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If the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz is a game of chicken, it sounds as though the Iranians will either swerve first – or accelerate. One way or the other, though, the blockade appears to have succeeded in bringing the regime to its crisis point. As discussions around a potential deal (really a pre-deal) continue, the IRGC has begun to demand an end to the US Navy's complete siege on Iranian ports. That message has come from the top of the food chain today, including the Nepo Babytollah's supposed attaché: [X links at source article] The "direct action" threat...

Thousands of miles from the Persian Gulf, a sprawling network of tanker-to-tanker oil transfers off the coast of Malaysia and Singapore is helping Iran sustain its crude exports to China, even as the country navigates a tense ceasefire with the United States.Analysis of satellite imagery and maritime tracking data has identified the waters roughly 100 kilometres southeast of the Malay Peninsula as the primary hub for what analysts describe as a clandestine laundering operation for Iranian crude. Dozens of ship-to-ship transfers take place there every week, involving not only Iranian vessels but a wider cast of tankers serving the shadow...

If the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz is a game of chicken, it sounds as though the Iranians will either swerve first – or accelerate. One way or the other, though, the blockade appears to have succeeded in bringing the regime to its crisis point. As discussions around a potential deal (really a pre-deal) continue, the IRGC has begun to demand an end to the US Navy's complete siege on Iranian ports. That message has come from the top of the food chain today, including the Nepo Babytollah's supposed attaché: Mohsen Rezaei, military advisor to Mojtaba Khamenei: If the...

The U.S. and Iran are reportedly in the process of working out a deal to end hostilities and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump assured people he wasn't going to make the mistakes of the Obama Iran deal, and has placed focus on getting the highly enriched uranium to deter the nuclear threat. In fact, he was even pursuing a broader peace across the region, asking other countries like Saudi Arabia to sign on to the Abraham Accords once the Iran deal is finalized. This also may have pushed Iran to try to clean up its language when...

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. repostedthe Q@QAaronmagaBOOM! President Trump CONFIRMS his Iran proposal is NOTHING like Hussein Obama's failed nuclear dealIran's not getting ANYTHING unless and until the nuclear threat is 100% sealed."Don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about."May 24, 2026ransomnote: Below, Grok explains why Trump and others thought Obama's 2015 Iran deal was a disaster:Why Conservatives Like Victor Davis Hanson Thought Obama's 2015 Iran Deal Was a DisasterMany conservatives, including historian Victor Davis Hanson, believed President Obama's 2015 nuclear deal with Iran (called the JCPOA) was a very bad agreement. They said it...

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was once the richest man in Russia until he challenged Vladimir Putin and was sent to jail for 10 years. Now, he has advice for Western leaders trying to deal with his former adversary, telling CBC’s Terence McKenna that a show of strength is key.

The United States has prosposed temporarily waiving off sanctions on Iranian oil, as per reports by Tehran's Tasnim news agency on Monday. To ramp up its pressure on Iran from the economic front, Washington had introduced restrictions on trade of Iranian oil. While primary sanctions included barring American companies from trading in Iranian oil secondary sanction threaten to penalise non-American entities, banks, and foreign governments that purchase Iranian petroleum.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz means virtually no gas has left Qatar’s shore for more than two months. The nation is also cut off from the sea routes through which it imports everything from vehicles to produce. Fears of regional instability have hurt tourism and eroded business sentiment. Ras Laffan, Qatar’s industrial center for gas production, is shuttered, and roads are blocked. At the vast Hamad port south of Doha, loading cranes stand paralyzed. Throughout the capital, hotels and boutiques sit in noticeable silence. Qatar’s growth forecasts have been slashed amid the cessation of L.N.G. trade. For Qatar,...

Trump heads to Beijing hoping personal ties with Xi can ease tensions but Iran, tariffs, Taiwan and China’s expanding global influence have complicated prospects for meaningful breakthroughs at the summit… Beijing’s deep economic relationship with Tehran, especially its dependence on Iranian oil — has placed China in a delicate position as Washington seeks broader regional support… Trump’s first presidency was dominated by tariff battles with China, many of which reshaped global trade flows even after some measures were later struck down in US courts… While a temporary trade truce last year reduced some pressure, the underlying disputes remain unresolved... The...

