In recent weeks, the crossed declarations of the North American and Iranian governments regarding the Strait of Hormuz, in addition to those expanded by Israel or Saudi Arabia, have been incessant and, in general, little or not at all reliable. Rather not at all: Trump says one thing, Tehran the contrary, and then the Pakistani mediators contradict both statements at the same time. Meanwhile, however, stock market fluctuations on a global scale have been dizzying (speculators love this environmental noise). Now they say they have reached an agreement; we'll see. The information that reaches us from that corner of the world is usually uncertain: we always see the Middle East as blurry, even when relative peace reigns there.A thousand years ago it was also like this, but for other reasons. During the late Middle Ages, pilgrims, merchants, or crusaders returning from Jerusalem carried under their arms accounts in which factual information (little) was mixed with myths, exaggerations, and pure religious and political propaganda (a lot). The East was always an imprecise, distant, symbolic space: a more theological than geopolitical setting. The chronicles showed a world perceived through a capricious, changing veil. Sometimes the figure of a perfidious infidel emerged, who the next day, all of a sudden, was transfigured into an exotic, fascinating being laden with treasures. It could be threatening or attractive, as convenient.The paradox is that today, in the midst of the mega-information age, uncertainty persists and may even become more pronounced. Contradictory statements, comically divergent versions from each regional actor, the great information war between blocs: here is intense noise that never subsides. In fact, our excess of information does not attenuate uncertainty, but rather multiplies it, because what centuries ago was a lack of data, now is an excess of data without hierarchy. Fundamentally, the Middle East continues to be for Europe a space where information is—let's say—structurally suspect. It is not that we know little despite knowing a lot, but rather that we know too many incompatible things, contradictory things, and always multi-filtered things. A thousand years ago, the East was a mythical space, a symbolic territory, not a delimited and mapped region. Chronicles described a world populated by strange people and indescribable wonders where geography was always imprecise and elastic, and events were often interpreted as providential signs. In the 21st century, the situation has reversed without improving: the information deficit has been replaced by a worrying surplus. The flashy statements from Washington, Tehran, Jerusalem, Ankara, or Riyadh arrive in real-time, but each is part of a communication strategy that relegates veracity to a third or fourth place. Furthermore, social networks multiply these apocryphal versions and create ephemeral mirages in one direction or another. Perhaps right now, June 15, 2026, we are witnessing one.

Supermarkets are claiming their role in containing food prices in the face of increased costs stemming from the Middle East crisis. In a scenario marked by rising fuel, raw materials, fertilizers, and agricultural products, the Spanish Association of Distributors, Self-Services, and Supermarkets (Asedas) boasts: "Despite everything, there is no evidence that any food product has become more expensive due to the Middle East crisis," the organization assures in a statement released this Friday.

The motivations that could support a negotiation between the United States, Israel, and Iran are blocked by a profoundly asymmetric structural dynamic: Israel acts out of existential hatred towards Iran, while the United States lacks strategic vision and allows itself to be dragged along by its ally without defining its own objectives. Instead of the international community creating frameworks that incentivize negotiation, Washington ends up legitimizing Israeli military objectives without having made them its own, ceding its autonomy to Tel Aviv's emotional urgency. The need for security is subordinated to the Israeli logic of eliminating the adversary. The United States, without an articulated doctrine, does not lead but accompanies, becoming complicit in an escalation whose consequences it has not rigorously calculated. This absence of a possible area of agreement is in itself an indicator that neither side has made the necessary mental transition from the logic of military victory to the logic of political compromise.

At the end of April, the runway of results obtained by companies in the first quarter of the year begins, that is, between January and March. This also includes the so-called crown jewels; those companies that are part of the Ibex-35. Again, this 2026's presentations have been marked by the international context: "This is already the sixth or seventh [energy] crisis I have experienced," stated Iberdrola's president, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, to analysts this week, explaining how they achieved a profit of 1,865 million euros in the first three months of the year (11% more). Two companies in the sector have also fared well: Naturgy and Repsol –Endesa presents results in May–. The first has earned 530 million euros up to March and the second 929 million. In the case of the oil company, this represents 154% more.

The war in the Middle East and the new world disorder driven from the White House by Donald Trump has losers. The biggest losers are the populations suffering bombardments and embargoes and blockades. But there are also those who win. And by a lot. Some are those who play on event prediction platforms, as is the case with Polymarket. And also those who bet on markets based on the unpredictable statements of the US President, Donald Trump. More than one has fattened their portfolio with these plays with a certain aroma of insider information.

The international political climate has once again become tense in recent hours after the United States rejected the peace proposal presented by Iran. The decision has provoked an immediate reaction from Tehran and has increased fears that the ceasefire may collapse. From the Iranian military leadership, the tone has been forceful. A senior Iranian military official, Brigadier General Mohammad Jafar Asadi, has warned the Iranian agency Fars that it is “probable” that the conflict with the United States and Israel will resume. Asadi assured that Iran is “fully prepared for any new adventure or stupidity by the Americans” and added that “surprise measures are prepared for the enemy”.

Thousands of people participated this midday in the demonstration called by UGT and CCOO in Barcelona for Worker's Day, the central event of the day of protests in Catalonia. The Urban Guard put the participation in the protest at 2,500 people, while the organizers estimated there were between 10,000 and 15,000. Workers have mobilized spurred by international geopolitical instability and the electoral calendar in the State.

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran has temporarily halted the escalation, but it leaves a difficult image to ignore. For days and weeks, and also in various scenarios of the Spanish State's political arena, the war was justified in the name of Iranian women. Their oppression, lack of rights, feminist struggle. All presented as a moral reason to bomb the country.

