IRAN - Iran announced the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz for the first time since the 1980s on Tuesday, amid a US military build-up in the Arabian Sea. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced on Tuesday that sections of the strategic waterway would be closed for several hours for live-fire naval drills. Iran’s supreme leader also threatened to send US aircraft carriers to the “bottom of the sea”, despite diplomatic efforts continuing in Geneva. A US official said: “The Iranians ⁠said they would come back in the next two ‌weeks with detailed proposals to address ⁠some ⁠of the open gaps in our positions.” Later on Tuesday, JD Vance told Fox News: “In some ways, it went well; they agreed to meet afterwards. But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.

MIDDLE EAST - For several weeks now, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has been on station in the Gulf of Oman off the coast of Iran. Her air wing has flown continuous surveillance and training missions while the ship and her escorts have worked hard to avoid counter-detection. In the course of these operations, an F-35C fighter jet from the carrier recently shot down an Iranian drone that was out looking for the carrier in an attempt to mark her position.

IRAN - On Monday Araghchi met Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and said Tuesday’s meeting discussed “co-operation between Iran and the agency [and] the role it can play between Iran and the US to achieve a mutual agreement”. Khamenei struck a more aggressive tone, as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps led a rare temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz for a live-firing exercise, interpreted as a threat to cause havoc to global oil markets in the event of a US attack. Around a fifth of the world’s oil transits the narrow channel bordered to the north by Iran. “The US president says their army is the world’s strongest, but the strongest army in the world can sometimes be slapped so hard it cannot get up,” Khamenei told an audience of cheering supporters in a broadcast on state TV. “The Americans keep saying they have sent warships towards Iran. Of course a warship is a dangerous device — but more dangerous than the warship is the weapon that can sink it into the depths of the sea,” he added.

IRAN - A genuine mass slaughter of civilians is happening in Iran. Why does nobody care in London? Inexplicably, Israel is being treated as a worse villain than the murderous theocracy in Tehran. As each day goes by the news emerging from Iran is more horrifying. It’s now believed that up to 30,000 civilians have been killed by government forces. The horror is not over. Up to 50,000 more people have been arrested, their fates unclear. We do not know how many will be executed by a regime determined to crush popular dissent. A State turning its guns on its own people on that scale ought to chill every democrat in Britain – and command Parliament’s whole-hearted attention. It has not. The silence of the pro-Palestinian movement on the mass murder in Iran has been striking. There have been no weekly mass marches through the centre of London in support of Iranian civilians. Celebrities with a strong apparent interest in humanitarian issues in the Middle East have been notably quiet when compared to their outrage on Gaza.

GERMANY - At the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, all eyes were on the global powers. One of the headlines from the conference was a comment made by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Answering a question at the Munich Security Conference, the Chinese foreign minister warned Japan against what he called the ghosts of militarism. As the biggest victim of Japan’s wars of aggression in the 19th century, it’s understandable that the Chinese are nervous about Japan rearming.

USA - Over the past six years, students in much of the United States, particularly in blue cities and states, have experienced significant educational interruptions. First, the COVID lockdowns kept kids out of school entirely or in part for as many as four years in some states. As a result, by the end of the 2024–2025 school year, students were still half a year behind.

CHINA - For the 2026 Chinese Lunar New Year gala, China Media Group staged an impressive live performance: humanoid robots appeared alongside young kung fu performers, delivering a tightly synchronized show that seamlessly blended advanced technology with traditional martial arts. The stage show blends traditional Chinese martial arts with advanced robotics. Humanoid robots performed alongside young kung fu performers in a carefully choreographed routine with a clear dramatic arc. It began with slow, flowing movements before gradually building in speed and intensity. At its climax, the performers incorporated classic weapons such as swords, staffs, and nunchucks, heightening the overall sense of spectacle. Many users on Reddit have praised the technical execution, while more critical voices argue that the routine was likely pre-programmed or based on motion capture rather than driven by genuine autonomous decision-making. Even so, the performance remains undeniably impressive.

USA - Cash itself is becoming strange, inconvenient, outdated, and almost suspicious. We’re being trained to accept that every exchange must be mediated, approved, and recorded by a third party, and that third party isn’t free. If I hand $20 in cash to the empanada vendor, and he hands that same $20 to the barber who cuts his hair, and the barber gives it to a babysitter, and the babysitter uses it to buy a pizza, that same $20 bill keeps moving through the community at full value. No one skims anything off the top.

