You may not have noticed this, or if you did, you may not have realised the geopolitical implications.
In a press conference on Thursday, 19 March 2026, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed the construction of oil and gas pipelines across the Arabian Peninsula to Israeli Mediterranean ports as a permanent solution to maritime ‘choke points’.
Netanyahu stated that the world must move beyond reliance on vulnerable maritime routes like the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This is known as Israel’s ‘Land Bridge Vision’.
He called for pipelines to run west across the Arabian Peninsula directly into Israel, which would bypass the Persian Gulf and Red Sea entirely.
He argued that this connectivity corridor would ‘do away with the choke points forever,’ removing Iran’s ability to threaten global energy exports.
Netanyahu suggested that such projects could follow the current war.
So, it appears that a strategic objective of the war is the construction of a new ‘energy connectivity corridor’ that leads to Israeli ports, which will become oil and gas terminuses.
China’s primary interest in the Middle East is the stability of its energy and trade corridors. Israel’s land bridge project, often linked with the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), impacts China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ (‘BRI’) in several ways:
(i) ‘Strategic Competition’ – The land bridge serves as a Western-backed alternative to the BRI’s land and maritime routes. It strengthens US aligned regional architectures, potentially containing Beijing’s influence.
(ii) ‘Logistical Disruption’ – Escalating conflicts related to this vision, i.e. by attacking Iran, threatens China’s established logistical corridors, including the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and access to Central Asian markets.
For Russia, the Israeli vision threatens its role as a regional mediator and its own infrastructure ambitions:
(i) ‘Threat to North-South Corridor’ – Russia has invested heavily in the International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC) to connect its territory to the Persian Gulf. A successful Israeli-led land bridge could render these Russian-backed routes less relevant for global trade.
(ii) ‘Erosion of Regional Influence’ – Russia views the project as part of a broader US led effort to marginalise Moscow’s influence in the Middle East. The potential for regime instability in partner states like Iran (a key node for Russian corridors) is a major concern for the Kremlin.
(iii) ‘Loss of Strategic Leverage’ – Russia’s role as a ‘power broker that can talk to all sides is challenged as regional powers align into more rigid, competing trade blocs.
So, logically, it also appears that powerful business and financial interests stand to make/lose a lot of money, depending upon the outcome of this war.
Look at the chronology for Israel’s ‘Land Bridge Vision’ project:
(i) July 2023 – Israeli Foreign Ministry officials confirmed that construction on the infrastructure for the land bridge had commenced.
(ii) September 2023 – At the G20 Summit, the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) was officially announced, with Israel as a key transit hub.
(iii) December 2023 – The UAE-Israel land corridor was officially established and began delivering cargo from the Persian Gulf to Israeli seaports.
(iv) February 2026 – US/Israel attack Iran, resulting in the gating, i..e effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
See -‘The geopolitics of China’s Belt & Road Initiative and Westward focus’ : https://www.cfg.cam.ac.uk/events/geopolitics-chinas-belt-road-initiative-and-westward-focus/
To listen to the Professor’s reply to my Q. scroll forward to 57 minutes – ‘Potential for strategic convergence – a Geopolitical pivot upon which conflict can be avoided?’
If I have joined-up the dots correctly, then in so far as ‘Regime Change’ was ever a US/Israeli objective, that was not for the benefit of any of the people in Iran – as we are told by politicans and the press. It appears that the objective is the destruction of the state of Iran. See also my blog on the ‘Humanitarian Mediation’ page at www.carlislam.co.uk – ‘Genocide is not Liberation.’ Israel has nuclear weapons and Netanyahu said yesterday that the war would end ‘faster than people think’, i.e. if certain strategic shifts occur. Russia cannot allow Iran to be destroyed, because that would leave a ‘back-door’ open in West Asia through which to destabilise and eventually balkanise the Russian Federation. So, I am wondering whether Russia will declare that Iran is now under its nuclear umbrella, i.e. so that a nuclear attack on Iran will be treated as being a nuclear attack on Russia?
See also: