From my balcony in Dubai, the first thing that I registered was the sound. Not the sharp crack of impact but a low, rhythmic thud rolling across the coastline. Then another. And another. In the half-light, faint streaks cut across the sky above Dubai Marina before blooming into brief flashes.

Many of those thuds, it became clear, were not impacts but interceptions. The UAE’s air-defence systems were engaging, punching holes in incoming Iranian drones and missiles before they could reach their targets. The percussion was, in part, the sound of protection working as designed. Yet even successful interceptions take a toll. Dubai is not accustomed to the acoustics of war.

Following confirmation of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s death, the instinct is to look ahead. But it is difficult to do so while missiles are still in the air and targets extend beyond military facilities to civilian infrastructure. Airports, ports, hotels. Places where people work, holiday and live. This is not abstract geopolitics, it is national infrastructure with civilians inside, forced to calculate shelter routes between supermarket aisles and basement parking lots. 

The UAE has said that Tehran crossed a red line and that the Gulf is reviewing its options. The phrasing is deliberate. For years, Gulf capitals urged de-escalation, arguing that diplomacy was the only route to protect the trillions invested in cities built as global hubs for finance, logistics, tourism and aviation. Safety here is not simply a policy objective, it is a commercial proposition. Stability underpins sovereign wealth, property values and airline schedules. That proposition has been stress-tested before. But rarely so visibly.

Mahdi Jasim Ghuloom, junior fellow in geopolitics at the Observer Research Foundation, described the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader as “the worst-case scenario.” The killing of a figure who was not merely a political authority but a spiritual one has pushed the regime into survival mode. Crucially, he notes that Khamenei was killed alongside other senior figures, disrupting established lines of communication. Even if back channels technically remain and interim leaders dictate the Iranian response, it is unclear who now holds decisive authority in Tehran. That uncertainty makes Iran “very unpredictable and more dangerous.” It also complicates the question that many in the Gulf are pondering: “Does the region feel safer with the Ayatollah gone?”

In the immediate term, the answer appears to be no. The dangers that Gulf cities are now facing are a direct consequence of the assassination. The distant prospect that Iran might eventually produce a more pragmatic leadership is overshadowed by the immediate need to halt attacks causing casualties and disruption.

But there is another uncomfortable truth. The Gulf didn’t choose this fight; it has been drawn into the crossfire, effectively reduced to collateral damage. Gulf states host US bases but did not author the decision to decapitate Iran’s leadership. Yet retaliation rarely distinguishes between the architect and the host. Neutrality offers limited shelter when revenge becomes emotive.

This is also the moment when questions about planning surface. It is not clear that any amount of preparation could fully manage the fallout. But if Washington’s objective extends beyond decapitation to durable stability, then the transition in Tehran – and the reactions across the Gulf – will require more than tactical success.

Strategically, the Gulf faces a narrowing corridor. If Iranian strikes increasingly affect civilian areas, Ghuloom warns that the region might feel it has “no choice but to deter by confronting.” That shift from reluctant collateral to active combatant would further entangle the region in a confrontation that it has long tried to contain.

As night falls, life in Dubai resumes with studied normality. Traffic slowly hums along Sheikh Zayed Road, restaurants remain open and supermarket shelves still carry imported fruit from continents away. Yet the psychological rupture is real. The thuds overhead are reminders that safety, even in cities built as sanctuaries of order, is no guarantee.

Looking ahead is necessary. But for now, the Gulf’s future feels suspended between interception and impact, between red lines and retaliation. Whether this moment marks the beginning of a safer regional order or merely the start of a more volatile chapter will depend not just on what was destroyed but also on what, if anything, is built in its aftermath.

Frank Darling was one of Canada’s greatest and most prolific architects, amassing more than 360 projects across the country, a third of these in Toronto. Practising from the 1870s to the 1920s, he created grand banks, homes for the wealthy and university buildings, many of which still stand. So why do so few people, even in Canada, know about his life and work; how come he lingers in the shadows of architectural history?

Well, three separate office fires meant that many of his records went up in flames (sounds like an archivist with a heavy smoking habit). A dedicated bachelor, there was no immediate family to keep his story alive after his death in 1923. But now he has David Winterton, a senior associate at Era Architects and author of the new book, Toronto Edwardian: Frank Darling, Architect of Canada’s Imperial Age. Also a historian, Winterton is desirous that his years-in-the-making project will set the record straight. “I’m hoping that we can resurrect an architectural hero so that people can identify his buildings and know about the building culture of the period,” he says.

While Darling was successful across several decades as the book’s title suggests, he was at the peak of his powers and influence at the start of the 20th century. It was a time when Canada’s railroads and banking systems were rapidly expanding and a generation of plutocrats was amassing great wealth. These grandees were keen to make evident their successes through architecture. Darling was their man. From a privileged background himself, he understood their ambitions and motivations. “Just look at the University of Toronto,” says Winterton.

