Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and the meeting looming over Middle East war
By Laura Tingle
The US president said last month that his planned visit to China on March 31 would be "a wild one". A lot has changed since that confident declaration and most of it has weakened his position.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-18/trump-xi-meeting-looming-large-over-middle-east-war/106465096
'It's incredible how humans adapt': In UAE, war brings a new normal
By Laura Tingle
Amid Iran's missile and drone attacks, a weird sense of normality in Dubai and Abu Dhabi sits awkwardly with the news coverage of burning buildings and reports of strikes on airports.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-17/in-uae-iran-attacks-bring-a-new-normal/106461914
'Almost unhinged': UAE minister tells ABC 'Iran attacks were surprise'
By Laura Tingle
Iran's actions in attacking neighbouring countries were unprecedented, "almost unhinged" and irrational, according to a senior United Arab Emirates minister.
What you need to know about Iran today, with Laura Tingle
By Laura Tingle
The ABC's global affairs editor, Laura Tingle, is in Dubai and will provide daily updates on the Middle East war.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-13/iran-israel-war-daily-news-briefing-laura-tingle/106446802
This war increasingly feels like a contest between an "all hardware/no strategy" #UnitedStates and a "less hardware/lots of strategy" Iran, at least as far as the war of words is concerned.
The United States continues to talk a big game in terms of how many things it has destroyed in Iran, and is clearly regarded as having the far superior "kinetic" power. But what it doesn't seem to have destroyed yet is Iran's will to fight or its capacity to continue striking at targets in #Israel and the wider Gulf region.
If anything, Iran seems to have become even more aggressive in the past couple of days and in the wake of the election of its new Supreme Leader #MojtabaKhamenei.
It has been demonstrating that it doesn't actually have to fire lots of missiles — or even hit targets — to cause massive disruption to the #global-economy and to Donald #Trump's narrative about how the US is completely winning the war.
It sent missiles or drones in the direction of several regional airports on Wednesday, notably #Dubai's massive international airport. While it was only debris that landed in Dubai, and luckily only four people were injured, it caused more disruption and is part of a pattern of ongoing attacks that have resulted in airlines increasingly cancelling their services to the regional hub and to other regional destinations.
Iran's threat to banks and the regional offices of big US tech companies hasn't even required a missile or drone strike to have banks close their branches or businesses in financial and tech districts to quietly warn their staff to stay away.
Iran has closed the #StraitofHormuz, and seen production of oil and gas reduced in #Gulfstates, mostly by the threat of strikes: insurers won't insure ships, and shipping companies won't move their vessels through the strait even if Iran isn't shelling them (though it struck three yesterday).
In a particular humiliation for the US and Gulf countries, the #WallStreet Journal reports that "Iran is exporting more oil through the Strait of Hormuz than before the war, showing it is in control of a strategic waterway that it has closed off to the rest of the region's oil producers".
"As Gulf Arab oil producers from #SaudiArabia to #Iraq cut production and scramble for new routes that bypass the strait, Iran is conducting business as usual, according to data from tanker-tracking firm Kpler, throwing a financial lifeline to Tehran as it comes under blistering attack from the US and Israel," the newspaper says.
#auspol #uspol #EpsteinWar #TrumpRegime #Iran #LauraTingle
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-12/iran-israel-war-daily-news-briefing-laura-tingle/106443288
What you need to know about #Iran today, with #LauraTingle
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-06/iran-israel-war-news-today-laura-tingle/106419930
#LauraTingle stuck in #Dubai.
Here in Dubai, you can hear the odd "bang" when one of the incoming projectiles is destroyed in the sky. But over the past couple of days, there have been only 1 or 2 plumes of smoke seen here & there.
The nagging concern here in Dubai is whether there are sufficient supplies of these air defence missiles & systems to maintain that level of defence if Iran continues its relentless campaign. Things could get pretty nasty. #auspol
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-04/iran-us-israel-what-you-need-to-know-laura-tingle/106410846
I am incredibly disappointed that it's taken THIS LONG for #LauraTingle to understand this. Surely not? Surely she has known this the entire time and just hasn't written about it?
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-08-23/vladimir-putin-donald-trump-ukraine-russia-alaska/105667108
ABC Feeds
Electric Trike
Whiskers 🇦🇺
John 
Vibewire Magazine
kaffando