US-Iran War 2026: Latest News and Analysis

For the past year and a half, the Federal Reserve has been carefully lowering interest rates, trying to guide the economy toward a soft landing after the post-pandemic inflation surge. On March 6, 2026, two pieces of news arrived simultaneously that may have closed that window. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the United States economy shed 92,000 jobs in February—the worst monthly reading in years—while Brent crude oil held above $85 a barrel after Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz choked off roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 785 points as traders priced in what many had feared but few expected to see confirmed in a single morning: the ingredients for stagflation.

Updated 9 hours ago

The War Powers Resolution has been on the books for 53 years, designed to prevent a president waging a major war without Congress voting to authorize it. On March 5, with American troops engaged in combat against Iran and at least six service members dead, the Senate voted 47-53 to reject a resolution requiring presidential approval from Congress before continuing military operations, followed hours later by the House rejecting its parallel measure H. Con. Res. 38.

Updated 11 hours ago

For decades, the global economy has treated the Strait of Hormuz as a reliable pipeline: one-fifth of the world's oil passes through a 21-mile-wide channel between Iran and Oman every day. Five days into the US-Iran war, that pipeline is shut. An Iranian drone boat struck the Suezmax tanker Sonangol Namibe on March 4 while it sat at anchor 30 nautical miles off Kuwait's coast, breaching the hull and sending oil into the water. It was the largest commercial vessel attacked and the farthest north any strike has reached since hostilities began on February 28.

Updated 13 hours ago

For six days, the United States and Israel have been bombing Iran under operations codenamed Epic Fury and Roaring Lion. Iran has struck back not just at Israel but at American bases scattered across the Persian Gulf — and in doing so, put French troops, British runways, and Turkish airspace in the crossfire. Now France has become the first major NATO ally to open its own military infrastructure to the American war effort, authorizing United States support aircraft to use the Istres air base in southern France, with the explicit condition that these planes stay out of offensive strikes on Iran.

Updated Yesterday

South Korea's stock market was the best performer among major economies in early 2026, riding a semiconductor boom that pushed the benchmark KOSPI index to an all-time high of 6,347 on February 27. Five days later, the index had lost nearly 20% of its value in the worst two-day crash in the country's history, triggered by the United States and Israel striking Iran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz—the narrow waterway through which 95% of South Korea's Middle Eastern oil imports flow.

Updated Yesterday

Iraq has depended on Iranian gas for roughly a third of its electricity since the mid-2010s. On the evening of March 4, 2026, a sudden drop in gas supplies to the Rumaila power plant in southern Iraq triggered a loss of 1,900 megawatts, which cascaded through the national grid and shut down power to all 18 provinces. More than 44 million people went dark, hospitals lost grid power, and communications networks faltered, all while US and Iranian missiles were crisscrossing the region around them.

Updated 2 days ago

The Strait of Hormuz—one-fifth of global seaborne oil trade—remains completely shut down on March 5 after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) declared 'complete control' by its navy, slashing tanker traffic to near zero. Brent crude climbed to $83.12 per barrel (+2.1%) amid a deepening market rout, with U.S. stock futures plunging further and gold rallying. On day 6 of the crisis, Iranian drone strikes continue to halt QatarEnergy's liquefied natural gas (LNG) production at Ras Laffan and Mesaieed, spiking European gas futures 45-50% and compounding the supply shock.

Updated 2 days ago

For four decades, the United States and Iran avoided direct, large-scale war. That changed on February 28, 2026, when the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, and leadership compounds, killing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The assault followed collapsed indirect nuclear talks mediated by Oman. Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on US bases in the Gulf, oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Embassy in Riyadh.

Updated 2 days ago

Ali Khamenei ruled Iran as supreme leader for 36 years until joint US-Israeli strikes on February 28, 2026, killed him along with his family members and at least seven top military and intelligence officials at his Tehran compound. The decapitation shattered Iran's command structure, prompting the Assembly of Experts—a body of 88 senior clerics—to convene an emergency session on March 1 for wartime succession. Acting leader Ali Larijani, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander, faced immediate pushback from the military, which formed an interim command council to run operations independently.