MIDDLE EAST - Tehran’s response to Trump’s growing armada risks disruption in global oil chokepoint. Iran has launched military drills in the Strait of Hormuz to cement control over the critical waterway following the deployment of a second US aircraft carrier to the region. The exercises aimed to establish “smart control” over the Strait through “plans and scenarios for reciprocal military action” by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) in the face of “potential security and military threats in the Strait of Hormuz region”, the IRGC said. Major General Mohammad Pakpour, the IRGC commander, is overseeing the exercises, which will test operational forces’ “rapid, decisive and comprehensive reaction”. Satellite images showed the USS Abraham Lincoln, which was deployed to the Gulf last month, was south-east of the Strait on Sunday, 150 miles from the coast of Oman. Any closure would send oil prices soaring and inflict severe global economic damage.

EUROPE - Unusually direct criticism reflects increasingly fractious alliance at heart of EU. Germany has criticised France for insufficient defence spending in a public rebuke to its most important EU ally. The German foreign minister accused Emmanuel Macron of failing to make the hard financial choices at home needed to match his calls for Europe to reduce its reliance on the US for defence. Johann Wadephul said on Monday that the French president “repeatedly and correctly refers to our pursuit of European sovereignty” but added that “anyone who talks about it needs to act accordingly in their own country”. In unusually direct language, Mr Wadephul said that Paris must be ready to take “difficult decisions”, including welfare cuts, to create the “breathing space needed” and increase defence spending.

POLAND - Poland should begin developing nuclear weapons to guard against Russia, the country’s president has said. Karol Nawrocki, who was elected last year, said he was a “great supporter of Poland joining the nuclear project”, which he said could underpin the country’s security strategy. “This path, with respect for all international regulations, is the path we should take,” he said in an interview with Polsat television on Sunday. “We must work towards this goal so that we can begin the work. We are a country right on the border of an armed conflict. The aggressive, imperial attitude of Russia towards Poland is well known.” European discussions about developing a nuclear umbrella also came after warnings that Vladimir Putin was moving nuclear missiles to the border of the European Union.

USA - Donald Trump has reversed a key scientific ruling that determined that greenhouse gases posed a threat to public health. The “endangerment finding”, implemented by Barack Obama in 2009, served as the legal foundation for a range of federal actions on limiting emissions. The US president told reporters at the White House on Thursday: “We are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry, and massively drove up prices for American consumers. This action will eliminate over $1.3 trillion (£950 million) of regulatory cost and help bring car prices tumbling down dramatically.” The White House described the reversal as the “largest deregulation in American history”, claiming it would make cars cheaper by bringing down manufacturing costs by $2,400 per vehicle.

ISRAEL - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "very skeptical" about any future deal with Iran and that he raised concerns with US President Donald Trump that "the Iranians are lying." Speaking at the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations’ 51st Annual National Leadership Mission in Jerusalem on Sunday, Netanyahu said he just returned from the US, where he held "a very important meeting" with Trump focused on Iran. The conference, which began on Sunday, is set to run through Thursday. According to Netanyahu, Trump believes as though "Tehran feels like it missed a chance to reach a deal last time and wants to reach one this time." He stressed, however, that he had his doubts. "Iran is reliable on one thing, that they lie and they cheat."

ISRAEL - Jerusalem Police complete Ramadan preparations, vow to maintain status quo on Temple Mount. Jerusalem District Commander Avshalom Peled said ahead of Ramadan that the district remains “committed to safeguarding freedom of worship for members of all religions and communities in the city.” Jerusalem Police have completed operational preparations for Ramadan 2026, which begins this week, deploying hundreds of officers across the capital with a particular focus on the Old City and the Temple Mount, officials said on Monday. The stated goal is to enable freedom of worship while preserving security and public order, a balance that in past years has proven delicate, especially amid broader regional tensions. Ramadan in Jerusalem has repeatedly coincided with heightened tensions in recent years.

USA - Markets are terrified by Silicon Valley’s sci-fi disaster warnings – even when these defy common sense. “If you’re not terrified by AI you’re not paying attention,” wrote Robert Colvile, director of the Centre for Policy Studies, last week. He’s not alone. But behind such fears is a cynical and manipulative public relations tactic I first described in 2019 – one that robotics engineers derided as the “Igor, It’s alive!” moment – a reference to Gene Wilder’s Young Frankenstein in Mel Brooks’s satirical movie. The trick is to claim to have seen an example of troubling emergent behaviour. It’s pure anthropomorphism.