The Levant Files

Amid escalating tensions over the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran issues sweeping maritime warning   Iran's military has issued a stark warning that any attack on Iranian ports would render all ports across the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman insecure, according to state-affiliated Press TV, the Islamic Republic's English-language state broadcaster. Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, declared on Monday that maritime security in the region is a collective matter — one that must apply to all parties or to none. Speaking in a statement cited by state-affiliated Press TV, Zolfaqari said the Iranian Armed Forces regard the defense of national rights, including full sovereignty over territorial waters, as a lawful and natural obligation. The senior military official also announced that Iran intends to establish a permanent mechanism to control the Strait of Hormuz even after the current crisis is resolved — a significant esc...

Israel's military is on maximum readiness for a possible Iranian strike as early as Monday evening, while Washington weighs its next move after diplomatic talks collapsed in Islamabad, according to reports published Monday by Israeli outlet Maariv . A senior Israeli military source warned that Iran could launch attacks by 17:00 local time (Israel) in response to the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz announced earlier in the day. "We are prepared for the possibility that Iran will attempt to fire tonight," the source said, noting that potential targets could include American bases in the Gulf, Gulf state targets, and Israeli territory. "There is currently no specific intelligence indicating this, but we are monitoring the situation closely." The IDF has updated its target banks and placed all air force platforms on the highest state of readiness. Ground crews and technical teams are reportedly working around the clock. Holocaust Day Ceremony Pre-Recorde...

İsrail'in önde gelen gazetelerinden Maariv gazetesinin pazartesi günü yayımladığı haberlere göre, İsrail ordusu olası bir İran saldırısı için azami teyakkuz durumuna geçti. Saldırının en erken pazartesi akşamı gerçekleşebileceği belirtilirken, Washington da İslamabad'daki diplomatik görüşmelerin çökmesinin ardından atacağı bir sonraki adımı değerlendiriyor. Üst düzey bir İsrail askerî kaynağı, ABD'nin günün erken saatlerinde Hürmüz Boğazı'na yönelik deniz ablukası ilan etmesine karşılık İran'ın yerel saatle 17:00'de (İsrail saati) saldırılar düzenleyebileceği uyarısında bulundu. Kaynak, "İran'ın bu gece ateş etmeye teşebbüs edebileceği ihtimaline hazırlıklıyız" dedi ve potansiyel hedefler arasında Körfez'deki Amerikan üsleri, Körfez ülkelerine ait hedefler ve İsrail topraklarının bulunabileceğini kaydetti. "Şu an için buna işaret eden spesifik bir istihbarat yok, ancak durumu yakından izliyoruz." İsrail Savunma Kuvvetleri (Israel Defe...

The South China Morning Post, one of Asia's most prominent English-language outlets and Hong Kong's flagship newspaper, has published a strongly-worded opinion piece arguing that Iran is on course to become a major world power as a direct result of the ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel — and that this outcome should be welcomed by the international community. Writing in his regular column "My Take," SCMP columnist Alex Lo contends that Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz — through which approximately one fifth of the world's oil and gas passes — could fundamentally redraw the global order. Lo cites University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape, who argued in a New York Times analysis that Iran is rapidly emerging as a fourth centre of global power alongside the US, China, and Russia, deriving its newfound leverage not from economic or military parity but from its grip on the world's most critical energy chokepoint. The SCMP colum...

The war in Iran is no longer a Middle Eastern crisis alone. As fighting continues and a fragile ceasefire hangs in the balance, a new front has quietly opened — not in the skies over Tehran or the waters of the Strait of Hormuz, but in the fraught space between Washington and Beijing. President Donald Trump issued a blunt warning to China on Saturday after US intelligence officials indicated that Beijing was preparing to transfer shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles — known as MANPADs — to Iran, reportedly routed through third countries to obscure their origin. "If China does that, China is going to have big problems," Trump said as he departed the White House for Miami. By Sunday, the warning had sharpened into economic specifics. Speaking on Fox Business, Trump threatened a 50 percent tariff on Chinese goods if such a transfer were confirmed. "If we catch them doing that, they get a 50 percent tariff — that's staggering," he said. Yet even as he escalated the...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yisrael Katz launched an unusual dual provocation against Turkey on the evening of April 11, targeting both the government and opposition in what analyst Murat Yetkin, writing for YetkinReport, describes as a display of frustration over a series of collapsed strategic calculations in the region. The provocations came shortly after it became clear that the first round of US-Iran talks in Pakistan had yielded no result. Netanyahu posted a message on X reading: "Israel, under my leadership, will continue to fight Iran's terror regime and its proxies — while Erdoğan helps them and massacres his own Kurdish citizens." Yetkin argues the statement was in fact directed at US President Donald Trump rather than a Turkish audience — a dual message signalling that Israel would press on with its military campaign regardless of any US-Iran diplomatic progress, while simultaneously lodging a complaint agains...

