MIDDLE EAST - Suez Canal could be closed by Houthi attacks and Western economy shattered as Yemeni militia enter Iran war with attack on Israel. Israel's military said it had successfully intercepted the strike, but the move raises concerns that the armed militia could join Tehran in attacks on shipping in the region. The Houthis could target ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a choke point which leads to the Suez Canal, or even the canal itself, Mohamad Elmasry, a professor of Media Studies at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, has said. This would mean a second major shipping route closed in addition to the Strait of Hormuz, potentially causing significant harm to the global economy - with vessels unable to retain insurance to travel through the region.

MIDDLE EAST - Donald Trump was today warned that launching an amphibious operation to secure the Strait of Hormuz would be a 'nightmare'. General Sir Richard Shirreff, former deputy commander of NATO forces in Europe, raised fears that US troops could face drone attacks from 'hundreds of miles inland' if they landed on Iranian islands in the Strait. He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that while the Iranians held the Strait, Trump 'is losing' against a battered but 'angry, vengeful' Tehran regime which still held away over the waterway. The dire warnings come against the backdrop of a build-up of American land forces in the Gulf with new reports that some 10,000 US troops would now be deployed on top of Marine expeditionary forces. But Sir Richard raised fears over the perils of an operation to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz even if it was attempting to run a one-off convoy through.

USA - Pentagon chiefs have expressed alarm at the rate the US is burning through its stockpiles of Tomahawk missiles just four weeks into the war with Iran. The US has already launched 850 Tomahawks, each costing between $2 million and $3.6 million depending on the variant, and prized because they allow the Navy to strike targets up to 1,000 miles away without risking pilots. Concerns about the stockpiles are now being whispered within Pentagon walls due to the difficulty in manufacturing the cruise missiles. One official told the Washington Post the stockpile was 'alarmingly low.' Tomahawk cruise missiles have been a staple of American military might since they were first used in the Gulf War by George H W Bush.

MIDDLE EAST - The New York Times reported that many of the 13 American bases across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had become close to uninhabitable as a result of persistent strikes. Of all the bases, Ali Al Salem in Kuwait has suffered most hits – a total of 23 – according to Mr Hinz. Camp Arifjan and Camp Buehring follow, with 17 and six geolocated strikes respectively. Satellite imagery from these three bases shows damage to hangars, communications infrastructure, satellite equipment, fuel stores, and – following a strike on Ali Al Salem on Wednesday – a large warehouse. Iran has struck four sites hosting components for the American-made Thaad system, which tracks and intercepts incoming missiles, Mr Hinz said. An early-warning radar in Qatar and other radar installations across the region were also hit. That may have made it harder to intercept Iranian missiles.

USA - America's new $13 billion aircraft carrier forced to retreat from Iran war because eco-friendly toilets won't flush. The ship was also hit by a fire on March 12 in a laundry area, which filled multiple sections with smoke, damaged berthing spaces and left some living quarters unusable. Smoke is believed to have spread through the ship’s air circulation system, contaminating mattresses and linens and rendering some areas virtually unliveable. It comes just days after Trump made a scathing remark about Great Britain's aircraft carrier, calling it a 'toy' before mocking the UK's decision to send ships when the Iran war is over.

UK - Towering over a packed Commons, spectacles in hand, index finger jabbing at heavy air, he declared that his government was “not prepared to embark on a policy of abject appeasement” over President Nasser’s “de-internationalisation” of the (Suez) canal. It is eerie to read the full debate now — its swelling rhetoric and underlying fragility — knowing that within four months Eden had resigned and Britain’s vanishing prestige would be laid bare. Just as with Suez — and subsequently with the rolling crises of the 1970s and the financial crash — one is left with the unnerving sense that Britain is about to be painfully sprung from its collective hibernation. If Suez revealed our imperial pretensions, the 1970s the limits of our Keynesian consensus and 2008 the weakness in global finance, then 2026 will surely bring to an end our extended holiday from reality. But now remorseless reality is knocking at our door. We are about to wake up collectively to how much poorer, weaker and softer we are than we pretend. Just as in the past, we are choosing to avoid reality because it is too painful, disruptive or embarrassing.

USA - Most Americans believe recent US military action against Iran has gone too far, and many are worried about affording gasoline, according to a new AP-NORC poll. As the war launched by the US and Israel continues in its fourth week, the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that while President Donald Trump’s approval rating is holding steady, the conflict could be swiftly turning into a major political liability for his Republican administration. While Trump is deploying more warships and troops to the Middle East, about 59% of Americans say US military action in Iran has been excessive. Meanwhile, 45% are “extremely” or “very” concerned about being able to afford gas in the next few months, up from 30% in an AP-NORC poll conducted shortly after Trump won re-election with promises that he would improve the economy and lower the cost of living.

USA - In yet another sign of the deep freeze consuming the transatlantic 'special relationship' the president lashed out at the Royal Navy's capabilities in a rant against US NATO allies. He claimed the UK had offered to send its two carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and the fleet flagship HMS Prince of Wales, once the fighting in the Middle East was 'over', and had told Keir Starmer 'don't bother.' The president's remarks come after Downing Street previously rejected Trump's claims that it offered to send any aircraft carriers to the war at all. Sir Keir Starmer is becoming increasingly reluctant to allow the UK to be dragged into the conflict which has triggered a surge in energy prices.

IRAN - Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, the man who directed Iran’s naval strategy to choke one of the world’s most vital energy arteries, is reportedly dead. Reports indicate that Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy since 2018, was killed in an airstrike on the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas on March 26, 2026. An Israeli official told the Jerusalem Post that the strike eliminated Tangsiri, who had authorized and vowed to maintain the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Tangsiri’s death marks the latest in a series of high-profile Iranian military and political figures killed amid escalating conflict, following the reported deaths of IRGC spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini, de-facto leader Ali Larijani, and anti-protest enforcer Gholamreza Soleimani.

MIDDLE EAST - "The Bab al-Mandab Strait is considered one of the strategic straits in the world, and Iran has the will to produce a completely credible threat against it," an Iranian official told Tasnim. With the building of the Suez Canal, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait assumed great strategic and economic importance, forming a portion of the link between the Mediterranean Sea and East Asia.