“Before Darling got involved, the university was a smattering of Victorian pavilions in a park-like setting,” adds the author. “The plutocrats of Toronto wanted to improve higher education in Ontario, so they got money from the provincial government and tapped Frank Darling to revise the old campus. He designed several new faculty buildings, including the Chemistry and Mining Building, Convocation Hall, a physics laboratory and thermodynamics building. The imprint of Darling on the University of Toronto is still visible and important.”

Yet the deepest pockets belonged to the bankers. In Darling they had found someone who could erect branches not just in the key provincial cities but also in small towns. “He was instrumental in making, reifying, the banking system,” says Winterton. “The architect designed hundreds of banks for five of the six chartered companies in Canada. In many towns, big and small, at important intersections in all these towns, there is a Frank Darling building, or at least there was. For a lot of people in these towns, their first exposure to capital ‘A’ architecture was an Edwardian bank by Darling.” 

And when it came to constructing their main branches in Toronto, Montreal and Winnipeg, their ambitions – and Darling’s designs – seemed to know few limits. Many of his banking halls outshone those in New York and London, the heart of the British Empire (Canada being a dominion at this time). New architectural heights were reached elsewhere too. Darling designed Canada’s first true skyscraper in Winnipeg and then brought the idea back to Toronto where, says Winterton, he developed a row of towers in the city’s business district.

What made Winterton so intrigued by Darling? “Back in the late 1990s when I started my architectural career, I started working for a firm called Era Architects, which at the time was a very small heritage firm. We helped church ladies fix up their steeples, chimneys and things. And now we’re a firm of more than 130 people. But we touched on a lot of the older buildings in Toronto and it became apparent to me that there were many by Darling and Pearson. It was obvious that this firm had had an outsized effect on the architectural production in Toronto and the institutional core of the city. The Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Toronto General Hospital – all these buildings had their first iteration through Frank Darling.”

Despite years of research, it has not been possible to fully bring Darling into the spotlight. Winterton, like others, thinks it likely that he might have been gay. Yet there’s no real proof. “I’m indebted to Bill [William] Dendy, who was a gay architectural historian in Toronto in the 1980s and 1990s, and was one of the first to delve into Darling’s life,” says Winterton. “I think he [Dendy] kind of cocked an eyebrow about bachelorhood. There aren’t any family records. But he was nevertheless embraced by the elite of Toronto and Edwardian culture. He was a member at many of the clubs. He had the trust of the most important people operating in the country. They went to him to design their homes. He thrived, regardless of any kind of internal struggles.”

For Winterton, his book is not only about the past, however. “In Toronto we have the greatest number of heritage, small-scale buildings being used as podiums for condominiums and glass skyscrapers rising behind them. We’re trying to make sense of that. Part of what I want the book to do is develop a conversation about the city’s urban culture and see whether that can lead to a consensus, as well as a more beautiful public realm,” says Winterton. Could wealth and developers align to deliver a new civic architecture fit for today?

Here’s 10 impactful Darling buildings across Canada, chosen by David Winterton

1.
Convocation Hall, University of Toronto 
Convocation Hall from the east: a boldly conceived, radial landmark anchoring the University of Toronto’s main campus.

2.
Bank of Montreal, Toronto
A pivotal commission for Darling & Curry: the sculpture-laden 1885 Bank of Montreal, Toronto main branch, which is now the Hockey Hall of Fame.

3.
Canadian Bank of Commerce, Winnipeg
One of the finest Edwardian banking halls in Canada, featuring an expansive 13.7-metre circular glass laylight. Now the Millennium Centre event venue.

4.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Montreal
Another extraordinary banking hall, on Montreal’s old Bankers’ Row, St James Street. Now the Theatre St James event venue.

5.
Toronto Club, Toronto
The 1889 Italianate-Romanesque Revival palazzo design for the Toronto Club houses the country’s oldest – and still vibrant – members’ club.

6.
Canadian Pacific Building, Toronto
This railway building was Darling and Pearson’s most significant skyscraper design, featuring recognisably Edwardian corner cupolas. It was momentarily the tallest in the British Empire.

7.
Ladywood, Kempenfelt Bay
A unique and charming shingle-style summer retreat, Ladywood’s lake-facing side was peppered with miniature hooded dormers and a deep verandah.

8.
Thermodynamics Building, University of Toronto
Pictured is the sole completed gabled bay of Darling and Pearson’s otherwise unrealised design for the Thermodynamics Building, an engineering research laboratory. A hidden gem on campus.

