{"id":4739,"date":"2026-08-02T05:41:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T05:41:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4739"},"modified":"2026-08-02T05:41:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T05:41:40","slug":"welcome-to-the-mega-war-mideast-and-european-conflicts-merge-sucking-in-more-countries-along-the-way-even-ones-claiming-neutrality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4739","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the mega-war: Mideast and European conflicts merge, sucking in more countries along the way\u2014even ones claiming neutrality"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>Last weekend, Ukraine announced that it\u00a0attacked an Iranian cargo ship ferrying military supplies between Iran and Russia in the Caspian\u00a0Sea.\u00a0Iran insisted it\u2019s not involved in Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine, though Kyiv has said Tehran is supplying drones to its ally.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4737\">Trump vows to restore his \u2018Anti-Weaponization Fund\u2019 a day after declaring it dead, while Tillis slams it as a \u2018payout pot for punks\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Days later,\u00a0drones hit liquid natural gas tankers at a port on\u00a0Egypt\u2019s Mediterranean coast, marking the first time the country had been targeted during the Iran war and threatening the Suez Canal\u2019s status as a safe route to get oil out of the Red Sea. <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia said it formed a military coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea as Iran-backed Houthi rebels attack ships using the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which the kingdom has relied on to export its oil and bypass the Strait of Hormuz. <\/p>\n<p>Riyadh said 14 countries offered support for the coalition, including Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan, Nigeria and several other Arab and African nations.<\/p>\n<p>Dan Alamariu, chief geopolitical strategist at Alpine Macro, pointed out in a note on Friday that Iran and its allies have struck or threatened nearly every country in the region since the war began in February. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEgypt was the largest one still untouched, and it had worked to stay that way, keeping open relations with both Washington and Tehran,\u201d he added. \u201cNeutrality did not exempt it.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Mediterranean attack, which Egypt attributed to Iran, may impact European gas prices, shipping rates, and insurance costs, according to Alamariu.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s as Iran demanded European countries hold Ukraine accountable for its attack on the ship in the Caspian Sea.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cThe Iran and Ukraine wars may be connecting,\u201d he warned.\u00a0\u201cA Ukrainian strike in the Caspian Sea was followed within days by burning gas ships on the Mediterranean. It may not be coincidental, there is a tail risk of some convergence between the two conflicts.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Hamidreza Azizi, an Iran expert at the think tank SWP Berlin, also saw potential crosscurrents while laying out different interpretations of Ukraine\u2019s strike on the Iranian ship.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>One is that Ukraine wants to demonstrate its value as a partner to the U.S., he\u00a0explained on X last week. Another view is that Israel and the U.S. asked Ukraine to pressure Iran on their behalf amid concerns that any attacks they make on Iranian infrastructure would trigger retaliation against regional economic assets.<\/p>\n<p>A third interpretation is that Ukraine\u2019s attack was in response to Houthi rebels threatening ships in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4735\">SpaceAI could be Southeast Asia\u2019s edge against El Ni\u00f1o\u2014if governments actually use it<\/a><\/p>\n<p>And according to the\u00a0<em>Financial Times<\/em>, Ukraine\u2019s strike prompted speculation in Tehran that it was meant as a warning to demonstrate Iran\u2019s Caspian coast is at risk and could be leveraged in talks with the U.S.<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine is already a player in the Middle East,\u00a0signing a security agreement with Saudi Arabia\u00a0in March to provide the kingdom with expertise Kyiv has developed in defending against Iranian-designed drones supplied to Russia. President Volodymyr Zelensky also made visits to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to reach similar agreements<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper, who served in the first Trump administration, argued that the Iran war ought to be internationalized to include America\u2019s allies in Asia and Europe as well as countries the border Iran, like Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have to globalize this conflict because it\u2019s affecting international commerce,\u201d he told Bloomberg TV on Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019re taking this on too much of ourselves, or to a lesser extent with Israel. So i think it\u2019s time to globalize it and then think about again our broader set of sanctions, blockading the entire country, squeezing them economically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For its part, Russia is also looking to expand the map. In recent weeks, it has launching drones at Romania while a Russian missile landed in Poland, violating NATO airspace.<\/p>\n<p>Russian drones have also crossed into Poland previously, but the latest incident was the first known case involving a Russian missile.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Center for European Policy Analysis said on Friday that the incursions signal that Russia\u2019s \u201cshadow war\u201d against NATO, which has been backing Ukraine, is moving southward.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s after NATO allies in northern and central Europe saw so-called hybrid war attacks last year, such as the cutting of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea and drone-induced airport closures. <\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Energy expert Daniel Yergin, S&amp;P Global vice chairman, told CNBC on Friday that the Iran war is expanding geographically and geopolitically.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThink about all the seas\u2014the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Caspian Sea\u2014these have all become arenas for oil war,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=4733\">Exxon, Chevron warn fuel prices to endure as war knocks refining<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The Iran and Ukraine wars may be connecting.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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