Iran
26 ArticlesUpdated September 14, 2026Monitoring Iran's drone programs, proxy networks, and sanctions evasion using vessel tracking, trade data, and procurement filings.
A Chinese Satellite Tied to Iran Passed Near the Jordan Base Days Before the Strike
US officials linked the Jordan strike to imagery from Chinese entities. Global Recon reconstructed four midday passes near the base by a satellite reportedly acquired by Iran. Its role in supplying that imagery remains unconfirmed.
Saudi Arabia’s Oil Bypass Is Under Attack
A pipeline strike from Iraq and Houthi pressure on Red Sea shipping expose the limits of Saudi Arabia’s alternative to Hormuz.
Satellite Images Show Fire Damage at Saudi Pipeline Pumping Station
Global Recon mapped six heat clusters along Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline corridor. New dated imagery adds evidence of fire damage; attribution and oil-flow losses remain unresolved.
The Houthis Are Advancing on the Red Sea’s Southern Exit
Their coastal gains could deepen pressure on Saudi Arabia’s oil bypass, whose cargoes already reroute through Egypt when the strait is too risky.
America Is Sinking Tankers That Also Carry Russian Oil
Three of the eight hulls hit since September 5 sit in a Treasury-listed pool that loads in the Baltic as well as the Gulf.
The Radar Plane Is No Longer Enough
Ukraine built the cheap sensor layer, Western firms are moving radar onto unmanned aircraft, and the Pentagon is betting on space. Air surveillance is becoming a stack rather than a single platform.
The Threat Inside NATO
A decoy Air Force One flight revealed what Washington believes about Iranian operational reach inside NATO territory. No official document will ever state it as plainly.
Hormuz Closure Strands Gulf Fertilizer Past the Spring Planting Window
DATELINE: FUJAIRAH, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, JUNE 3, 2026 More than three months after maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz collapsed on February 28, fertilizer cargoes remain stranded in the Persian Gulf and food shipments into the region’s ports have been choked to a fraction of normal volume. Kpler and Bloomberg ship-tracking placed 44 fertilizer-laden […]
The Magazine Math
The Iran campaign did not empty the Pacific arsenal. It emptied the shelf slowest to restock, and the plan to refill it from another direction runs through a supply line Beijing can shut.
Pakistan Is Mediating US-Iran Talks While Its Troops Defend Saudi Arabia
DATELINE: ISLAMABAD, MAY 20, 2026 Pakistan is the sole active mediating channel between Washington and Tehran on the nuclear file. The Iranian response to the US proposal Trump rejected as “totally unacceptable” on May 10 was delivered via Pakistani mediators. Reuters reported May 18 that Pakistan has also deployed approximately 8,000 troops, a squadron of […]
The US Says It Blockaded 85 Ships. Iran Says It Escorted 26 Through.
DATELINE: STRAIT OF HORMUZ, MAY 20, 2026 CENTCOM says it has redirected 85 commercial vessels and disabled four since the US naval blockade of Iran began April 13. The IRGC Navy said Wednesday it coordinated the transit of 26 vessels through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours, including tankers and container ships, […]
The Gulf Did Not Stay Out
The Iran war did not unify the GCC. It exposed four divergent Gulf postures: Emirati escalation, Saudi contradiction, Kuwaiti ambiguity, Qatari restraint, and an Iraq too compromised to protest.
Saudi Arabia and UAE Struck Iran During the War
DATELINE: MAY 13, 2026 Reuters reported Tuesday that the Saudi Air Force conducted covert airstrikes inside Iran in late March, the first known Saudi military action on Iranian soil, citing two Western and two Iranian officials. The disclosure came one day after the Wall Street Journal reported that the UAE struck Iran’s Lavan Island refinery […]
THE BASE IRAQ COULDN’T SEE, AND WASHINGTON COULDN’T DISOWN
BAGHDAD, MAY 12, 2026 The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday that Israel built a covert forward operating base in Iraq’s western desert before the February 28 air campaign against Iran, with U.S. knowledge but without Iraqi consent. The site sits in a dry lakebed at 31.67°N, 42.45°E, roughly 180 kilometers southwest of Karbala. Sentinel-2 imagery […]
PROJECT FREEDOM IS NOT EARNEST WILL
DATELINE: STRAIT OF HORMUZ — MAY 4, 2026 CENTCOM began supporting Project Freedom on Monday with guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft, unmanned platforms, and 15,000 service members, framed by the White House as a humanitarian effort to free vessels trapped by Iran’s blockade.
Past OFAC, Past Destroyers.
Three IMO numbers, two database searches, and a shadow fleet built for exactly this moment.
CENTCOM’s Conditional Contraband Doctrine Outlasts the Ceasefire
DATELINE: WASHINGTON , APRIL 16, 2026 U.S. Central Command on Thursday published an updated advisory asserting the right to board and seize Iran linked vessels regardless of location on the open seas, classifying crude oil, iron, steel, aluminum, machine tools, and dual-use electronics as “conditional contraband” subject to capture beyond neutral territory. Gen. Dan Caine, […]
The Closed Loop
Russia refined Iran’s drone in Ukraine, is now sending it back, and is photographing US bases for Tehran. Ukraine is the only country that has fought this weapon at scale.
How Iran Is Still Firing
The mechanics keeping Iran’s missile and drone campaign alive
The Hidden Layer of Iran’s Drone Industry
Why hitting factories and bases is not the same as collapsing production
The Pressure Trap
How Iran’s campaign to coerce the Gulf is accelerating the regional alignment it was meant to prevent.
Can Money Buy Ukraine’s Playbook?
What the Gulf Can and Cannot Learn from the Drone War in Ukraine
The Architect Returns
Ahmad Vahidi helped build Iran’s proxy network decades ago. Now he’s back in charge as the system he designed goes to war.
The Axis Without a Head
Iran’s command structure is gone. But in Iraq, the militias it built are still armed, still funded, and already shooting back.
The Warning Wasn’t Theatrics
A step-by-step look at how Iranian-backed militias are signaling readiness as U.S. force posture shifts in Iraq
Iran: Window Closing
An open-source assessment of strike indicators
