This Week In Geopolitics - 17th May 2026

News From Around The World In The Past Week

Africa

• Nigerian Strike Kills 100

• Somalia Currency Crisis Worsens

• Somali Pirates Demand $10M Ransom For Oil Tanker

Asia

• BRICS Summit Can’t Agree On Joint Summit Regarding Iran War

• British BP Develops 6 Oil and Gas Blocks In Uzbekistan

• China Confirms Boeing Deal, Agrees To Cut Select Levies and Expand Agriculture Trade

• China’s Sulphuric Acid Export Ban

• China Supports No Toll For Iran In Strait of Hormuz

• Gunfire In The Filippino Senate As Former Drug Lord Evades International Arrest Warrant

• India Doubles Gold and Silver Tariffs To Defend Rupee

• India Raises Fuel Prices For First Time In Four Years

• Indian Ship Sunk Near Oman

• India Rejects Russian LNG Under Sanctions

• India’s Trade Deficit Rises As Energy Import Prices Soar

• Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi Landed In New Delhi For BRICS Foreign Ministers Meeting

• Japan’s Rearming Pursuit

• Japan’s Refinery Use Hits 73%

• Jensen Huang Joins Trip To Beijing On Air Force One, Along With Other Tech Leaders

• Kim Jong Un Deadman Switch

• Modi Urges Indians To Conserve Fuel

• Pakistan: Qatar and Turkey Could Join Mutual-Defence Pact With Saudi Arabia

• Pakistan Rejects Reports It Hid Iranian Military Planes From U.S. Attack

• Samsung and South Korean Union To Resume Talks

• Samsung Workers Announce Strike

• Trump Lands In China

• Trump Ready To Discuss Most of “China’s Core Interests” In Xi Summit

• Trump Says He Doesn’t Need Xi’s Help On Iran

• Xi To Visit United States Later This Year

Europe

• Alex Davies-Jones Becomes Third Minister To Resign From Starmer Government, Followed By Zubir Ahmed

• Angela Raynor Cleared By HMRC For Tax Affairs

• ASP Isotopes Subsidiary Signs MOU With European Nuclear Tech Compant For Fuel Supply

• Europe Pursuing Alternative To Starlink, With First Non-EU Nations Joining

• EU Prepares For Potential Talks With Putin As U.S. Reduces Troops On Continent

• France Jordan Bardella Hit With Fraud Probe

• King’s Speech Lays Out UK Government Agenda

• Labour MP Josh Simons To Step Down To Allow Burnham To Run For By-Election

• Lavrov: U.S. Wants To Restore Nord Stream and Purchase From Europeans At Steep Discount

• Leaked Russian Intel Details Plans To Attack Ukrainian Decision Centres

• Macron: France’s Fate “Tied To The African Continent”

• Merz Promises To Talk To Fico About Slovak Leader’s Moscow Trip

• Nigel Farage Bought £1.4M Property After £5M Gift From Crypto Billionaire

• One of Russia’s Largest Fuel Facilities Spews “Black Rain” Over Ryazan After Ukrainian Drone Strike That Killed Four

• Russia Issues Ben Wallace With Arrest Warrant

• Russia Sends Over 1500 Missiles and Drones At Ukraine In 48 Hours

• Russian Think Tank: Trump Endgame In Iran Is To Achieve Market Monopoly In Logistics and Energy

• Russia Tests SATAN II Missile

• Scottish Man Jailed In Ukraine For Spying For Russia

• Starmer Under Pressure Despite Over 100 MPs Signing Letter of Support

• Turkey Proposes $1.2B Fuel Pipeline For NATO’s Eastern Flank

• UK and France Chair 44-Nation Meeting About Framework To Provide Security For Strait of Hormuz

• UK Economy Grows Surprising 0.3% During First Month of Iran War

• UK Election Results Explained

• UK Energy Secretary Vows Permanent Shutdown of North Sea

• Ukraine and the United States Draft Defence Deal

• UK’s New Naval Initiative Aims To Contain Russia In The Arctic and Baltic

• Wes Streeting Resigns From Starmer Cabinet, Pushing For Leadership Contest

• Zelenskyy: 20 Countries Seek Ukraine Drone Deals

• Zelenskyy’s Former Right-Hand Man Yermak Arrested In Money Laundering Scheme

Middle East

• Aramco CEO Says Energy Market May Not Normalise Until 2027

• Bahrain Arresting Dozens Over Alleged IRGC Links

• Chinese Supertanker Sails Out of Hormuz

• Hezbollah Drone Strike Wounds Three

• Houthis Fire Drones Towards Eliat On Tuesday

• Huckabee Confirms Israel Sent Iron Dome and Troops To UAE During Iran War

• Iran Allows Safe, Toll-Free Passage For 30 Chinese Tankers

• Iran Deploys Mini Subs In Hormuz

• Iran Floats Data Tax On Hormuz Undersea Internet Cables

• Iran Has “No Trust” In United States, and Insists There Is “No Military Solution”

