Jean-Pierre Filiu is one of the foremost experts on the Arab world in Europe. A former French diplomat, Arabist and historian, and professor at Sciences Po, he visited Barcelona at the invitation of the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed). He was one of the few European analysts to enter Gaza since October 7, 2023, and recounts his experience in A Historian in Gaza, which the publishing house La Cebra has just released in Spanish.

The United States and Iran are squeezing the last days of the ceasefire, which expires on Tuesday night to Wednesday, in a race against time negotiation. Neither wants to return to an open war that would have unpredictable consequences, but no significant approximation of positions is seen either. The truce is affected by the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, which remains closed. Iran announced on Friday that it would allow commercial vessels to pass through a route under its control, but, after Washington said it maintained its blockade on the passage of Iranian vessels, the Revolutionary Guard said the strait "returned to the previous situation," and attacked several vessels. Trump considered it a violation of the ceasefire, and this Sunday he announced that his representatives will arrive in Islamabad on Monday night. He also stated that the US military had captured an Iranian ship attempting to cross the naval blockade. Vice President J.D. Vance will once again lead the US delegation, along with envoy Steve Witkoff and President's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Iranian authorities, on the other hand, have not confirmed the second round of talks and have accused Washington of "excessive demands, unrealistic expectations, constant changes of stance, repeated contradictions" and consider the US naval blockade a violation of the ceasefire.

About twenty governments and more than 6,000 representatives of parties and progressive organizations from around the world met yesterday at Fira Barcelona with one goal: to restore the credibility of social democracy on a planet battered by war and climate crisis, where the far-right is gaining ground. They denounce that the reactionary wave feeds on a malaise rooted in inequality and that it uses manipulation and lies to stir up hatred against immigrants, women and dissidences. Aware that action is needed, they wave the flags of “No to war”, the defense of human rights and the fight for equality. And they say that now is the time. An anti-Trump front that admits that defending oneself is not enough, but that does not go as far as formulating a tangible positive proposal.

Donald Trump is a millionaire, a real estate magnate, has direct interests in technology companies and... is Donald Trump. The President of the United States embodies in himself all the characteristics of the "enemy" that this weekend has been pointed out by the left gathered in Barcelona, with Pedro Sánchez as host, who has established himself as the reference of the international progressive movement. "When we socialists govern, states do not bow to elites, we put them in their place," he exclaimed to close the weekend summits before the 6,500 people who filled pavilion 8 of Fira de Barcelona. The commitment of the Spanish leader, but also of the heads of state and government who have met, is to "resist" the push of the far-right, but also to "build" together a new multilateral world. "We will twist the arm of those who believe themselves untouchable. Of the millionaires who exploit people and play with greed; of the speculators who play with people's savings and homes, and of the technologists who line their pockets at the expense of the health of democracies and the mental health of our youth," Sánchez ratified, intoning from the stage the "No to war" that the entire auditorium followed.

The use of robots in war is no longer science fiction: machines that replace soldiers are already operating on today's fronts. And Ukraine – like Gaza – is one of the major testing grounds for military technological development. President Volodymyr Zelensky has announced that the Ukrainian army has driven back Russian troops from a position using only drones and robots, without exposing any humans: "For the first time in the history of this war, we have recaptured an enemy position using only unmanned equipment: ground systems and drones. The occupants surrendered and the operation was carried out without infantry and without losses on our part," he assures.

The Brazilian Thiago Ávila (1986) is one of the coordinators of the Global Sumud Flotilla, the new international flotilla that seeks to break the blockade of Gaza and the largest yet. Ávila, an activist and political analyst, was part of a previous flotilla, which was intercepted last year. The mission plans to mobilize more than eighty vessels and more than 1,000 participants from about a hundred countries. It sets sail from Barcelona in an even more dangerous context of regional war and will be accompanied, up to the exclusion zone imposed by Israel, by the ships of Open Arms and Greenpeace. Its objective: to reactivate international mobilization in support of the Palestinian people. After the farewell events this weekend at Moll de la Fusta, 41 vessels will set sail from Barcelona in the coming days bound for Gaza, when weather conditions permit. In Sicily, more boats from France and Italy will join, and more vessels will be added along the rest of the route through the Mediterranean.