9.
Osler, Hammond & Nanton Building, Winnipeg
This building (pictured top) from 1906 was but one example of the many handsome and clever commercial designs executed by Darling, Pearson and Over.

10.
Home for Incurables, Toronto
Postcard view of Darling’s first hospital design (1879) sited in Toronto’s west end. A Queen Anne pavilion plan with an evocative central tower to capture and distribute lake breezes.

To hear more from David Winterton, listen to this episode of ‘The Urbanist’.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, founded in 1979, was created in the image of its inaugural Supreme Leader: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the fundamentalist firebreather who encouraged his acolytes to seize the US Embassy in Tehran, offered to underwrite the murder of a British novelist and ordered hundreds of thousands of his country’s young citizens to pointless deaths in a war against Iran’s neighbour, Iraq.

It is arguable, however, that the crucial figure in the history of the Islamic Republic was Khomeini’s successor, the cooler and cleverer Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has been confirmed dead in US-Israeli strikes, aged 86. Iran’s power politics flourished on his watch, at least for a while, taking advantage of the Middle East’s chronic chaos to assert itself as the dominant regional power – albeit one which had no friends or allies, merely clients and vassals.

Ali Khamenei was born in Mashhad on 17 July 1939. He was set on his path early, enrolled in Islamic schools from the age of four. By his early twenties, Khamenei was studying in the Islamic seminary at Qom, one of the most prestigious – and one of the least compromising – centres of learning for up-and-coming Shia clergy. Among Khamenei’s teachers was a charismatic agitator with firm views regarding Iran’s then-leader, the repressive – and US-backed – Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. The name of Khamenei’s early and lifelong mentor was Ruhollah Khomeini.

When the Shah wearied of Khomeini’s fulminating and drove the turbulent priest into exile in 1963, Khamenei remained in Iran. He paid a price for his enduring loyalty to the older cleric: he was arrested and tortured, spent three years in prison and another three in internal exile. When Khomeini returned to Iran to lead his revolution in 1979, Khamenei was welcomed into the inner circle. This was no guarantee of safety: an assassination attempt in June 1981, attributed to the eccentric militant organisation Mojahedin-e-Khalq, cost Khamenei the use of his right arm; he was elected president four months later while still recuperating. When Khomeini died in 1989, Khamenei was the obvious choice as the Islamic Republic’s second Supreme Leader.

Khamenei’s most impressive accomplishment might have been preserving his role as long as he did. Pro-democracy protests in 2003 and 2009, some of them bloodily suppressed, did not untowardly wobble him and nor did the upheaval of the Arab Spring from 2011 onwards. Indeed, Iran seized the opportunity presented by the latter tumult, becoming a significant – if not the significant – power broker in five Arab centres: Beirut, Sana’a, Gaza, Damascus and Baghdad. 

Domestically it was difficult to acclaim Khamenei’s rule a success. Iran was economically hobbled by bureaucracy and corruption, and by sanctions imposed to thwart the country’s ambiguous nuclear ambitions. Iran, a potential powerhouse, stayed needlessly poor. Khamenei’s unbending interpretation of Islam saw Iran remain a country in which, well into the 21st century, gay men were hanged for being gay men, and women were assaulted by employees of the state for failing to adhere to a dress code.

And yet despite setbacks Khamenei’s forbidding visage continued to glower, apparently inextinguishably, from posters overhanging Iran’s public spaces. In 2020 the architect of Iran’s regional machinations, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Major General Qassem Soleimani, was killed by a US drone strike. Other IRGC officers and Iranian nuclear scientists met picturesque demises, either overtly or covertly, at the hands of Israel. There were further mass protests against Khamenei’s rule in 2022, occasioned by the death of a young Kurdish woman named Mahsa Amini in the custody of the goons ordered by Khamenei to punish immodest flashes of female hair.

It began to unravel for Khamenei on 7 October 2023. The Palestinian militant group Hamas, long supported by Iran, broke from the confines of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 1,200 people. Israel’s response was not confined to Gaza, or to Hamas. Israel hit Iran’s proxies Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and targets associated with the regime in Syria, where Iran had propped up former president Bashar al-Assad through the Arab Spring and beyond. 

By June 2025, Hamas was destroyed, Hezbollah decapitated, the Houthis diminished and Assad defenestrated. Israel, with the assistance of the US, came for Iran directly, bombing nuclear and other sites. Iran was unable to muster much response beyond ineffectual rockets and blundering drones. Iran’s people sensed weakness, rose again – and were, again, put brutally down. Thousands were killed.

Towards the end, as the US and Israel prepared a decisive strike against him, Khamenei found himself in the impossible position of being a stubborn old man ruling an impatient young people. He probably understood, and just as likely did not care, that his ossified theocracy could not have survived compromise or engagement with the modern world. It is altogether unknowable whether he derived much satisfaction from embracing the martyrdom to which he urged – and condemned – so many others.

