The pro-Ukrainian partisans Atesh have sabotaged a railway line in the Russian Belgorod by setting fire to two transformer cabinets, causing delays in train traffic. Read more here and here.
Footage allegedly showing a fire at an oil depot in Feodosia in Crimea. We will see if more information emerges during the day.
Today’s Russian losses in Ukraine
Over a thousand KWIA and otherwise relatively high losses.
- 1030 KWIA
- 5 Tanks
- 4 AFVs
- 63 Artillery systems
- 1 MLRS
- 1 Air defense system
- 1960 UAVs
- 241 Vehicles and Fuel tanks
- 2 Special equipment
Russian activities
- 170 combat engagements
- 71 airstrikes
- 245 KAB
- 8,425 suicide drones
- 3,292 artillery shells (including 51 from MLRS)
Night drone attacks
During the night, the Ukrainian air defense shot down 146 out of 176 Russian UAVs (including 120 of Shahed type). As of writing this, the attacks are still ongoing according to the Ukrainian General Staff.
SLAVA UKRAINI
War in Iran
The US attack on Iran did not happen yesterday as the parties agreed to a two-week ceasefire and a ten-point plan. What is included in that ten-point plan seems unclear, and it appears that different sides have different interpretations. Both sides, however, are completely convinced that they are the winners.
Of course, Trump declares himself the winner but seems unable to explain what the peace plan entails. It must be good, of course, otherwise he wouldn’t have agreed to it (brilliant logic there). Those against Trump mock him, calling him TACO and claiming he chickened out. Quite amusing, considering it’s essentially the same people who were horrified when he threatened to bomb Iran to bits and therefore must resign. Now, I agree with them that his threats were horrible, but regarding TACO, I believe this time he did the right thing by backing down. At least if the intention was indeed to strike hard at everything in Iran.
Those who support Trump praise him for his scare tactics he usually employs in negotiations and argue that it worked well. They fail to realize that it could have easily backfired and forced him to carry out what he threatened or appear as a coward.
As I mentioned, I think it’s good that the US decided not to raze Iran to the ground.
At the same time, it’s clear that if these two weeks lead to an end to the war, one must conclude that the war has been almost entirely pointless as it has cost significantly more than what it has achieved. Iran has indeed lost a considerable part of its military capacity and may not have been able to support Russia in the same way as before (uncertain to what extent this has happened recently). Knocking out parts of the regime actually has no significance as long as they are replaced; it may even have the opposite effect. They will likely be even harsher on the population. The US called for uprisings, and even if it didn’t happen, repression is likely to increase to ensure it doesn’t occur.
The regime has now received confirmation that control over the Strait of Hormuz gives them a significant advantage (do they even need nuclear weapons?). Those tariffs they started imposing will surely remain. Attacking neighboring countries also worked as intended since it didn’t really face much resistance. Perhaps it was because the US started the war; had Iran started, maybe there would have been different reactions.
The countries around Iran can hardly be pleased with the US either, even if they probably would like to get rid of the Iranian regime. If the war ends now, nothing has really changed, and they have seen themselves bombed by Iran completely unnecessarily.
It’s far too early to assume the war is over, but as I said, if it is, then it must be seen as a total failure where the total cost, both in terms of deaths and injuries and of course the economic impact it has had, far exceeds what has been achieved.
Possibly one of the goals can be achieved, that Iran agrees not to acquire nuclear weapons, but apparently, the respective sides’ ten-point plans differ because according to Iran, they should rather have the right to do as they please with them. No one wants Iran to have nuclear weapons, so it would be a victory if they were stopped, but even if they sign an agreement prohibiting them from developing nuclear weapons, there is no guarantee they will follow the agreement. If they were even close to developing functional nuclear weapons in the first place.
We’ll see what happens after those two weeks.
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What one can hope for is that cracks have appeared in the leadership, which in the long run can lead to opportunities for the opposition.
Trump’s own statement is that Iran’s 10 points are the basis for the ceasefire and the negotiations that are now to take place.
These 10 points basically constitute a total American capitulation.
The strategy seems to be to sell this capitulation to his own leadership as a great victory for his “tough negotiating strategy.”
It remains unclear whether this enormous weakening of the US role in the Middle East has always been part of a larger plan or if it is just an accident in office.
A strengthened Iran with control over the strait and now possibly a free path to nuclear weapons benefits… Putin… China…
At the same time, we have this that suggests that there are two versions of the list. The question is which one they will actually discuss and eventually approve. Then we’ll see, maybe they won’t agree in two weeks.