Against Iran, Trump has not won. Trump, certainly, has not lost either. The same could be said of the ayatollahs' regime, which has seen its leadership decapitated, but has responded by extending the conflict throughout the Middle East, especially to the crucial energy enclave of the Strait of Hormuz. The fairest verdict would be a draw, a tie, but a tie from which almost everyone for now – with the sole direct exception of Israel and indirect exception of Russia – has emerged worse off: the United States has not achieved the much-proclaimed change of regime in Tehran, Asia has suffered a very serious energy shortage, a hesitant Europe this time has remained on the sidelines of the calls to action from its American friend while seeing Ukraine's position weakened against Moscow, the Arab monarchies of the Gulf have lost their tourist-financial glamour and, of course, Iran has suffered a very severe attack on its political system and infrastructure.

The live conversation with the head of International at el ARA and special envoy to Dubai, Francesc Millan, is postponed due to current events. We will announce a new date.

The Spanish government anticipates "resilience" in tourist activity in the face of the conflict in the Middle East. And it not only clings to the estimates for this Easter week, which are "fantastic" in the words of the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu, but also to an "ability to adapt and resist" of a sector that in recent years has overcome crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. "The situation is completely different [to that of the coronavirus]. It cannot be compared," Hereu said at a press conference this Tuesday, after the cabinet meeting. The minister, who appeared precisely to explain the current pulse of tourism and the forecasts for this Easter week, acknowledged that there is concern about the impact of the conflict, but linked it to "secondary effects" that will depend on how long the war drags on. "We are analyzing with the sector [the current situation] and what might happen if the conflict lasts not weeks, but months," he said. For example, if this scenario leads to an even more severe price crisis.

The war in Iran threatens to cause an economic meltdown even worse than that resulting from the 1973 oil crisis. This was the warning issued Monday by Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA). Almost a month after the first US and Israeli attacks on Iran, we review the key events of a war that has already put the global economy on alert and could have significant geopolitical consequences.

The association dedicated to promoting internationalized industry, Amec, asserted on Monday that the war in the Middle East is a "temporary" problem and that 30 percent of its 500 members have considered revising their 2026 forecasts downward. Amec's CEO, Joan Tristany, argued that "the structural conflict is Chinese competition," and that due to the tariffs imposed by the United States government, Chinese products are "everywhere." In fact, in 2025, despite Donald Trump's tariff war, Amec members' exports increased by 5.54%, a growth that Tristan considers "surprising and extraordinary" given the international geopolitical landscape. However, according to the report prepared by the association and published on Monday, companies have grown during 2025, although the "playing field is shifting," as Tristan explained during the presentation. However, he points out that, looking ahead to this year, companies are working with "ambition and caution."

As the hours pass, more details are emerging about the measures the Spanish government is considering to address the energy crisis stemming from the war in the Middle East. While on Thursday, Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo hinted at specific aid for the sectors hardest hit by rising fuel prices—agriculture and road transport, among others—on Friday, the Minister for Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, raised the possibility of reducing the government's VAT rate in 2021, when energy prices skyrocketed. "Yes, we are also considering this measure," Aagesen told the media on Friday morning. In 2025, the VAT on electricity returned to 21%, ending the tax reductions of recent years.

The United States, in the midst of its war with Iran, is running short on air defense systems. This is demonstrated by this week's announcement to relocate these systems from South Korea to the Middle East. Seoul's conservative government has protested the decision, which exposes it to an attack from North Korea and raises serious questions about Donald Trump's commitment to his long-standing ally. Specifically, the Pentagon is moving the two most advanced types of air defense systems in the world: the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile system and the Patriot missile batteries. The Pentagon has seven THAAD systems, two of them in Asia: one on the island of Guam in the Western Pacific, serving as a deterrent against China, and the one previously located in South Korea, to prevent a North Korean attack. The remaining systems are currently distributed among five air defense regiments, one of them in Israel.

Wonderful news has reached us from the Middle East. Twenty camels have been disqualified from a beauty contest, the 2026 Camel Beauty Festival, held in Muscat, the capital of Oman. The animals, who were probably participating unwittingly, and whose gender is unknown, had been "touched up" with Botox to make them more attractive.

"Trump's best foreign policy? Not starting wars. JD Vance The Wall Street Journal (March 2, 2023)

Today we're talking about the Iran-Iraq War, but more and more countries are becoming involved, more civilians are falling victim, and more places on the world map have been marked by acts of war, making the conflict less regional and more global. And it's all likely to get worse, because Russia and China have, for the moment, remained in the declaration phase.

The day after Pedro Sánchez's "No to war"The Spanish government has announced it will send military support to Cyprus and is becoming involved for the first time in the Iran-Iraq War. Spain's participation will be strictly defensive, aimed at protecting a European Union member state. Furthermore, it will collaborate jointly with other European partners, such as Italy and the Netherlands. This aid will be in addition to that already sent this week by France, Greece, and the United Kingdom. Specifically, the Spanish government will send a warship. Christopher Columbus, which will accompany the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and other ships of the Greek Navy. The frigate joined the Naval Group on March 3 to perform escort, protection, and advanced training duties in the Baltic Sea. Now, the group will head towards the Eastern Mediterranean to reach the coast of Crete around March 10. In addition to the Christopher ColumbusThe supply ship will also briefly put to sea. Cantabriato supply fuel and provide logistical support during the Naval Group's transit through the Gulf of Cádiz.

The US-Israeli coalition's attack on Iran and the assassination of the supreme leader of the religious regime has shaken the region and unleashed a war in the Middle East. Israel has deployed additional brigades in southern Lebanon, while the Shiite militia Hezbollah has responded with rockets and drones against northern Israel. Furthermore, the airstrikes have also hit dozens of targets in Iran and Lebanon, resulting in hundreds of casualties since the start of the offensive.