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MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, March 27th 2026 - 06:35 UTC

Tag: Iran

  • Friday, March 20th 2026 - 16:16 UTC

    Trump brands NATO allies “cowards” for refusing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz

    US military officials confirmed to international media that thousands of additional marines and three warships were heading toward the Middle East

    US President Donald Trump escalated his rhetoric against NATO allies on Friday, lambasting them as “cowards” for refusing to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that has remained effectively closed since the start of the war with Iran. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared that without the US military, NATO amounts to nothing more than “a paper tiger,” and warned that Washington would not forget the alliance's stance.

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  • Thursday, March 19th 2026 - 22:43 UTC

    Netanyahu hints a ground phase may be needed as Iran war hits Gulf energy infrastructure

    Netanyahu made the remarks at a press conference in Jerusalem, where he also said Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium or produce ballistic missiles, although he offered no evidence

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested on Thursday that an air campaign alone would not be enough to bring down Iran’s regime, as the conflict entered a new phase marked by strikes on Gulf energy facilities and renewed warnings over the Strait of Hormuz.

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  • Wednesday, March 18th 2026 - 22:21 UTC

    Attack on world’s largest gas field raises tensions and jolts markets

    The market reaction was immediate. Brent crude rose to $110.94 a barrel, a daily gain of 7.28%, while Europe’s TTF gas benchmark climbed to 54.73 euros per megawatt hour, up 6.14% on the day

    The war involving Iran, Israel and the United States escalated sharply on Wednesday with a strike on South Pars, the Iranian side of the world’s largest natural gas field, which it shares with Qatar. Reuters reported that the hit on the site marked a new phase in the conflict by targeting major Iranian energy infrastructure for the first time in this war, and was followed by Iranian threats and attacks against energy targets across the Gulf.

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  • Tuesday, March 17th 2026 - 22:31 UTC

    US counterterrorism chief resigns over Iran war

    Kent’s departure cuts at one of the White House’s core arguments for the strikes

    Joe Kent, director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, resigned on Tuesday with immediate effect, saying he could not support Washington’s war against Iran in what became the first high-level public break inside Donald Trump’s national security apparatus since the offensive began. Kent said Tehran had posed no “imminent threat” to the United States.

  • Tuesday, March 17th 2026 - 10:00 UTC

    Saudi Arabia diverts more crude to the Red Sea to bypass Hormuz, but alternative capacity remains limited

    The bottleneck is not only the pipeline itself, but also the port and shipping logistics

    Saudi Arabia is stepping up the use of its pipeline network to the Red Sea to keep crude exports moving while the Strait of Hormuz remains heavily disrupted by the war with Iran. The key route is the Abqaiq-Yanbu system, also known as the East-West Pipeline or Petroline, which links Gulf oil fields with the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea. That infrastructure has become the kingdom’s main escape route around Hormuz, the chokepoint that normally carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supply.

  • Monday, March 16th 2026 - 16:14 UTC

    Germany rejects sending ships to Hormuz as the EU seeks a diplomatic and logistical way forward

    The German frigate FGS Sachsen (F-219) of the Sachsen class (Type 124) during a missile-firing exercise

    Germany on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s request for allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to help reopen the shipping route. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius questioned what “a handful” of European frigates could do that the U.S. Navy could not already do, and summed up Berlin’s position bluntly: “This is not our war.” Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s spokesperson added that the conflict “is not NATO’s war” and that Germany had no plans to be drawn into it.

  • Monday, March 16th 2026 - 01:10 UTC

    Oil tops US$100 a barrel as Middle East war and Hormuz disruption rattle markets

    Tokyo also warned that strategic reserves can soften the shock in the short term but cannot replace a sustained reopening of Hormuz if the crisis drags on

    Oil prices moved back above US$100 a barrel on Monday as the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran intensified and shipping disruption in the Strait of Hormuz hit one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints. Brent crude rose to US$105.15 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate climbed to US$100.32 in early Asian trading, according to market data.

  • Friday, March 13th 2026 - 11:24 UTC

    Iran exploits its asymmetric edge in Hormuz, narrowing the U.S. Navy’s room to act

    Energy Secretary Chris Wright said on Thursday that the U.S. military is “not ready” to escort tankers through Hormuz because its assets remain focused on striking Iranian offensive capabilities

    Iran is shifting a key part of the war to the sea, where its conventional naval power is far weaker than that of the United States but where it still retains enough tools to disrupt global energy traffic. In the Strait of Hormuz, a corridor that carries roughly a fifth of the world’s oil, attacks on merchant shipping, the threat of mines and the use of fast boats and coastal missiles have raised the cost and complexity of any escort operation.

  • Thursday, March 12th 2026 - 10:42 UTC

    Iran broadens regional attacks as Israel launches new strikes on regime targets

    The conflict is also deepening the economic and military cost for Washington

    The war involving Iran, Israel and the United States entered a broader regional phase on Thursday, with fresh Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure, shipping routes and military positions across Gulf states, while Israel responded with a new wave of strikes on Iranian territory. The escalation again tightened pressure on the Strait of Hormuz and pushed oil prices back above $100 a barrel.

  • Wednesday, March 11th 2026 - 03:07 UTC

    US steps up strikes on Iran, destroys 16 mine-laying vessels and raises pressure in Hormuz

    Image distributed by U.S. Central Command.

    The United States and Israel launched what the Pentagon and witnesses in Iran described on Tuesday as the heaviest day of bombing since the war began, while Washington widened operations around the Strait of Hormuz and said it had destroyed 16 Iranian mine-laying vessels. The move further increased risks around the world’s most critical energy chokepoint, through which about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.