U.B. Prem

A top Iranian aide's admission that deftly packaged the economic misery inside a defiant tone is perhaps an acknowledgement by the regime that its citizens could be getting more and more frustrated by the endless contours of the war. The Iranian regime also perhaps fears an uprising if the misery mounts.

Sep 06, 2026

This is an unusual public clamor by the administration's top aides ahead of a Fed meet. Many of the Trump administration have also called for a rate cut instead. The idea seems to be to facilitate a narrative in which to pressurize the Fed under its new chair Kevin Warsh, a Trump appointee, to not hike rates, rather than forcing a cut.

Sep 06, 2026

The US will release its August the Producer Price Index report and US Consumer Price Index for August next week.The PPI report will provide details on prices for businesses before these are passed along with the costs to consumers. The reports will give Wall Street and the Federal Reserve a heads up on the trajectory of inflation in the US.

Sep 05, 2026

Washington has been pushing to end the conflict, which is now in its fifth year. The conflict lost momentum after the US attention veered to its conflict with Iran in the Middle East, which began late in February.

Sep 05, 2026

The post-war strategy is being guided by the political strategists of the Trump administration in coordination with various US agencies. President Donald Trump himself has reportedly attended two meetings with senior aides in the recent weeks on the strategy. Trump has hinted ithat Washington is working on "something much bigger" in the Middle East after the war with Iran.

Sep 05, 2026

The Xi trip also assumes significance considering that the US is generally wary of Chinese investment. Beijing's own love-hate relationship with private enterprise would also undergo a transformation, given that Xi had recently championed strict steps against private enterprises.

Sep 05, 2026

The US and Iran had agreed on a deal in June to pave the way for an end to the conflict. The broader terms of a peace deal were to be chalked out in 60 days. The 60-day period has ended but there has been no significant progress in backchannel negotiations as the US and Iran failed to reach a consensus on the management of the contentious Strait of Hormuz.

Aug 23, 2026

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney alleged that the final demands made by the US were too stretched. These reportedly included steps Canada considered as unacceptable, including terms that curtailed Canada's ability to negotiate trade agreements with other countries

Aug 23, 2026

This is Mohsen Rezai's most extensive public statement since taking over as head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Rezai's defiant tone has been interpreted by many as a hardening of stance by Tehran amid diplomatic efforts to bring back Iran and Washington to the negotiating table.

Aug 23, 2026

Investors will be chasing clues these events may offer on whether the artificial intelligence-led stock market rally would be able to sustain itself amid uncertainty over growth and interest rates. Despite Warsh's aversion to offer guidance, investors would expect at least broad clues on how the Fed intends to approach the policy framework.

Aug 22, 2026

Comments by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf indicate that moderate elements in Iran's political leadership think that after focussing on ending the war, the country needs to resuscitate its ailing economy.

Aug 22, 2026

Iran is trying to rally international opinion against what it sees as the perceived discriminatory tariffs and sanctions regime, backed to the hilt by the Trump administration, as a tool to spur a rallying cry against US actions globally. Tehran hopes that such a step would, in effect, put the US administration in an isolated position globally.

Aug 22, 2026

The retaliatory move announced by Canada is seen as escalating the trade war between the two countries. It has also cast doubts on the future of a North American trade pact between the US, Canada, and Mexico, seen as a vital for the industry in all three countries.

Aug 22, 2026

Trump's latest announcement is likely to target independent Chinese refineries, known as "teapots." Teapots account for a quarter of Chinese refinery capacity. China accounts for more than 80% of Iran's ​shipped oil and teapots absorb much of this trade.

Aug 16, 2026

Ukraine is of the view that Russia's vast energy reservoirs are bankrolling its appetite for war and hence it is unleashing the coordinated strikes on these facilities across Russia. These strikes are aimed at bringing the impact of the war and causing misery to the Russian public, which has also been bearing the economic and military consequences of the conflict.

Aug 16, 2026

In the looming Artificial Intelligence (AI) battle, the US is preparing the groundwork to let its partners know that they can't have pacts with China if they are keen to join the US-led AI coalition. In other words, those who want to dabble with China, as the AI race gathers momentum, can rest assured that they will be excluded from US-led AI initiatives, including Pax Silica.

Aug 16, 2026

Secretary of State Marco Rubio met foreign minister of Austria and held a call with the foreign minister of Greece on Wednesday. The US has not acknowledged that these discussions had anything to do with the Middle East conflict resolution talks.

Aug 15, 2026

Netanyahu described that the United Kingdom as the "first Islamic republic to get a nuclear weapon." A UK government spokesperson labelled the remarks as "completely unacceptable" and said that the issue had been raised with the Israeli government. The remarks come amid mounting political isolation faced by Israel over its aggresive Gaza stance.

Aug 15, 2026

The deal assumes significance as this would be Anthropic's first acquisition in Israel. If reported $6 billion figure is true, this would be Anthropic's biggest acquisition to date. The development also assumes significance as OpenAI and Anthropic have plans to spend billions of dollars on data centers stocked with chips that cost a fortune.

Aug 15, 2026

A defiant Iran has said the United States and should accept defeat and President Donald Trump termed Iran as evil as the war of words and the Middle East conflict continues unabated. Iran's defiance is seen as a sign of proclaiming to the global community that Tehran has no urgency to end the war

Aug 15, 2026

Tehran's top diplomat also said even if Iran strikes a deal with Oman to secure a trade route through the contentious Strait of Hormuz, that wouldn't ensure peace. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reiterated that IRGC's demands should be met by the Washington to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Aug 09, 2026

Netanyahu said in a cabinet meeting that Israeli forces will not withdraw until Hamas is "genuinely disarmed." Though the stress was on Hamas giving up all of its weapons before any pull-back, analysts say the move was more of a symbolic statement to boost his electoral fortunes. This is Israel's first polls since the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas.

Aug 09, 2026

President Trump privately confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David last week over the issue. Trump was miffed after learning that U.S. missile stockpiles had been depleted far more severely than he had believed.

Aug 09, 2026

The Republican playbook aims to steer the discourse away from being a referendum on US President Donald Trump's war on Iran, its impact on the economy and the rock-bottom approval ratings alarming even the MAGA base. It will instead harp on the dangers of the activist Left holding the Democratic camp hostage and throw in heaps of anti-Israel rhetoric.

Aug 09, 2026

Apart from lifting the Naval blockade enforced by Washington, Iran has also sought a withdrawal of the US naval and air forces from Iran's neighborhood. A full compensation package, lifting of "unjust and illegal" sanctions and unconditional release of Iranian assets "that were blocked and stolen" have also been sought.

Aug 08, 2026

The strategy poses risk as the US war has heaped misery on Tehran on multiple counts. Strikes have decimated Iran's top leadership, navy and air force. Iran's own economy is in shambles and Iranians who hit the streets in protests months ago against the regime, could latch on to economic misery to trigger an uprising again. These are factors which could upset Tehran's calculations.

Aug 08, 2026

Modern blockbuster movies' billion dollar collections are also attributed to the rise in prices of movie tickets for the standard version as well as the surge in premium large format showings. Imax, Dolby Cinemas, ScreenX and 4DX have also been beneficiaries of this trend, reporting record ticket collections spurred by movies including "The Odyssey" and "Spider-Man: Brand New Day."

Aug 08, 2026

The backers of the bill and the Trump administration believe that such a step would force Russia to tone down its war rhetoric and drag it to talks to end the conflict, which has raged on since 2022. Russia has not shown any signs of backing down.

Aug 08, 2026

Experts have cited logistical nightmares and security threats that make skirting the Hormuz a daunting scenario. Alternative pipelines won't be sufficient to curb reliance on Hormuz as these have only a combined maximum capacity of about nine million barrels per day, compared to 20 million bpd that transited through Hormuz during peace time. But still, work is being carried out on such projects.

Aug 02, 2026