Updated 3 days ago

For decades, the Strait of Hormuz has carried roughly 20 million barrels of oil per day — about one-fifth of global supply — through a channel barely 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. That flow effectively stopped after the United States and Israel launched a massive joint military operation against Iran on February 28, 2026. Oil tankers began piling up on both sides of the strait, and by March 3, tanker traffic had dropped to near zero as Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warnings took full effect, with over 150 ships anchored outside to avoid risks.

Updated 4 days ago

The USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group has been operational in the Arabian Sea since late January 2026, with the USS Gerald R. Ford joining in the Mediterranean, creating dual-carrier presence amid Iran's crackdown on protests that began in December 2025. On February 25, the U.S. deployed 12 F-22 Raptors to Israel's Ovda Airbase, the first such deployment, alongside KC-46 tankers at Ben Gurion in the largest Middle East buildup since 2003. On February 28, the U.S. and Israel launched 'Operation Epic Fury,' striking Iranian nuclear sites, naval forces, and military infrastructure, reportedly killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran retaliated on March 1 with missile and drone barrages on 27 U.S. bases, Israeli headquarters in Tel Aviv, and Gulf sites in UAE, Qatar, and other nations, causing civilian casualties.

Updated 4 days ago

The last time the United States sank Iranian warships was April 18, 1988. Thirty-eight years later, American forces destroyed nine Iranian naval vessels in a single day and demolished the country's naval headquarters at Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman. The strikes came after Iran attempted to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, the 21-mile-wide passage through which roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply flows, broadcasting radio warnings that no commercial ship would be allowed to pass.

Updated 5 days ago

Pakistan has the second-largest Shia Muslim population on earth, roughly 30 million people. When joint United States-Israeli airstrikes killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on February 28, the grief and fury of that community spilled into the streets of every major Pakistani city within hours. In Karachi, hundreds of protesters tried to breach the perimeter of the US consulate; security forces opened fire, killing at least nine people and wounding more than 50. In the northern Shia-majority region of Gilgit-Baltistan, crowds torched a United Nations office, a police station, and several government buildings in Skardu, prompting the army's deployment under emergency constitutional authority.

Updated 5 days ago

Iran and the United States held initial indirect nuclear talks in Muscat, Oman on February 6, 2026, mediated by Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the discussions as a 'very good start,' with US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner exchanging positions through intermediaries on Iran's nuclear program.

Updated 7 days ago

In June 2025, Israeli and American strikes destroyed roughly a third of Iran's air defense network in twelve days. Eight months later, leaked Russian documents show Tehran is spending billions to replace what it lost—and then some. A newly revealed €500 million deal for 500 Russian-made Verba shoulder-fired missile launchers and 2,500 missiles, signed secretly in December 2025, is the latest piece of a sweeping rearmament campaign that also includes S-400 long-range batteries and up to 48 Su-35 fighter jets.

Updated Feb 22

On February 14, 2026, an estimated 250,000 people marched through Munich during the Munich Security Conference, the largest protest ever held in Europe against Iran's government. The same day, 350,000 gathered in Toronto and 60,000 in Los Angeles—part of a coordinated Global Day of Action called by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran's last shah, who has lived outside Iran for 47 years. Reports indicate over one million participated worldwide.

Updated Feb 15

Prediction markets have existed in legal limbo since 2003, when U.S. senators killed a Pentagon program that would have let people bet on terrorist attacks. Now the feared scenario has arrived: an Israeli reservist and civilian face prosecution for using classified military intelligence to profit $150,000 on Polymarket, placing bets on the June 2025 Israel-Iran war with suspicious accuracy. It is the first known prosecution anywhere for using military secrets to trade on a prediction market.

Updated Feb 13

Benjamin Netanyahu flew to Washington this week with a single message: any deal with Iran must go beyond uranium. After three hours in the Oval Office on February 11, President Trump emerged saying 'nothing definitive' was reached—but negotiations would continue. Netanyahu signed onto Trump's Board of Peace initiative and extracted a promise of continued talks, though Iran insists its ballistic missiles remain off the table.

Updated Feb 11

No sitting U.S. president or vice president had ever visited Armenia—until February 9, 2026. Vice President JD Vance's arrival in Yerevan marks more than a diplomatic first: it signals Washington's deepest-ever engagement in a region long dominated by Russia and Iran. Vance brought $9 billion in potential nuclear investment, advanced Nvidia chips, and surveillance drones—tangible proof that the Trump administration is backing its August 2025 peace framework with economic muscle.

Updated Feb 11