While American diplomats in Turtle Bay were busy over the last few days finding acceptable ways to use the United Nations to pressure Israel into handing Hamas a victory, a major terrorist attack took place just outside Moscow, leaving over 130 dead and roughly the same number wounded. Islamic State (IS), which claimed responsibility, appears to have carried out the attack. Ahmed Charai comments:

IS has risen from the dead. Consider the “Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community,” made public on February 5 by the director of national intelligence. According to this report, IS remains a centrally controlled organization with global reach, even after missile and drone strikes have depleted its leadership ranks and it has been forced to rely on local affiliates to launch attacks.

Even in its weakened state, it is determined to kill civilians in Russia and in NATO countries. The U.S. report pointed to IS-Khorasan as a terror group seeking to increase its attacks against foreign interests in Afghanistan as a way of testing the Taliban’s hold on that contested land. Next, [this group] will attack American and Western interests beyond Afghanistan.

Jihadist terrorism remains a top threat. . . . To date, the West has done too little to subdue it. The repeated beheadings of IS and al-Qaeda leadership by drone strikes has not shattered these groups, which countered by dispersing their forces. IS has reduced its footprint in Iraq and Syria, but its subsidiaries in the Saharan borderlands and across Asia still kill and maim innocents.

For more than a year, the Iran-backed Houthis have been launching drones and missiles at ships traversing the Red Sea, as well as at Israeli territory, in support of Hamas. This development has drastically curtailed shipping through the Suez Canal and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, driving up trade prices. This week, the Trump administration began an extensive bombing campaign against the Houthis in an effort to reopen that crucial waterway. Burcu Ozcelik highlights another benefit of this action:

The administration has a broader geopolitical agenda—one that includes countering China’s economic leverage, particularly Beijing’s reliance on Iranian oil. By targeting the Houthis, the United States is not only safeguarding vital shipping lanes but also exerting pressure on the Iran-China energy nexus, a key component of Beijing’s strategic posture in the region.

China was the primary destination for up to 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports in 2024, underscoring the deepening economic ties between Beijing and Tehran despite U.S. sanctions. By helping fill Iranian coffers, China aids Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in financing proxies like the Houthis. Since October of last year, notable U.S. Treasury announcements have revealed covert links between China and the Houthis.

Striking the Houthis could trigger broader repercussions—not least by disrupting the flow of Iranian oil to China. While difficult to confirm, it is conceivable and has been reported, that the Houthis may have received financial or other forms of compensation from China (such as Chinese-made military components) in exchange for allowing freedom of passage for China-affiliated vessels in the Red Sea.