One of the key points of the fragile ceasefire established between the United States and Iran on Wednesday is the free movement of maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. A key passage for tankers, fertilizers, and dry goods, the strangulation generated as a result of the war threatens the entire world economy. The volume of ship passage has fallen from between 150 and 200 daily on February 27 to less than ten in the last forty-eight hours.

This Saturday, representatives from the United States and Iran will meet in Islamabad, if things don't go wrong before then, to negotiate an agreement to end six weeks of a war that has accumulated thousands of deaths, has transformed the Middle East, and has shaken the global economy. The Pakistani capital is already experiencing strict security restrictions and the participation of two high-level delegations is expected. But the 15-day ceasefire agreed upon on Wednesday is the result of the high cost of the conflict for both sides and the prospect that a military solution will not be quick. It is not currently foreseen that there is a basis for a lasting pact. The negotiation starts from distant positions, with major obstacles to overcome.

Donald Trump has starred in another TACO moment. This is how the US political and media jargon refers to the president's tendency to back down at the last minute: Trump Always Chikens Out. But, although there have been quite a few TACO moments, the one from this past dawn has been of epic proportions. On Tuesday, Trump had announced that a civilization could die that night if Iran did not immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He had even set a time: eight in the evening in the United States, two in the morning in Catalonia. But, just as he had launched the threat, Trump also backed down with a post and surprisingly announced a 15-day truce to negotiate with Tehran under the auspices of Pakistan.

Iran's regime is defending itself from the joint attack by the United States and Israel with a weapon that is not military, but economic: choking the transit of oil in the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's gas and oil transit passed. But it is a selective closure: instead of mining the strait to block the passage of all ships, Tehran allows the passage of its own vessels and those it considers "non-hostile," while blocking those from countries it considers "enemies." It has established a selective toll with a physical corridor in the sea, through which it forces ships it is interested in to pass. Those that do not do so risk being attacked with drones, missiles, or speedboats.

Yemen's Houthis have taken a month to come out in defense of their ally, Iran, in a key week of the United States and Israel war. The Shiite militia has entered the war cautiously: it has attacked Israel, but not US bases, nor Saudi refineries, nor the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, which gives access to the Red Sea. A closure of this passage, while Iran blocks the passage of commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz in the Arabian Sea, would further strangle the global economy. The Houthis have warned that, if necessary, they are willing to play this card, and just the threat has already caused many ships to turn back. 

The war of the United States and Israel against Iran has been going on for a month. Trump has twice backed down from his ultimatum in which he threatened to bomb Iranian energy plants, and now there are talks between Washington and Tehran. But in reality this does not mean much, beyond the fact that the war is not going according to the plans of Trump and Netanyahu. The ayatollah regime is resisting and does not seem willing to surrender, because it knows that it holds the key to a global energy crisis. No one knows if the ongoing negotiations represent a US backtrack, another TACO ("Trump Always Chickens Out) moment to find a way out. Or perhaps it is just buying time to accumulate more troops in the region and return to escalation, with attacks on infrastructure, with a ground operation to force the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, or with control of Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub. It would be the third time the United States has attacked Iran during negotiations. Whatever happens in the coming weeks, this war that has disrupted the global economy already leaves us with some lessons. 

Víctor Jiménez (Algesires, 1976), a professional merchant mariner, is the president of the council of the International Maritime Organization, the UN's executive body responsible for the global regulation of maritime traffic. He is one of the people who best knows the current situation in the Strait of Hormuz, the bottleneck for world trade in hydrocarbons and other products that Iran has closed in retaliation for the attack by the United States and Israel. A blockade that is shaking the global economy. His mandate is not precisely peaceful: he took office in 2022, shortly before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which also impacted transport in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Donald Trump postponed the ultimatum he had given to Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and He claims to have opened a channel of negotiation with the ayatollahs' regime.In the midst of a global energy crisis, Iran announced its intention to negotiate a peace treaty on Monday, shortly before the opening of US markets. Losses on the stock exchanges were quickly stemmed, and Brent crude fell below $100. However, Tehran denied that any talks were underway, leading to the prevailing view that the chances of resolving the conflict diplomatically seem remote. Actors such as China, Pakistan, Turkey, and Egypt are attempting to mediate while preparing for an uncontrolled escalation of the war, as they distrust Washington's intentions. On the ground, in fact, no signs of de-escalation have been seen in recent hours: Israel and the United States have continued bombing sensitive Iranian infrastructure and cities, while Tehran has continued attacking the interests of Tel Aviv, Washington, and their allies in the region, all while maintaining its oil blockade.

