Matt

My train was delayed by 2 hours to London yesterday (missed an appointment). It’s meant to be an hour journey. It’s now delayed 50 minutes going to Cardiff (to record a film). In Iran, under historic sanctions, they get trains going days after the track is *bombed* 🤣🤣🤣

BREAKING The U.S. has authorized the release of $7 billion dollars in frozen Iranian funds held in Qatari banks.

NEW: Refusing to ship Saudi and Emirati oil through the strait while it is under Iranian control—in a way, an informal oil embargo—would transfer the costs of this problem onto other nations, and force them to intervene, some Gulf officials calculate - WSJ

Absolute bombshell. UK PM Keir Starmer confirms he is actively coordinating with Donald Trump to build a massive 30 nation military coalition to force open the Strait of Hormuz. They are using the ceasefire as a cover to prepare for a massive escalation against Iran.

UAE says it will reassess its alliances and will review the partners it can rely on, after Iranian attacks on UAE. Anwar Gargash, advisor to MBZ, told CNN that Abu Dhabi expects to see the “Israeli influence becoming more prominent in the Gulf, not less” Gargash criticized “major” Arab and Islamic nations for failing to support Gulf Arabs in “times of hardship."

Israel and the US, with the support of the entire West, are openly trying to instigate an all-out regional civil war. Any regime ollaborating with this heinous genocidal plan is an enemy of humanity and MUST BE TOPPLED.

I have just spoken with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. I expressed France’s full solidarity in the face of the indiscriminate strikes carried out by Israel in Lebanon today, which resulted in a very high number of civilian casualties. We condemn these strikes in the strongest possible terms. They pose a direct threat to the sustainability of the ceasefire that has just been reached. Lebanon must be fully covered by it. I reiterated the need to preserve Lebanon’s territorial integrity and France’s determination to support the efforts of the Lebanese authorities to uphold the country’s sovereignty and implement the Hezbollah disarmament plan.

BREAKING: Trump "threatened to leave" NATO and "unloaded his frustration" at NATO Secretary-General Rutte in their latest meeting, using the meeting as a "venting session." An EU official says the meeting "went shit," and the "conversation was nothing but a tirade of insults"

BREAKING: Iran rules out negotiations with the US and will keep the Strait of Hormuz closed until a full ceasefire is established in Lebanon, per Fars News Agency citing an informed source. The position contradicts Trump's NBC interview minutes earlier stating he is "optimistic" an Iran deal is within reach, and would mean Iran walking from Saturday's Islamabad talks unless Lebanon strikes stop completely.

Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy reveals that Iranian attacks did more damage than previously reported, knocking out roughly 600,000 BPD of oil production Major refining facilities hit include SATORP in Jubail, Ras Tanura refinery, SAMREF in Yanbu, and the Riyadh refinery.

That means that South Korea will end up removing sanctions on Iran and, in exchange, will be allowed to pay Iran for the privilege of letting South Korea receive oil and gas shipments. After SK does this, many others will follow the same exact process. But they'll also have to unfreeze Iranian assets. The Americans' options are terrible. If they resume the war, what energy infrastructure is left will be destroyed, and, even in twenty years, they won't win. And if the Americans accept this, there's little to no point in them remaining in the Gulf. Their presence would be a sign of their humiliation. And their exit would make Iran more powerful still.