Hours after the Islamabad talks collapsed, Washington announced a naval blockade of the world’s most critical energy chokepoint — transforming the US from freedom-of-navigation champion into the party sealing the strait. Within hours of the collapse of the historic US–Iran talks in Islamabad on Sunday, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States Navy would “begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.” The declaration, posted on Truth Social, was accompanied by an order to interdict every vessel in international waters that had paid a toll to Iran and a warning that any Iranian who fires “at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL.” The announcement marks a qualitative escalation in the seven-week-old conflict. It transforms the United States from the traditional guarantor of freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf — a role Washington has played since the 1980s Tanker War — into the power imposing closure ...

  Important note: Please note that the Arabic service of TLf is currently in a beta phase. We have launched this initiative with the support of our followers, volunteers, and AI technology. Please keep in mind that during this first phase, the Arabic text may contain slight phrasing or translation errors. We aim to launch a fully professional Arabic service in the near future. يرجى العلم أن الخدمة العربية لـ TLf لا تزال في مرحلة تجريبية (Beta). لقد أطلقنا هذه الخدمة بدعم من متابعينا والمتطوعين وباستخدام تقنيات الذكاء الاصطناعي. يرجى أخذ العلم أنه في هذه المرحلة الأولى قد تحتوي النصوص العربية على بعض الأخطاء البسيطة في الصياغة أو الترجمة. نهدف في المستقبل القريب إلى إطلاق خدمة عربية احترافية بالكامل.   بعد ساعات من انهيار محادثات إسلام آباد، أعلنت واشنطن حصارًا بحريًا على أهم نقطة اختناق للطاقة في العالم — محوّلة الولايات المتحدة من بطلة حرية الملاحة إلى الطرف الذي يُغلق المضيق. بعد ساعات فقط من انهيار المحادثات التاريخية بين الولايات المتحدة وإيران في إسلام آباد يوم ...

  Λίγες ώρες μετά την κατάρρευση των συνομιλιών του Ισλαμαμπάντ, η Ουάσινγκτον ανακοίνωσε ναυτικό αποκλεισμό στο πιο κρίσιμο ενεργειακό σημείο πνιγμού του πλανήτη — μετατρέποντας τις ΗΠΑ από υπέρμαχο της ελευθερίας της ναυσιπλοΐας στο μέρος που σφραγίζει το στενό.   Μέσα σε λίγες ώρες από την κατάρρευση των ιστορικών συνομιλιών ΗΠΑ–Ιράν στο Ισλαμαμπάντ την Κυριακή, ο Πρόεδρος των ΗΠΑ Ντόναλντ Τραμπ ανακοίνωσε ότι το Πολεμικό Ναυτικό των Ηνωμένων Πολιτειών «θα ξεκινήσει τη διαδικασία ΑΠΟΚΛΕΙΣΜΟΥ κάθε πλοίου που επιχειρεί να εισέλθει ή να εξέλθει από το Στενό του Ορμούζ». Η δήλωση, που αναρτήθηκε στο Truth Social, συνοδευόταν από εντολή να εντοπίζεται και να αναχαιτίζεται κάθε πλοίο σε διεθνή ύδατα που έχει καταβάλει τέλη διέλευσης στο Ιράν και από προειδοποίηση ότι οποιοσδήποτε Ιρανός πυροβολήσει «εναντίον μας ή εναντίον ειρηνικών πλοίων θα ΣΤΑΛΕΙ ΣΤΗΝ ΚΟΛΑΣΗ». Η ανακοίνωση σηματοδοτεί ποιοτική κλιμάκωση στη σύγκρουση που διαρκεί επτά εβδομάδες. Μετατρέπει τις Ηνωμένες Πολιτείε...