President Donald Trump has been compared to many historical figures, by opponents (who claim he’s another Adolf Hitler) and by boosters (who cite Andrew Jackson or Teddy Roosevelt). With his blockade of Iran, though, maybe we should start comparing him to Gen. Winfield Scott. In the mid-19th century, Scott was America’s preeminent military mind, the architect of victory in the Mexican War and the “Grand Old Man of the Army.” As the Civil War loomed, he developed a plan to defeat the Confederacy with the smallest number of casualties possible. He called it the Anaconda Plan — and like its...

The Iranian regime has finally sent back its response to the U.S. on the question of a peace deal. But with Iran, you have to know going in that they are giving you something that looks like movement, while having a whole lot of "gaps" in the meantime, as the Wall Street Journal phrased it. I'll put in the proviso that until the U.S. officially confirms details on anything that was in the proposal, this is a report on what it supposedly says. According to the WSJ, the response doesn't "resolve the U.S. demand for commitments in advance on Iran's...

U.S. forces disabled the Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna as it attempted to sail to an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman, when an F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS Abraham Lincoln disabled the unladen oil tanker's rudder, hitting it with several rounds from a 20mm cannon gun. All three vessels are no longer transiting to Iran.

Satellite imagery revealed a massive suspected oil slick spreading near Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal, in what experts say could be evidence that Tehran’s oil infrastructure is buckling under mounting U.S. pressure. The slick, seen in Copernicus Sentinel satellite images between Wednesday and Friday, covered roughly 45 square kilometers west of the island, according to analysts cited by Reuters. The incident is emerging as a potential sign that Trump’s maritime pressure campaign is achieving one of its central objectives: overwhelming Iran’s export system to the point where Tehran can no longer move or store crude fast enough to...

“As we warned: the regime has run out of storage capacity. For days now, they’ve been faking tanker transfers while pouring massive amounts of extracted oil straight into the ocean. Deliberate. Criminal. Environmental catastrophe. They are literally poisoning the sea. This is ecocide in real time.”

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. forces intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes as U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman, May 7. Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones and small boats as USS Truxtun (DDG 103), USS Rafael Peralta (DDG 115), and USS Mason (DDG 87) transited the international sea passage. No U.S. assets were struck. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces including missile and drone launch sites; command and control locations; and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance nodes. CENTCOM does...

The M/T Hasna was intercepted by American forces at around 9 a.m. EST, with a fighter jet firing its auto-cannon at the ship when it attempted to sail towards an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman, said US Central Command (CENTCOM). “After Hasna’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings, US forces disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from the 20mm cannon gun of a US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from USS Abraham Lincoln (CCVN 72),” CENTCOM wrote on X.)

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran. If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP May 06, 2026, 7:41 AM

Eric Daugherty @EricLDaugh·1h 🚨 UPDATE: The US military has just STRUCK another Iranian oil ship that tried to go through President Trump's Strait of Hormuz blockadeFAFO. They can't conduct ANY business. 🔥CENTCOM: "After Hasna’s crew failed to comply with repeated warnings, U.S. forces disabled the tanker’s rudder by firing several rounds from the 20mm cannon gun of a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). Hasna is no longer transiting to Iran."May 6, 2026

U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening he was pausing the U.S. effort to guide stranded vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz to allow time for a deal to end the Iran war, but that the American forces’ blockade of Iranian ports would remain in place. Meanwhile, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Beijing on Wednesday morning, the official Xinhua news agency reported, without providing further details. It was the first time since the start of the war that Araghchi has traveled to China, whose close economic and political ties to Tehran...

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would briefly pause an operation to help escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, citing progress toward a comprehensive agreement with Iran."We have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will ‌remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom ... will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed," Trump wrote on social media.