1.   
We start this Sunday with a thank you to all those readers who took the time to drop a few encouraging words of support and additional ideas off the back of last week’s column. In case you missed it, you can read all about my take on continuing education and the importance of doing a stint in the military or hospitality here. If you’re still in a state of confusion and despair, then might I suggest you enrol your son or daughter in the SFS? While it might sound like an elite, heavily armed sibling of the UK’s SAS or SBS, this SFS is a far more rigorous and perhaps essential institution in today’s challenged workplaces. Officially launched at the Kulm Country Club in St Moritz several weeks ago, Sagra’s Finishing School (SFS) is designed with a clear and simple mission – to ensure your offspring have qualifications in a manual service such as plumbing, upholstery or carpentry, or help them become a master in a craft like hand embroidery or dog manicures.

Based in London with roots in Galicia, SFS encourages both parents and children to recognise that a degree from Princeton or McGill is something to be rightly proud of but, when entire business strategies and court arguments can be cranked out by one of Anthropic’s services, there is an urgent need for a plan B that involves rolling up sleeves, dirtying hands and delivering a product or service for which consumers will increasingly pay luxury margins. If you’d like an introduction to the SFS, drop a note to info@monocle.com.

2.   
Speaking of initialisms, I have three more for you that defined my past week in the UAE.
 
NPO (Nissan Patrol Office). This is what you get when you cross four Monocle staffers with a busy schedule, a hundred kilos of print and a fresh-off-the-lot 2026 Nissan Patrol. Laptops and smartphones might be essential tools for daily business but when you need to make calls, turn up looking sharp and stay secure on the Sheikh Zayed Road, there’s nothing better than a solid set of wheels. Having a driver with an eye for Gulf modernism also helps.
 
PDR (private dining room). Standard in so many corners of the world but still so rare in corners of Europe and the Americas. Just as restaurants need to have enough emergency exits and accessible bathrooms, there should be a code demanding that all proper establishments have PDRs for emergency summits with Australian clients who demand special previews of large-format printed work at the end of an evening.
 
MMM (Martin’s Midnight Majlis). This is a new organisational tool that we employed all last week while in the UAE. It involved six colleagues assembled for nightcaps led by Martin, who ran down the diary for the next day and ensured that there were enough NPOs for people to get from Abu Dhabi to Dubai and PDRs for top-secret meetings.

3.   
And no, I’m not stuck in the UAE. Thankfully the NPO got all of us to the airport before things kicked off in the Gulf and I’m tapping out this column under a very sunny Lisbon sky. That said, closed airspace has prevented one colleague from getting back from Tokyo but she’s found some more business in Hong Kong and, of course, we’ll have full coverage of the conflict on Monocle on Sunday, live at 10.00 CET. Finally, if you happen to be in Taipei this coming Thursday, drop us a note and we’ll send you an invite to a little cocktail reception that we’re hosting for our loyal Taiwanese readers and anyone who happens to be in town. I look forward to seeing you then.

Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s past columns.

This fast-changing news event continues to evolve and we will provide updates as new information becomes available. The article was last updated on 28 February at 14.00 (GMT).

It is the kind of decision which would normally be announced in a solemn address from the White House, clearing the prime-time schedules of major broadcasters. Instead, at around 02:30 US east coast time, President Donald Trump cried havoc and let slip the dogs of war with a video posted on his own social media platform, Truth Social. Tieless, sporting a white “USA” cap and standing behind a lectern erected in an indeterminate location, Trump spent eight minutes making some extremely vague arguments in favour of a very large gamble.

Trump declared that the US had launched “major combat operations” against Iran because of “imminent threats from the Iranian regime”. He did not offer any hints as to what these were. For Israel, whose forces have joined the attack, it is – as it has always been – less ambiguous. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, focused on Iran’s nuclear programme, which Israel has always regarded as an existential menace. Whether one likes a given Israeli government or not, it should be possible to understand why Israelis generally don’t extend much benefit of the doubt to people calling for their extermination.

As for the excellent question “why now?” the answer might be, as the US and Israel see it, “why not”? The Islamic Republic is weaker than at any point since the revolution of 1979. At home, Iran’s economy is languishing, its people furious; nobody knows how many demonstrators were killed by the regime in the most recent wave of protests but all estimates run into the many thousands. Abroad, Iran’s proxies across the Middle East have been destroyed, decapitated or disoriented by Israel’s settling of accounts since 7 October 2023. If Tehran picks up the phone now to Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen or the various brigades it sponsors in Syria and Iraq, there might not be an answer. 

