The Islamic Republic’s failed strike on Diego Garcia suggests that even the most secure outposts are no longer beyond reach. For decades, distance was Diego Garcia’s greatest defence. Marooned in the central Indian Ocean, far from the Middle East’s turmoil and the Pacific’s rivalries, the atoll functioned as America’s unsinkable aircraft carrier. Iran’s recent attempt to strike the island with ballistic missiles, though unsuccessful has punctured the illusion of sanctuary. On

War in Iran has turned the INSTC, India’s most promising trade shortcut, into a strategic liability. The fog of war in the Middle East has obscured more than battle lines. It has also hidden the quiet unravelling of one of Eurasia’s most ambitious trade experiments: the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC). Conceived at the turn of the millennium as a faster, cheaper artery linking South Asia to Europe, the corridor now finds itself a casualty as collateral da

The ongoing Iran war has unleashed one of the most severe energy shocks in decades. Our five-part series explores decisive moments when turmoil in the energy world changed the trajectory of geopolitics.   Barrels and Power - Part 4 With no let-up in the escalating Iran-U.S.-Israel conflict, talk of $200 oil has leapt from fringe alarm to boardroom concern, as disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz - artery to nearly a fifth of global supply – continue to rattle markets. The

The ongoing Iran war has unleashed one of the most severe energy shocks in decades. Our five-part series explores decisive moments when turmoil in the energy world changed the trajectory of geopolitics. Barrels and Power - Part 3 Enrico Mattei For decades, the world’s most important commodity was governed by a remarkably small club. Oil flowed from the deserts of the Middle East and the plains of Latin America, yet the rules of the trade were written elsewhere in the boardroo

The ongoing Iran war has unleashed one of the most severe energy shocks in decades. Our five-part series explores decisive moments when turmoil in the energy world changed the trajectory of geopolitics. Barrels and Power - Part 2   The coup that restored the Shah also entrenched a legacy of oil politics and foreign intervention that still shadows Iran today. Mohammad Mosaddegh At the start of the 20 th century, Persia was a fading empire ruled by the aging Qajar monarch Moza

Barrels and Power – PART 1 The ongoing Iran war has unleashed one of the most severe energy shocks in decades. Our five-part series explores decisive moments when turmoil in the energy world changed the trajectory of geopolitics. The Caspian oil boom at the dawn of the twentieth century first revealed how petroleum could shape markets, empires and revolutions. Ludvig Nobel Long before the Persian Gulf became the centre of modern energy geopolitics, its first great arena emerg