• Iran’s Internet Blackout Hits 75 Days

• Iran’s Kharg Island Remains Inactive According To Satellite Imagery

• Iran Seizes Vessel Off UAE Coast

• Iran Specifies 5 Demands To Restart Peace Talks

• Iraq and Pakistan Sign Deals With Iran For LNG

• Israel Hits Beirut Highway With Airstrikes

• Israeli Bulldozers Destroy Close To 50 Palestinian Shops Ahead of Settlement-Linked Road

• IRGC Allegedly Tried To Infiltrate Kuwait, With Iran Responding That Kuwait Attacked and Detained Iranian Citizens

• Jandar Power Station In Homs Returns To Full Capacity For First Time In A Decade

• Khamenei Orders Iran Army To Continue Decisive Operations

• Netanyahu: Iran War Will Continue Until Uranium Is Physically Removed

• Netanyahu Met Mohammed Bin Zayed In Secret UAE Trip During Height of Iran War

• Netanyahu Wants To End Annual U.S. Military Support For Israel

• New Idlib Free Zone Planned For Syria, Along With $20B of UAE Investments and Energy Developments

• New York Times: 90% of Iran’s Missile Sites Remain

• Qatar Asks Vessels At Key LNG Port To Go Dark For Safety

• Saudi Arabia Floats Non-Aggression Pact With Iran

• Saudi Arabia Secretly Launched Attacks Against Iran At Height of Epic Fury

• Secret Israeli Base In Iraqi Desert Supported Operations Inside Iran

• Trump Congratulates Incoming Iraqi Leader, Who Moves To Disarm Pro-Iran Militias

• Trump Weighs Further Iran Military Action After Monday Meeting With Generals

• Trump Says Iran’s Counterproposal To End The War Was “Garbage”

• UAE Hit Iran’s Lavan Island Refinery In Early April

• UAE To Double Export Capacity By Bypassing Hormuz Chaos

• Visa and Mastercard Rollout Begins In Syria

North America

• $170B Needed To Secure Full Domestic Nuclear Fuel Supply Chain In The United States

• AI and Semiconductors Keeping U.S. Stockmarket Alive

• Are Bonds Starting To Show Warning Signs?

• Bessent: U.S. and China To Launch AI Safety Talks

• Chinese National Indicted In Florida For Allegedly Importing New Opioid

• CIA and Mexico Criticise CNN For Reporting U.S. Involvement In Cartel Bombings

• CIA Director Travels To Cuba

• Cuba Depletes Fuel Stockpiles

• Energy Secretary Open To Suspending U.S. Gas Tax

• Federal Government Withholds $1.3B In Medicaid Reimbursements

• Hegseth Hosts South Korean Minister of National Defence At The Pentagon

• Hegseth Pulls 4000-Troop Deployment From Poland

• Kevin Warsh Cleared By Senate For 14-Year Fed Board Seat

• Mamdani Abandons Property Tax Hike

• South Carolina Blocks Redistricting

• Supreme Court Rejects Democrats’ Attempts To Revive Virginia Congressional Map

• Trump Accuses Media of Treason

• U.S. Fuel Inventories In Freefall

• U.S. To Develop SMRs For Commercial Shipping

• U.S. Wheat Crop Forecast To Hit 50-Year Low

South America

• Trump Floats Making Venezuela The 51st State

Other

• Anduril Secures $5B At $61B Valuation For Drone Production

• Cameco Sees As Many As 20 AP1000 Nuclear Reactors In Next Few Years

• Nuclear Buildout Accelerates With Goldman Including SMRs In Forecast

• Panamax Index Continues Sharp Rise

• SpaceX and Google Eye Orbital Data Centres

• SpaceX Reportedly Choosing Nasdaq For IPO

• UN Leadership Race

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