Atop all of which, last June’s 12-day campaign of air strikes by the US and Israel against Iran demonstrated that Tehran could neither defend its airspace nor muster much by way of retaliation. The initial scattershot of retaliatory strikes that Iran has made against targets in Israel, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates look very much of the “use them before we lose them” variety. 

This decision by Trump might seem difficult to reconcile with his long-held disdain for foreign entanglements (social media archaeologists are gleefully disinterring old Trump posts in which he accuses former president Barack Obama of spoiling for a fight with Iran as a distraction from his own incompetence). But it also might not be. If there is a Trump Doctrine discernible in the foreign policy of his second term, it is a belief in short, sharp shocks, on the assumption that the results, unforeseeable though they always are in war, will be an improvement on the status quo. In Trump’s first year back in office, US forces were sent to kidnap Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, an American drone and missile blitz was launched against Islamist militants in Nigeria, and further strikes were made on similar groups in Syria, Yemen and Somalia. There was little follow-up, either because Trump believes he has made his point or has lost interest.

The attack on Iran might fit into this framework. Nobody, at least as of this writing, is suggesting that the 1st Marine Division march to Tehran and drape the Azadi Tower in red, white and blue. As it stands, Operation Epic Fury, as the US is calling it, is not inconsistent with isolationist indifference. Speaking recently to Monocle Radio’s The Foreign Desk, Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton, reflecting on the nation-building hubris surrounding the 2003 invasion of Iraq – for which Bolton was an avid cheerleader – said: “My view back in Iraq was that we should give them a copy of The Federalist Papers and say ‘Good luck’. We’re not good at nation-building.”

Trump’s statement suggests that he believes he is creating the opportunity for Iran’s people to liberate themselves. “When we are finished,” he said of the US action, “take over your government. It will be yours to take.” He further urged “now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach.”

It’s a fine idea, and no less than Iran’s people have long deserved. But the list of wars that have panned out as their instigators intended is short, and the list of people marooned in the gulf between Trumpian sensationalism and reality is rather longer. 

For further updates from the region, tune in to ‘Monocle on Sunday’ and ‘The Globalist’ on Monocle Radio.

I don’t want to embarrass the gentlemen, so will obfuscate on the exact location of our rendezvous. The person in question is a senior diplomat, a British one, in a part of the world that invests heavily in all manner of things, including design and architecture. In short, it’s a place that believes that, sorry, appearances do matter.

Our diplomat is no doubt a very clever man but, well, he looks like he shares a wardrobe with Boris Johnson. On the day I visited him, his pointy shoes needed a polish. He had also clearly been forced to partake in too many banquets of late. His suit jacket looked rather taut and the bottoms of his trousers had kissed goodbye to his ankles (and not in a hipster way). I know, that’s not very kind of me but he is out in the world selling an image of our nation and supposedly doing his best to boost British trade.

As I listened to him talk, I wondered what packing instructions the Foreign Office gives to the men and women heading off to represent the UK. You would hope that they suggest purchasing some smart, made-in-Britain shoes from, say Crockett & Jones, and a suit that looks the part. If they can’t stretch to Jermyn Street, at least something new from Marks & Spencer.

I have always been wary of people who say things such as “I’m not interested in fashion,” or “I don’t care what it looks like, as long as it works.” These same people tend to be dismissive of art and architecture, indeed any touchpoint where the mundane can be elevated, where small moments of considered beauty can transform a person’s day, even impact health and educational outcomes. And the trouble is, perhaps like our diplomat, they miss the bigger picture. Something that functions well and looks the part is often good for commerce too – and certainly good for a nation promoting its soft-power assets. 

On Wednesday, Monocle co-hosted an event at the Hungarian embassy in London. It was to mark the publication of Hungary Today, a book that Monocle has produced in partnership with Visit Hungary to promote tourism in the country. It’s a thing of beauty. Shot by a single photographer, Julia Sellmann (she also shot our Expo on the Castellers – the Catalans who build human towers – in issue 179), it has a consistency of tone and colour that is very pleasing. There’s also a unique binding process at play. The design by our art director, Sam Brogan, is flawless. It was edited by Steve Pill, who guides many of these partnership programmes. But what’s also special is that we found a tourism organisation with ambition, one that wanted to make something that told their country’s story afresh.

The evening’s main host was the Hungarian ambassador to the UK, Ferenc Kumin. He has a nice suit, he’s charming and knows how to promote his nation. We did a fun interview midway through the evening, where he explained the wines that were being served, told people where he likes to spend his Hungarian summers (he’s a north Lake Balaton kind of guy), and unpacked the musical and engineering educations that have helped his country excel in both fields.