Donald Trump's ultimatums are being blown away by the wind, swept off their feet by reality. After having the world on tenterhooks since Saturday gave Tehran a 48-hour deadline To reopen the passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, under the threat of bombing its power plants and nuclear facilities, the US president has backtracked via social media. In a message to Truth Social this Monday, he asserted that after two days of "very good and productive" talks with Iran, he ordered the military to postpone any attacks against Iranian energy infrastructure for at least five days, that is, until Friday. These days will be used to continue negotiations. Speaking to reporters as he left Palm Beach for an event in Memphis, Trump added that his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff are leading the talks with Iran and that the ayatollahs have agreed not to develop a nuclear weapon. According to the tycoon, the negotiations will continue, as the Kushner-Witkoff team is speaking with a "very important" person in Tehran, but he did not reveal who it is. Trump has indeed said he is not the new supreme leader. Iran took minutes to celebrate Trump's decision as a setback, and Iranian state agencies denied that the regime is negotiating anything with Washington.

Oleksandra Matvitxuk (Kiv, 1983) is a Ukrainian lawyer and one of the most prominent voices in the defense of human rights in Eastern Europe. She leads the Center for Civil Liberties, a key organization in documenting war crimes committed by Russia. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, she has become an international figure in the fight against impunity. She visited Barcelona at the invitation of CIDOB.

The world depends on oil supplies from the Middle East, and now all eyes are on how The US and Israeli war against Iran drives up the price of Brent crude. and anticipates a global energy crisis. But there is another critical resource for sustaining life, very scarce in the region and infinitely more vulnerable: water. The countries of this desert region have responded to the lack of water by building desalination plants that make seawater drinkable. But this technological marvel has also become a strategic vulnerability: in these three weeks of war, there have already been attacks against these plants or very close to them. If they become targets, the impact would be devastating, since there are no alternative sources of supply.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spent more than thirty years of his political career warning that Iran was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. A master of political communication, Netanyahu had used every trick in the book to stage this: on more than one occasion, he displayed a poster with a drawing of a huge bomb during his speeches before the UN General Assembly, or he exhibited a shelf full of files and CDs that supposedly contained secret material about the nuclear program. But after the Twelve-Day War last June, both Israel and the United States had asserted that the Iranian nuclear program had been "totally destroyed," and there is no evidence that it has been reactivated. So why has Netanyahu decided to launch the war right now?

Iran has appointed Mujtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader, just over a week after the assassination of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in US-Israeli attacks that have plunged the entire region into a far-reaching war. Khamenei, who will now have to lead the Islamic Republic through the biggest crisis in its 47-year history, was named his father's successor by the assembly of clerics on Sunday.

Gisèle Pelicot (Willingen, 1953) made a courageous decision. She insisted that the trial against her husband and the 50 other men who raped her be held in open court. For 10 years, she had been raped in her home after Mr. Pelicot systematically subjected her to a cocktail of drugs. Her body suffered the consequences of the rapes, and her brain the effects of the sleeping pills. She remembered nothing, but he had recorded everything on video, which became the key evidence in the trial. Her case made headlines around the world and gave rise to a new feminist slogan: "Shame must change sides." Her courageous decision led to changes in the French Penal Code, placing consent at the center of the issue. She is the living embodiment of the resilience and strength of a woman who knows she has survived horror. And she refuses to bow her head, for herself or for others. But she doesn't like to consider herself an icon, but rather someone who awakens consciences. She has visited Barcelona for to present his autobiography entitled A hymn in life (Now Books).