Iran sanctions and Hormuz tensions defined the week

The week turned the Iran confrontation into a widening economic and maritime crisis, while the United States and Canada moved from tariff bargaining to retaliation. Across other fronts, Russian attacks intensified pressure on Ukraine, and US efforts to reshape security partnerships produced little diplomatic progress.

The pattern was coercion without settlement, as sanctions, tariffs, military pressure and political restrictions expanded faster than negotiations could contain them. That imbalance also sharpened disputes over wartime legitimacy, territorial control and the limits of international accountability.