And the embassy is good too. More than a century ago the building was an outpost for the Austro-Hungarian Empire but after they parted ways the Austrians moved around the corner and the Hungarians kept this property on Eaton Place. It remained the embassy during the communist era and today, in a rather pristine state, continues its work of keeping Hungary on the diplomatic map and looking tight.

For the April issue of Monocle, our foreign editor, Alexis Self, who came to the bash too, has been working on a special feature about the modern embassy. So you can expect to read much more on this topic soon. We have even persuaded the British ambassador to Somalia to pen a piece. Well, he is married to Konfekt’s editor, Sophie Grove, so we had an in.

But in the meantime perhaps we all need to channel our inner ambassador of a morning, think about how we are going to tell our stories – and our company’s as well – as we step out of our front door. Appearances matter. Shoes too.

To read more columns by Andrew Tuck, click here.

One Italian newspaper calls it Italy’s Super Bowl. A more accurate description for Sanremo Music Festival might be a cross between Eurovision and New York’s Met Gala – albeit a more insular version. Regardless, Italians are glued to their screens for five days each February as they watch musicians most of the world has never heard of competing to be crowned king or queen on the song contest’s final night, which takes place tomorrow.

This glitzy, establishment event held in the Teatro Ariston in coastal Liguria is set-piece Italia: a reassuring mainstay that helps viewers beat the last of the winter blues with spring on the doorstep. Now in its 76th edition and broadcast on the Rai state network from 20.40 until well after 01.00, the media furiously unpicks the previous night’s shenanigans (including, this year, a bizarre attempt to use AI that saw audience members briefly turned into yellow ducks). But beyond new gimmicks, ratings (or “lo share” in Italian) are what matter most to the network.

And yet this year has been blander and more boring than ever. Everything about the programming is nostalgic and retrograde, from the graphics to the songs themselves. Il Foglio newspaper has called the song competition representative of a “calm and melancholy Italy” with “songs that seem to be written in a temporal limbo.” And it’s hard to disagree. Who better to host it, then, than the vanilla, housewives’ favourite Carlo Conti (pictured above) – back for a second year – his perma-tan somehow an even deeper shade of mahogany in 2026.

This is exactly how the government wants the festival to unfold. After rumours circulated that far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni would attend, she took to social media to rebuff the suggestion. “And I’m sure Sanremo will shine without imaginary guests,” she added. “Because it’s the greatest celebration of Italian music – and there’s no need to force political controversy into it.”

Much as the government might want political controversy to be absent from the show, it rarely is. Meloni’s words were a thinly cloaked attack on previous editions under the artistic direction of Amadeus. He had attempted to shake things up by making the show more diverse and more representative of contemporary Italy. That led to several on-air controversies, including rapper Ghali, who is of Tunisian origin, calling to “stop the genocide” on the 2024 edition, a reference to the war in Gaza. His apparent snubbing at this month’s Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Milan (his performance was never given a camera close-up and RAI commentators didn’t name-check him) was seen by some as a reprisal for his Sanremo statement.

The sanitised 2026 edition might be stripped of satire and spice but even vanilla Conti has managed to court a smidgen of controversy. This year he invited comic Andrea Pucci to co-host the third night, seemingly brushing over accusations of stereotypical and homophobic tropes in his jokes. After a backlash, Pucci pulled out – but not before being defended by Meloni, suddenly happy to talk politics. “The illiberal drift of the left in Italy is becoming frightening,” she said.

And that’s as juicy as it gets. From feting celebrity bad boys made good (Achille Lauro) to celebrating family values through the appearance of Olympic-medal winners (speed skater Francesca Lollobrigida got a big round of applause when she mentioned her son), Sanremo has been a snore fest. And it even seems to be affecting “lo share”. This year’s second night had a little over nine million viewers and 59.5 per cent of the viewing audience, compared to 11.8 million people (a 64.6 per cent share) at the same juncture last year. Italians could do with a little more spice. 

Ed Stocker is Monocle’s Europe editor at large. 

The concentration of US firepower around Iran now looks less like signalling and more like sequencing. For months, tensions between Washington and Tehran have simmered over nuclear thresholds, regional proxies and the careful choreography of red lines repeatedly tested but never quite crossed. What distinguishes this moment is not the rhetoric but the hardware. The assets now in play suggest that the US is no longer merely demonstrating resolve – it’s positioning itself for choice.

Since late January, a carrier strike group built around the USS Abraham Lincoln has been operating in the region – substantial enough on its own. But increasingly, there are more. The USS Gerald R Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the world, has been positioned at the mouth of the Mediterranean and is moving eastward. Two carrier strike groups – one in the Arabian Sea and one in the Mediterranean – would give Washington overlapping arcs of airpower and cruise-missile reach. Around them sit at least 11 air-defence destroyers, three littoral combat ships and two to three attack submarines equipped with Tomahawk missiles. That is the naval element of the equation: visible, mobile and readied to project force. 

