asad jivan

Leaked videos from Tel Aviv last night! The release of leaked videos from Tel Aviv has revealed part of the damage caused by Iran's missile attacks; images that, despite strict wartime censorship in Israel, have attracted widespread attention on social media.

Iran is losing this war militarily, but winning it strategically. Let me explain. First we need to determine what a win actually looks like. For Trump, he needs Iran to be more friendly to the U.S. so he can have more influence over the most important energy chokepoint in the world: the Strait of Hormuz. In other words, he needs to cut Iran off from China. For Iran to "win," all they need to do is survive. And to survive, Iran needs to force the U.S. to end the war before the regime collapses. There are 2 ways to achieve this: 1. Keep the Strait of Hormuz closed for another 3 weeks. This will severely harm the economies of Asian and European countries, who will then pressure Trump to end the war. 2. Keep causing havoc in the Gulf, forcing those same countries to pressure Trump as well. And Iran will likely be able to achieve both, not through missiles, but through drones. The U.S. and Israel have been able to wipe out the majority of missile launchers through rapid satellite detection. But destroying drone factories, which are very easy to set up in apartments and underground locations, is a much harder problem. So despite America's military might and a very successful campaign, the regime seems to be getting more radicalized, not less. And instead of causing protesters to rise up against the regime, we're seeing a rally around the flag. The Kurdish separatists? Too small to make a difference. Iran's military is massive. Unless something changes, Iran may end up winning this war with the regime still in power. Trump can still declare victory, and rightfully so, given the destruction of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. But his core goal, gaining control and influence over the Strait of Hormuz, will have failed.

President Trump’s energy agenda has resulted in oil and gas production reaching the highest levels ever recorded. To enable oil to keep flowing into the global market, the Treasury Department is issuing a temporary 30-day waiver to allow Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil. This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea. India is an essential partner of the United States, and we fully anticipate that New Delhi will ramp up purchases of U.S. oil. This stop-gap measure will alleviate pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage.