benoit faucon

U.S. and Nigerian forces killed Islamic State’s alleged No. 2, a man linked to terrorist attacks against religious minorities and the mass kidnapping of schoolchildren wsj.com/world/africa/u… via @WSJ @MPhillipsWSJ @benoitfaucon

Iran seized a support vessel owned by a Chinese security firm near the Strait of Hormuz, appearing to signal it is unwilling to permit armed protection even for ships sailing on behalf of its strongest global backer wsj.com/world/china/ir… via @WSJ by @benoitfaucon @jamestareddy

Governments across the Middle East are touting successes in disrupting infiltrators they say have links to Iran, after the war between the U.S. and Iran sparked fears of a wave of terrorist attacks wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ

Israel set up a clandestine military outpost in the Iraqi desert to support its air campaign against Iran wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ great scoop by @AnatPeled1 @jmalsin

Al-Qaeda-led militants bent on building an African caliphate are closing in on Mali’s capital and forcing a retreat of Russian mercenaries wsj.com/world/africa/j… via @WSJ

War has imposed a heavy cost on Iran’s economy: more than a million people are out of work, food prices are soaring and a prolonged internet shutdown has slammed online businesses wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ @margheritamvs @benoitfaucon @HennaMoussavi

Iran is scrambling to find new ways to store its oil, hoping to avoid a crippling production shutdown wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ @benoitfaucon with top notch colleagues @georgikantchev @RebeccaYFeng

Iran has said privately it could be open to a five-year suspension of enrichment with a possible additional five years in which its enrichment program would remain restricted, according to people close to the talks.

President Trump scrapped a trip by U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan for talks with Iran, leaving himself tough choices over how to force Iran to make concessions and strike a deal wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ @benoitfaucon @laurnorman Natalie Andrews

During the first round in Islamabad, Kushner stepped out to call Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who were about to watch a mixed martial arts fight in Miami. The U.S. insisted that Iran agree to a 20-year halt to uranium enrichment.

Tensions between Iran’s leaders over talks with the U.S. spilled into the open this week, highlighting how difficult it will be for President Trump to get the diplomatic win he wants to end the war wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ @benoitfaucon @laurnorman @summer_said

Iran’s quick reversal of the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz has laid bare a rift between the country’s political leaders and military hard-liners who have deepened their hold on the government wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ

The US and Israel launched the war in Iran with the hope it would create the conditions for regime change or at least the emergence of leaders more willing to bend to their interests. Instead, the void is being filled by radical leaders. w/ @benoitfaucon wsj.com/world/middle-e…

How America is helping Libyans get their country back wsj.com/world/africa/h… via @WSJ

In any Iranian response to a ground invasion would involved both conventional and asymetrical tactics, like a mini-Soviet Union and the Vietcong wrapped into one.

Iran is responding to the threat of a ground operation on its soil by stepping up defenses around its biggest oil port, while threatening to attack a wider array of targets around the Gulf wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ

Iran’s security apparatus is underpinned by economic incentives that would make the regime’s collapse a direct threat to the livelihood of its members wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ

Israel’s strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field exposed Tehran’s biggest vulnerability: its dependency on natural gas to keep powering its homes, factories and even its water pumps wsj.com/world/middle-e… via @WSJ

The killing of Ali Larijani could further complicate the regime’s ability to run the war effort and increase leadership paranoia. But it isn’t likely to bring down the regime now and could potentially lead to more hardliners. My latest w/ @benoitfaucon wsj.com/world/middle-e…

Following the drawdown from Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain and parts of Syria, the remaining concentration of US forces is now anchored primarily in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, but most significantly in Jordan and Israel. In the event of war, this geographic redistribution would narrow the strategic map. Rather than dispersing Iranian targeting calculations across multiple distant theatres, the focus would likely converge on two closely situated fronts. That proximity would simplify missile concentration and saturation planning from Tehran’s perspective, compressing operational space and increasing the intensity of any initial exchange.