But as you pointed out, I don’t believe that the USA has directly strengthened its role through the war so far anyway.
“The ceasefire that Iran and the USA have agreed to means nothing other than a ‘total and complete victory’ for the USA. That’s what the country’s president Donald Trump tells AFP.
– 100 percent. There is no doubt about it, he says.
Trump claims, among other things, that China has had a hand in the game and that it is Beijing that has persuaded Iran to negotiate a peace deal. He also says that the USA and Iran have a list of 15 points where they agree on most things. Just an hour earlier, Trump wrote that the list consisted of ten points.
Equally confident of victory is Iran’s National Security Council, which declares itself the winner and claims that they are forcing the USA to make several major concessions.
Iran has published a list of ten demands, including that the USA should lift its sanctions and cease its aggressions. AP notes that the list in Farsi also includes Iran’s right to enrich uranium, a contentious point missing from the English list.
During the night, Trump called the list of demands a starting point for further negotiations. In the interview with AFP, he says that the issue of Iran’s uranium will be covered in a peace agreement.
– It will be taken care of in a perfect way, otherwise I wouldn’t have agreed to the deal, he says.”
https://omni.se/teheran-uppger-att-de-tvingar-usa-till-eftergifter/a/bOO9wB
N Slobozhansky-Kursk 6
S Slobozhansky 4
Kupyansk 7
Lyman 5
Slovyansk 9💥↗️
Kramatorsk 0↘️
Kostjantynivka 32💥💥↗️
Pokrovsk 26💥💥↘️
Oleksandrivskij 12💥
Huliaipole 26💥💥↗️
Orikhivsk 1
Prydniprovskij/Dnipro 5
Sum sectors 133↗️
Unlocalized 37↘️
Total 170↗️
🔥 Feodosia (Crimea), JSC “Marine Oil Terminal”
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3mixop4atxs2b
“En högljudd natt i temporärt ockuperade Krim, då den ryskkontrollerade oljeinfrastrukturen blev måltavla i Feodosia. NASA FIRMS-data antyder att bränder pågår.”
https://bsky.app/profile/stratcomcentre.bsky.social/post/3mixuetp2ml26
Must increase the number
A bit of humor, Trump declares a ceasefire and claims he has crushed the mullahs, and they start raining robots over Israel as soon as it came into effect 😀
How a popular revolution will happen with a two-week ceasefire is unclear 😐
Maybe the ceasefire only applies to Iran and the USA? 😄
Yes, unfortunately I’m afraid it will get worse for the population after this.
Israel did not like the ceasefire, which was not followed anyway.
Now every Shi’a loyal militia is inside Iran, they have even flown in commercially – this surpasses my understanding.
From Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. It’s probably only the Syrians missing.
Surely Iranian leaders seem to be in touch with at least Russia as they are doing the same as Putin always does with Trump and playing him like a fiddle.
Politically in Israel, this could be explosive for Netanyahu.
The West sees Trump as a crazy warmonger because we listen to what he says.
The evil team sees him as a coward who backs down from threats.
If Trump goes all in, the petrodollar is probably in trouble.
Israel wants to continue waging war against Lebanon.
“There are differing opinions on whether the two-week ceasefire also includes Israel’s offensive against Lebanon, several media outlets report.
– The ceasefire does not include Lebanon, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement.
This message contradicts what the mediating country Pakistan has stated. Islamabad claims that the ceasefire applies to the entire region, including Lebanon. Iran’s published list of demands also states that attacks on Lebanon must cease.
Netanyahu also states that Israel supports the ceasefire provided that Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz.”
🤣🤣🤣
Iran does not trust the USA at all, shall we say it’s an observation?
No, who does it?
The laws of war apply nonetheless
Almost as if one suspects that Trump started the war so that he can then take credit for ending yet another war. “Now I must get the Nobel Peace Prize!”
Of course, he will make money too…
“Donald Trump writes that Wednesday is a great day for world peace, after his USA and Iran have reached an agreement on a two-week ceasefire.
In the post, Trump writes that Iran, like the rest of the world, is tired of fighting and that the USA will help with the traffic situation in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Big money will be made. Iran can start rebuilding. We will replenish all kinds of supplies and just ‘hang in there’ to make sure everything goes well,” he writes and continues:
“Just as we are experiencing in the USA, this could be the golden age of the Middle East!””
Last sentence 🤣🤣🤣
Full-on 😂😂😂
The ceasefire that Iran and the USA have agreed to means nothing other than a “total and complete victory” for the USA. That’s what the country’s president Donald Trump tells AFP.
