A Bedrock in Discovery.
An existential enemy.
“It’s the first thing I read every morning.” — Rob Manfred, Commissioner, Major League Baseball.
1. Israel’s killing of Iranian security chief Ali Larijani removes a veteran leader in Tehran, shaking a regime that had appeared to be weathering thousands of airstrikes with its grip on the country and war-fighting capability intact. It was accompanied by a successful Israeli attack on the head of the country’s repressive Basij militia the same day, a double blow that analysts said could further complicate the regime’s ability to run the war effort and maintain control, even though it isn’t likely to bring it down. Larijani’s death, announced by Israel early Tuesday, was the biggest hit to the country’s leadership since Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed by Israel in the opening salvo of the war. (Source: wsj.com)
2. The news that Israel killed Ali Larijani, Iran’s top national security official and its de facto ruler during the war, immediately fueled anxiety among Iranians about the direction of the war and the country. Israel, again, demonstrated it was a step ahead of Iran when it came to the security of its officials. Iranian officials have been under extra security protocols since the U.S.-Israeli strikes began more than two weeks ago, killing the former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Still, a wave of targeted assassinations of top officials followed. Two Iranian officials described their security concerns. One said he received calls from other officials, worrying about the safety of Iran’s leaders, as well as their own safety. They all wondered who would be next to be targeted, he said. Another official said he shook when he received a call with the news of Mr. Larijani’s killing. There was a pervasive sense of anxiety, he said, that Israel would not stop until all of Iran’s leaders were killed and the Islamic republic toppled. (Source: nytimes.com)
3. Tehran is moving to restrict — or effectively close — the strait of Hormuz to shipping, as part of the latest escalation in the war involving Iran. Markets have reacted to the global impact of closing this incredibly busy shipping channel, focusing on the risk to oil and gas flows, the prospect of higher crude prices and the inflationary pressures that would follow. That concern is justified. But it captures only part of the story. A sustained disruption of traffic through Hormuz would not simply constitute an energy crisis. It would also represent a fertiliser shock (where prices go up dramatically and supply goes down) – and, by extension, a direct risk to global food security. (Source: theconversation.com)
4. Battered by Iranian strikes and the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, the United Arab Emirates and some fellow Persian Gulf states have come to view Iran’s theocracy as an existential enemy. They now want the regime they once courted to be neutered, if not dismantled, when the conflict ends—so the ordeal is never repeated. (Source: wsj.com)
5. Last week as Iran laid mines in the Persian Gulf, four of the U.S. Navy’s few specialist minesweepers were on the move—to Philadelphia and their eventual decommissioning. The Navy hasn’t had a significant mine clearing capability in decades, former naval officers and analysts said. Now it faces having to deal with the risk of mines in one of the world’s most important waterways while the West’s thinking on how to deal with the seaborne threat is in flux. Defense companies and navies, including in the U.S., are experimenting with unmanned technology and artificial intelligence that they believe will provide safer and more effective ways of clearing mines before they can do any damage. But while promising, limited amounts of that technology have been produced and it is largely untested in conflict. (Source: wsj.com. Italics mine.)