The second part is both logistical and defensive. In the past month, more than 250 US military airlift flights have landed in the Middle East and surrounding hubs, moving large equipment and air-defence assets. Over the past two weeks, C-17 Globemasters and C-5 Super Galaxies – the US Air Force’s broad-shouldered, heavy-lifting aircraft – have been shuttling equipment into American facilities across the Gulf. The likely purpose is straightforward: harden bases against retaliation before any strike begins.

At Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, aircraft numbers have climbed from 16 to 29, including seven C-17s and 17 KC-135 refuelling tankers. Unlike those behemoth aircraft carriers, tankers are a more subtle indicator of intent. They extend range, loosen political constraints and allow aircraft to operate from further afield if host nations hesitate.

The final element is geographical. Flight tracking over the past week shows multiple waves of KC-135 tankers moving from the US via the UK to bases in Greece and Bulgaria. Six were tracked on 16 February; another 10 followed on 18 February, staging through the UK before heading southeast. The message is implicit. Even if access to some Middle Eastern bases becomes politically fraught, aircraft could operate from southern Europe, with tankers bridging the distance. The movements of US assets confirm that Washington is deliberately widening its geography. 

Overlaying all the traffic and hardware is command and control. Six E-3 Sentry AWACS aircraft – the distinctive radar-domed platforms that map the battlefield in real time – are now in theatre. With sufficient tankers and airborne early warning cover, a large-scale air campaign moves beyond theory and threat.

For now, diplomacy provides the choreography. Warships and aircraft provide the leverage. If Washington were to move beyond signalling, its target set would likely be precise, not expansive. 

Where might the US and Iran target if negotiations fail?

The most obvious focus would be Iran’s nuclear infrastructure: enrichment facilities such as Natanz and Fordow, centrifuge assembly workshops, heavy-water production sites and supporting research centres. These are hardened, dispersed and in some cases buried deep underground. A campaign against them would require sustained sorties, bunker-penetrating munitions and careful sequencing rather than a single dramatic strike. 

A second tier of targets would sit outside the nuclear file but within Iran’s military architecture. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) command-and-control nodes, missile depots and drone-production facilities have become central to Tehran’s regional strategy. In recent years, Iran has refined its use of precision-guided missiles and long-range drones via proxy networks stretching from Iraq and Syria to Lebanon and Yemen. Disrupting those supply chains – storage sites, launch platforms and transport corridors – would form part of any broader attack strategy. 

Energy infrastructure presents a more politically fraught category. Iran’s oil export terminals, refineries and petrochemical hubs are critical to state revenue but also deeply entangled in global markets. Direct strikes on such facilities would reverberate well beyond the Gulf. Historically, Washington has been cautious about triggering energy shocks that punish allies as much as adversaries.

Tehran’s options in return are asymmetrical but potent. US bases in Iraq, Syria and particularly the Gulf (including Al Udeid in Qatar and naval facilities in Bahrain) sit within range of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones. Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains an enduring pressure point; even limited disruption can rattle markets. More plausibly still, Iran could activate allied militias to apply calibrated pressure while maintaining deniability.

A fresh round of US-Iran talks begin today in Geneva, with Oman mediating. The timing is awkward; negotiations are resuming just as the military appears closest to operational readiness. Taken together, the naval mass, reinforced air defences, tanker bridge to Europe and expanded airborne command assets suggest that Washington could sustain a significant campaign. Donald Trump’s administration, perhaps more than others, is capable of tilting leverage toward action. The open question is not capability, it is intent. Hopefully Omani negotiators and a little Swiss hospitality can keep these foes from deadly escalation. 

This article was originally published on 24 February 2026 and was updated on 26 February 2026 to reflect the pending talks in Geneva.

Inzamam Rashid is Monocle’s Gulf correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

The art crowd heads to the US West Coast this week for Frieze Los Angeles (Frieze LA). Since 2019 the fair has been a platform for local galleries as well as a sunny meeting point for international players and collectors, particularly from across the Americas. This edition of the fair kicks off with previews today on Thursday 26 February and runs until Sunday 1 March. Here the director of Americas for Frieze, Christine Messineo, shares the gallery presentations that you can’t afford to miss, how the art market is faring and where to end up for dinner after a day at Frieze LA.  

What’s new at Frieze this year?
At the entrance of the fair you’ll see Patrick Martinez’s debut, a powerful neon installation addressing political realities and immigrant rights. It’s a resonant work that extends across the city on billboards and digital screens, connecting the fair to the life of Los Angeles itself. 