– 100 percent. There is no doubt about it, he says.
Trump claims, among other things, that China has had a hand in the game and that it is Beijing that has persuaded Iran to negotiate a peace deal. He also says that the USA and Iran have a list of 15 points where they agree on most things. Just an hour earlier, Trump wrote that the list consisted of ten points.
Equally triumphant is Iran’s National Security Council, which declares itself the winner and claims that they are forcing the USA to make several major concessions.
Iran has published a list of ten demands, including that the USA should lift its sanctions and cease its aggressions. AP notes that the list in Farsi also includes Iran enriching uranium, a hot-button issue missing from the English list.
During the night, Trump called the list of demands a starting point for further negotiations. In the interview with AFP, he says that the question of Iran’s uranium will be covered in a peace agreement.
– It will be handled perfectly, otherwise I would not have agreed to the deal, he says.
🤣🤣🤣
Flurrevuppen,
No, the USA probably wants an outcome that is advantageous to them, customs in the Hormuz Strait and 5% of Iran’s oil revenue.
Israel wants a regime change.
The worst-case scenario you paint with a stirred-up hornet’s nest and a half or whole taco is not what they want.
I have dismissed the idea that Trump is deliberately weakening the USA on Russia’s orders because it is far-fetched, but sometimes one wonders 😀
All Krasnov does becomes logical when viewed from how the Kremlin is affected.
Darth Putin’s reaction to the fact that oil prices are going down again:
😭
https://bsky.app/profile/darthputinkgb.bsky.social/post/3mixigfsmxk2c
And another one from him regarding Trump:
“Stop calling him a master strategist. He may have wrecked his economy, failed to change a regime and had to make a massive “goodwill gesture”, but he has NOT taken 1.3 million casualties doing it.
😤”
https://bsky.app/profile/darthputinkgb.bsky.social/post/3mixipuz5gk2c
Think about how this would have looked if Iran had launched a first strike on the 5th fleet.
Now the USA got a perfect start anyway.
The strait probably was what decided it, along with Iran managing to hit the neighbors’ oil and gas production. Doesn’t seem like something the USA took into account.
Perhaps also combined with the belief that the initial attack, where they knocked out large parts of the leadership, would be enough to make them give up and therefore never thought that it would turn out as it did.
I kind of have a little trouble believing that they were not aware of these potential consequences.
If nothing else, officials/professional military personnel must have been aware of this and also communicated it.
So either they actively chose to take these risks, or they did not see them as risks but as a desired outcome.
I guess time will tell which has been the case…
Maybe they understood the risk but still were so convinced that they would get a quick profit that they didn’t think it was particularly high.
It can of course be speculated whether that was actually the real goal and that oil shortage was what they wanted to achieve. What they might have missed in that case was that domestic prices would rise despite having very large domestic production, and that was what forced them to back down.
Or maybe they have now reached maximum own export and therefore there was no point in continuing.
Otherwise, they would probably have gladly continued the war to deepen the oil crisis.
It will be interesting to see if we will ever find out the actual reasoning behind it.
Profit and profit. Who knows the outcome of a war in advance? Especially one that has only been fought from the air plus a few death squads. Trump keeps talking and must see himself as a winner. It would be better with a little more realism and less wishful thinking. The purpose of the war must be to clip the wings of Iran’s military power. And create peace in the Middle East and give Israel a breathing space for a number of years ahead. A goal that is good enough.
“Hizbollah has paused its attacks against northern Israel and Israeli targets in Lebanon. Several Lebanese sources close to the Iranian-backed militia have reported this to Reuters.
This comes after the US, Israel, and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, a ceasefire that Israel has indeed stated does not include Lebanon.
The Israeli message contradicts what the mediating country Pakistan has stated. Islamabad claims that the ceasefire applies to the entire region, including Lebanon. Iran’s published list of demands also states that the attacks on Lebanon must cease.”
Well, one wonders what he will come up with now. Does he feel it’s time to calm down, or does he feel he needs some form of revenge? If the media in the USA will portray this as a loss and that he chickened out, it might be the latter and then both Cuba and Greenland are probably in trouble.
Victory rhetoric is quite fragile, so I guess something that shifts the media’s focus will happen… unclear what it will be, but Cuba has already been hinted at… although maybe it’s not a big enough deal… maybe NATO exit referring to how “the cowardly cowards with lack of ability” did not “come to the rescue of the USA” in “the war against evil”.
