The War at the Gate

On 28 February 2026, roughly nine hundred airstrikes in twelve hours ended decades of shadow conflict and began an open war between Iran, Israel and the United States. Within days a stretch of water narrower than most commutes had closed, and the cost was arriving in kitchens and petrol stations on six continents.

This is the story of the first five months, assembled in order, with every source named in the sentence rather than hidden in a footnote.

You will find the opening strikes and the killing of a supreme leader; the eight days that produced his successor; Iran's retaliation against six Gulf states at once; the Pakistani mediation that produced two agreements and watched both collapse; the naval blockade; the second front in Lebanon; the Houthi threat at the far end of the Red Sea; and the nuclear question that started it all and is now less answerable than it was before the bombing.

It is written for readers who have followed the headlines and want the pieces put together - clearly, calmly, and without being told what to think. Where governments disagree, both accounts appear. Where casualty figures conflict, the ranges are given with the source and the date attached. Where nobody knows, the book says so.

The account closes on 6 August 2026, the week Iran and Oman announced they had agreed the coordinates of a new shipping route while still publicly disputing who was even in the room.

Book One of The Hormuz Files. If you want to understand why fuel costs what it costs, start here.