General Jamil el-Sayyed, former Director General of Lebanon’s General Security and member of parliament, speaks to GeoTrends about Hezbollah’s weapons, Israel, Iran, Syria, Türkiye, and the limits of Lebanon’s ability to defend itself
The new architecture of maritime illegality: 1,942 shadow-fleet tankers and gas carriers, 57% of sanctioned tonnage with false or unknown flags, and continuous registry changes undermining enforcement, safety, insurance and environmental protection
Ali Alfoneh, senior fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute and leading expert on Iranian politics, explains how Khamenei’s assassination reshaped Iran’s leadership, producing more effective policymaking while making Tehran more assertive and risk-tolerant
Economic interdependence was supposed to restrain geopolitical rivalry. Instead, power is reshaping globalization, turning trade, technology, infrastructure, and supply chains into instruments of strategic competition
Roxana Nicknami, Professor of European Studies at the University of Tehran, examines the unraveling Iran–U.S. ceasefire, the legal foundations of deterrence, verification failures, and why sustainable regional stability ultimately depends on credible institutions rather than coercion
The period of 29 June–4 July 2026 opened with Iran replacing drones with invoices, closed with France and the UK deploying warships, and delivered a $1.47 billion VLCC orderbook bet in between.
The week of 21–28 June 2026 delivered a drone strike on a trapped Evergreen vessel, a 39% VLCC rate collapse, container shipping’s third-largest spike in history, and a ceasefire that kept shooting
Dr. Foad Izadi, Professor of American Studies at the University of Tehran and a specialist in U.S. foreign policy, explains how Tehran interprets the war’s outcome, the ceasefire and the strategic lessons shaping its next move
During the week ending 19 June 2026, dry bulk freight markets remained largely stable as owners and charterers waited for greater clarity on the evolving Iran–U.S. agreement, with Panamaxes providing the market’s main source of volatility
The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East are accelerating a historic redistribution of power, ensuring that the world emerging from these conflicts will look nothing like the one we know today