Military intervention in Greenland probably requires NATO exit first and secured power in the midterm elections, I think.
I don’t think Trump will go after Denmark/Greenland again. The Danes acted maturely and diplomatically skillfully unlike Trump and the USA. Additionally, Mærsk solved the problem with the ports in the Panama Canal (Cristobal and Balboa). Surely, Mette and Lars Løkke had a hand in it.
“❗️Also overnight, 🇺🇦Ukrainian kamikaze drones attacked 🇷🇺Russian military targets in the temporarily occupied Luhansk.”
https://bsky.app/profile/militarynewsua.bsky.social/post/3mixr3lefrc22
“Iran is as close to producing its own nuclear weapons now as when the US attacked them more than a month ago. That’s what The Telegraph’s Benedict Smith writes in an analysis.
Trump justified his war, among other things, by arguing that Iranian nuclear weapons would be an existential threat, but Smith writes that there is no information suggesting that Iran has lost its stockpile of 440 kilograms of enriched uranium.
“The President’s deal has a hole in it. A huge, nuclear weapon-shaped hole,” he writes.
Iranian nuclear weapons are not the only threat after last night’s ceasefire. The already badly damaged image of the US as the leader of the Western world has taken further blows from what has happened, writes New York Times’ Katie Rogers.
She highlights the profanity-laden posts on social media that followed one another during the Easter weekend, where Donald Trump, among other things, has threatened to send Iran to hell and eradicate the country’s entire civilization.
“Even for Trump, who has a long history of statements far beyond reason, his latest comments bear traces of an impulsive leader accustomed to getting his way through coercion and unpredictability”.”
Exactly. Their path towards nuclear weapons is more open than ever.
There are speculations that special forces have been present in Isfahan to secure/destroy the enriched uranium, but that they have been massacred by Iran and that the pilot rescue story is just to save face and explain the related material losses.
😎 Super-delicate use of a fiber-optic FPV drone to scout an enemy fortification line to detect Russian infantry before Ukrainian soldiers from Shkval battalion were dispatched. Footage from the 1st Unmanned Systems Battalion “Predators of the Heights” of the 59th Brigade.”
https://bsky.app/profile/maks23.bsky.social/post/3mixqwh5aq22b
“At least 13 people have been killed and 77 others injured in Russian attacks against Ukraine over the past day, local authorities said on April 8.”
Unfortunately only Russian successes (but then, one shows that they have crossed a road) from DeepStateMap:
“The enemy advanced in Hryshyne and near Kotlynne.”
The oil prices have dropped by 13-14% so far. Still very high of course.
Crude oil: 96.3
Brent: 94.9
Ural, which is one day behind, is up to 124.85, the highest it has been in the last 10 years.
Earlier during the war, it reached around 100 as the highest for daily closing (but could of course have been higher temporarily during the day).
At the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans, George H.W. Bush swore an oath to his party: “Read my lips: No new taxes.”
He won the election. Then, he raised taxes. The move alienated Republican activists, and GOP lore has long held that he lost re-election because the broken promise tattered his relationship with the party’s base.
His reversal is creating major strains within his own “Make America Great Again” movement, evident in increasingly loud dissent from some of its most prominent media figures, resistance from a growing number of GOP lawmakers and polling.
Tucker Carlson is one of a number of conservatives who have framed their dissatisfaction with Trump in religious terms, saying the president’s words and actions fly in the face of Christianity. After Trump posted to social media on Easter Sunday with a profane call for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping channel for international commerce, Carlson admonished his own followers.
“Desecrating Easter was the first step toward nuclear war,” Carlson wrote on X. “Christians need to understand where Trump is taking us.
NBC
When Trump threatened to destroy Iran and several thought it was time to remove him according to the 25th amendment, there were also a couple of Republicans who jumped on board, including Marjorie Taylor Green who was previously one of his biggest supporters and still is one of the larger ones within the MAGA movement.
Of course, this may partly be due to Trump trying to throw her under the bus, but she has always been a staunch supporter of America first. No wars, no support for Ukraine, etc.
The problem for MAGA is probably that they don’t have any other alternatives to vote for, but maybe they will simply choose to not cast any vote at all if the dissatisfaction becomes too great.
The Epstein files are also something that has angered MAGA, but there it seems that they have partly managed to silence the criticism.
Is MTG still really big in MAGA? She has said that she feels deceived and MAGA is a lie. I don’t think the Iron Gang in MAGA accepts that, but those who just jumped on board without thinking before casting a vote for the idiots.
