After a first quarter of the year marked by optimism, with jubilant celebrations over the bright future of the tech industry, reality takes hold. Recent statements by Fed leaders and recent developments on the world stage have reminded overly excited investors that there is still high inflation and a war in the Middle East.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran promised revenge against Israel on Tuesday after an apparent Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in the Syrian capital of Damascus. The attack killed 13 people, including General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a top commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

On Nov. 12, the United States carried out two airstrikes in Syria, targeting a training facility near the city of Albu Kamal and a safe house near the city of Mayadeen. The US military said that the strikes were in retaliation for a series of over 50 rocket and drone attacks that left at least 56 US personnel with a “combination of traumatic brain injury and minor injuries.”

The European Parliament posthumously presented the Sakharov Human Rights Prize for Freedom of Thought to Jina Mahsa Amini. Her death stirred Iran into a new attempt at protesting the current repressive theocracy that enforced hijab wearing, among other restrictions for women.

Saudi Arabia has pushed forward several diplomatic initiatives in recent weeks, signaling a wider effort to bring stability to the region and restore cooperation between various Arab states.

The United States Navy announced that it has deployed a guided missile submarine, the USS Florida, to the Red Sea.