For the first time in LA we’re also introducing the Frieze Library. This permanent, publicly accessible collection of artist publications marks the reopening of the Pacific Palisades Library following the January 2025 wildfires. This resource preserves the present moment through the lens of the arts community. It’s sure to have a lasting impact.

Which booths are a must-visit for those coming to the fair?
While it’s difficult to narrow down a must-visit, a few standouts include: Betye Saar’s centennial at Roberts Projects offers a powerful reflection on Black identity and political art; Sprüth Magers revisits the enduring influence of John Baldessari; and 303 Gallery presents Alicja Kwade’s investigations into time, value and circulation.

Meanwhile, 86-year-old Yvonne Wells shows figurative quilts referencing Southern identity and iconic figures at Fort Gansevoort. Ortuzar features Linda Stark’s alchemical, feminist paintings and Parker Gallery showcases Marley Freeman’s gestural, textile-inspired canvases.

How is the US market faring so far in 2026? What are you expecting from sales this year?
I’d say there’s been a renewed sense of confidence in the market. In LA in particular we’re seeing new collectors engage – asking questions, spending time with galleries, getting involved. Although last year a more cautious approach was widely reported, all our fairs exceeded expectations, and we are seeing galleries find creative ways to navigate the prevailing conditions.

In LA, for example, galleries such as Château Shatto, Parker, Sebastian Gladstone and Sea View are all growing – or have grown – locally, and the new bicoastal gallery Hoffman Donahue is showing how collaboration can make things more sustainable by marking a new chapter. Emerging galleries are stepping up too, bringing fresh energy, prioritising artist relationships and building community, all of which shows how strong and connected LA’s creative scene is.

The 2025 event arrived at the same time as the devastating fires. How has the art scene fared over the past year? Has the city bounced back?
What continues to define Los Angeles is its vibrant, interconnected community of artists, galleries, curators, institutions and collectors – all showing up for one another. Last year was a testament to this resilience and many are still rebuilding. Through the dedication and support of both local and global audiences, the community has demonstrated remarkable strength. That spirit of care, collaboration and engagement continues to shape LA, reinforcing the transformative role that art and its makers play in our city today.

Where do you recommend for dinner at the end of the day? 
Near the fair, I’d recommend the izakaya RVR for a special occasion, Coucou in Venice for a French bistro atmosphere and The Mulberry Los Angeles on Sawtelle for dinner followed by a lively night out. 

There’s a change of pace this issue. We’ve put to one side the page architecture that usually shapes the issue and given the entire magazine over to The Monocle 100, a directory of people who we like, places with important stories to share and products that we covet. It’s a list that is hopefully useful but raises some smiles too.

We started working on this project some months ago, asking our team to nominate everything from the best military kit to running shoes, artworks to modernist apartment blocks (and even the ultimate roadside shrubbery). I think that they’ve done a fine job, even if there was some jostling for page acreage among editors keen to allow their selections to shine.

Beyond the competitive fun of pulling this together, there’s another reason why I hope that this issue hits the mark. It is a celebration of talent, shining a light on both established and aspiring names. It’s also a blast of positivity, global know-how and spotting opportunities at a time when such ambition can often be hard to locate in our media – or, indeed, anywhere.

So, you’ll meet a man taking a stance against graffiti vandals scarring his city, discover how Dr Stretch is manipulating a nation back to litheness, see how architecture is helping a city to rediscover its soul after a terror attack, slip into a cosy armchair in the perfect airport lounge and have a go on a vending machine that supports local businesses.

Also commanding some prime glossy-papered real estate in this issue is our annual Property Survey, which is timed to land ahead of Mipim in Cannes, the industry’s largest fair (we will be there again this year with a Monocle Radio studio at Le Palais des Festivals). Over our nicely appointed pages, we visit a new public housing project in Singapore that’s embracing nature, drop in on the agents charged with selling Dubai’s most valuable homes in the city’s highly competitive market and see why developers in Japan are wooing renters with pooches. Poodle power is on the rise. I’m all for it.

While I have you, if you are a subscriber, take a tour around our rapidly expanding collection of digital city guides – Palma and Dubai have just gone live. Written by our editors and correspondents, they are constantly being updated and will help you to unpack a city with ease. Come to think of it, they deserved an entry in The Monocle 100.

There’s another piece of travel news to share too. Always passionate about good hospitality, we have just launched the The Monocle Townhouse at the Widder Hotel in Zürich. This three-bedroom establishment, with an epic roof terrace, sits on the heart of the city and all of its furniture, art and fittings have been selected by us. There’s some rather fine reading material too for guests to peruse.

Finally, there are also upcoming events in the Gulf and Asia. You might have guessed that we like spending time with our readers. In the meantime, if you have thoughts or ideas to share, please always feel free to send me an email at at@monocle.com. Have a great month.