BRAZIL PERSPECTIVE
THIRD WAVE OF US STRIKES ON IRAN AS GULF STATES ARE HIT
DOMINANT ANGLE
Brasília is already weighing the economic bill of an escalation in the Gulf that it can neither stop nor ignore, between a surge in oil prices and a threat to agricultural fertilizers.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
ANALYSIS
Brasília, July 13, 2026. Brazil's government is closely monitoring the escalating situation in the Persian Gulf, where US forces carried out a third wave of strikes in three nights, targeting around 140 Iranian military targets, according to Centcom, bringing the total to over 300 destroyed targets. Brazil's capital is concerned about the impact of the conflict on the country's economy. The Brazilian Ministry of Defense has been following the developments, and the Brazilian people are worried about the consequences of the conflict on the global economy. In retaliation, Tehran has struck the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar - where three people, including a child, were injured by shrapnel -, Jordan, and Oman, closing the Strait of Hormuz again after targeting a Cypriot tanker, the M/V GFS Galaxy, with one sailor still missing.
For the Brazilian economic press, the urgency goes beyond the military theater. An opinion piece in Estadão highlights that the volatility of the conflict will affect energy, fertilizers, petrochemicals, aluminum, and helium, inputs that Brazil, a major importer of fertilizers for its agribusiness, directly depends on. The article points to the ambivalence of the actors - with different factions in Tehran and Washington torn between liberating Hormuz and withdrawing troops - as the cause of a conflict with an "erratic course" for the coming months, with the US elections on November 3 in the background.
Maritime traffic in Hormuz has collapsed: only two ships were circulating on Sunday, compared to 140 before the war started in February. Meanwhile, the son of Iran's former supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has stated that avenging his father's death is a "requirement of the nation". A 60-day provisional agreement to permanently end the conflict is approaching its midpoint, but its future appears compromised as bombings multiply on both sides.
KEY POINTS
- Brazil's government is closely monitoring the situation as the US Central Command claims to have struck around 140 Iranian military targets on Saturday, bringing the total to over 300 in three nights of operations
- The Iranian response targeted the Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar (with 3 injured, including a child), Jordan, and Oman, resulting in the closure of the Strait of Hormuz
- Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has decreased from 140 vessels per day pre-conflict to just two on Sunday, according to consulting firm Kpler
COGNITIVE BIASES IDENTIFIED
Brazil's economic framing is focused on the impact of energy and fertilizer prices, rather than regional military dynamics
Brazilian government prefers official US sources, such as Centcom and Hegseth, and Iranian state sources, with few voices from targeted Gulf countries
There is limited coverage of official Latin American or Brazilian diplomatic positions on the conflict
SOURCES (2)
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