the lower end of estimates, Iran's crackdown on protesters would rank as one of the most violent deployments of state power against protesters, exceeding the toll at China's Tiananmen Square in 1989.

And 10,000 is just an unfathomable number.

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Trump Has Options in Iran. None Are Likely to Help Protesters Much. A U.S. aircraft carrier is heading to the region. If Trump decides to intervene over Tehran’s crackdown, there could be unpredictable consequences.

A US aircraft carrier is steaming its way to the Persian Gulf, possibly to help attack Iran.

But a strike, no matter the type, will have unpredictable consequences for Iranian protesters, and may not help them at all. My latest:

www.wsj.com/world/middle...

‘You Feel Betrayed.’ In Denmark, Public Stunned by Trump’s Designs on Greenland. Of all the U.S.’s allies in Europe, Denmark was among those that fought closest alongside Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan

In Iraq, Martin Tamm Andersen sat beside a dying Danish soldier who had stepped on an IED fighting America's war.

Now Trump threatens to take Greenland and Vance calls Denmark a bad ally.

"You feel betrayed. It’s extremely uncomfortable."

My story from Copenhagen

www.wsj.com/world/europe...

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Is Running Out of Road With his room for maneuver shrinking fast, he faces a climbdown on deeply held beliefs to bring relief to his country.

IRAN: Ayatollah Khomeini once described the humiliating 1988 cease-fire with Iraq as drinking from a “poisoned chalice.”

Ali Khamenei now faces a similar situation. To save his rule he must give up lifelong ideological positions and strike a bitter compromise.

My story: www.wsj.com/world/middle...

Welcome to Greenland, an Economy Reliant on Subsidies and Shrimp Greenlanders get heavily subsidized by Denmark, and any future mining boom will be costly.

Excellent story by my colleague Max Colchester about the kind of economy Trump would inherit in #Greenland: sluggish, subsidized and accustomed to Scandinavian welfare

www.wsj.com/economy/welc...

China’s Push to Master the Arctic Opens an Alarming Shortcut to U.S. National-security officials say Chinese submarines and icebreakers pose a new military threat from the High North.

When Chinese research submarines this summer traveled thousands of feet beneath the #Arctic ice, it sent a chilling message to the US and its allies.

If #Russia's dominance in the high north wasn't enough, #China is becoming more aggressive as well. Our story:

www.wsj.com/world/china-...

Where Drones Drop Dead and GPS Goes Haywire As the risk of conflict grows in the Arctic, Western militaries and startups are working to tackle the unique challenges of fighting there.

Drones, robots, sophisticated surveillance and navigation tech. All of it is now a tenet of modern warfare. But in the Arctic, where the risk of the next global conflict is growing, most hi tech equipment doesn’t work. My story:

www.wsj.com/world/where-...

The Hunt for Assad’s Brutal Enforcer Jamil Hassan left behind a legacy of deaths and torture when he escaped the Syrian revolution last year. Now his former victims are trying to bring him to justice.

“I will keep killing to keep Bashar Assad in power... I will kill half the country if I have to.”

My colleagues @jmalsin.bsky.social and Summer Said on the notorious architect of the Assad regimes campaign to kill and collectively punish the Syrian people

www.wsj.com/world/middle...