The world welcomes the ceasefire between the US, Israel, and Iran with open arms, several media outlets report.
EU’s foreign minister Kaja Kallas writes that she has spoken with the mediating country Pakistan and thanked them for their efforts, and that the ceasefire “creates a much-needed opportunity to reduce threats.”
UK’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces that he will travel to the Middle East and that he will hold talks with regional leaders during the day.
France’s Emmanuel Macron expresses a desire for Lebanon to be included in the ceasefire. Like the leaders mentioned earlier, Germany’s Friedrich Merz wants the Strait of Hormuz to be opened. He states that Germany is ready to contribute to this.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes that they welcome the ceasefire and seem to suggest in their statement that they had a hand in the behind-the-scenes negotiations, something hinted at by the US’s Donald Trump earlier in the morning.
🔥USF carried out a series of strikes hitting multiple Russian targets:
• Fuel terminal in Feodosia;
• Buk-M3 in Zaporizhzhia region;
• Tor-M2 in Donetsk region;
• Zoopark-1M in Zaporizhzhia region;
• Logistics warehouses in Sukhodilsk, Luhansk region;
• UAV storage in Stepne, Donetsk region.”
I have full understanding that other NATO countries do not actively participate in the US’s war against Iran. However, denying the US military the use of European bases and European airspace was very provocative. It is easy to understand that this provokes a reaction in the US. If Europe is willing to fully take care of its own defense, of course, it can do so, but it is doubtful whether it is compatible with the current order where we rely on the US to guarantee our security. Not least with a nuclear umbrella.
Agreed, Hazard game. Absent American support is a greater security risk than a persistent Iran.
The “legal” route could not even agree on the opening of Hormuz despite Iran’s illegal threats to stop traffic. China and Russia voted no in the UN Security Council on such a resolution.
Today Mark Rutte comes to Washington.
“Donald, you really wimped out,” he wrote, using the Hebrew word for “duck” to describe the American president, which in slang implies weakness or a lack of backbone.
— Chair of the Knesset’s National Security Committee and a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, MK Zvika Fogel, reacted to the ceasefire announced by Trump with a sharply worded post on X.
— Jerusalem Post 8 April 2026
“Donald, you really wimped out,”
— Chair of the Knesset’s National Security Committee and a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, MK Zvika Fogel, reacted to the ceasefire announced by Trump with a sharply worded post on X, using the Hebrew word for “duck” to describe the American president, which in slang implies weakness or a lack of backbone.
— Jerusalem Post
Hm, as previously stated, it is risky to get in the same boat as Trump.
Israel’s opposition is not satisfied.
“The ceasefire in the Iran war is a political disaster unprecedented in Israel’s history. This is written by the Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on X.
“Israel was not even at the table when decisions were made regarding the core of our national security,” the post continues.
He writes that the IDF and the population did exactly what was required during the war, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed both strategically and politically to achieve any of the goals he set himself.
“It will take us years to repair the political and strategic damage caused by Netanyahu due to hubris, negligence, and lack of strategic planning.”
The sentiments are similar from both left-wing leader Yair Golan and secular right-wing leader Avigdor Liberman.”
https://omni.se/israels-opposition-skarpt-kritisk-historisk-katastrof/a/k0vaRQ
Off-Topic, the election
I haven’t thought about how other similar surveys have looked, thought that most people who vote for a party want the party leader to become prime minister? Of course, there may be some more options within the party sometimes, but when it comes to the SD, isn’t Jimmie the obvious choice? Would have liked to see who the other 42% would have preferred instead.
“58 percent of SD voters want Jimmie Åkesson to become prime minister if the Tidö parties win the election this fall. This is shown in a poll from Novus, as reported by TV4 News.
It is not stated during which period the survey was conducted. But Novus CEO Torbjörn Sjöström notes that a large part of SD voters are not yet on board with the new line presented at last week’s press conference with Åkesson and Ulf Kristersson.
There, Åkesson announced that SD will support Kristersson as prime minister, in exchange for ministerial positions.
– The challenge for Åkesson will be that a vote for SD will be a vote for Ulf Kristersson as prime minister, he tells TV4 News.”
https://omni.se/matning-sd-valjarna-vill-att-akesson-blir-statsminister/a/GxrlR6
The first ships have passed through the Strait of Hormuz during Wednesday morning. This is reported by the website Marine Traffic, which tracks maritime traffic, in a post on X.
“The Greek-owned bulk carrier NJ Earth passed through the strait at 08:44 UTC, while the Liberian-flagged Daytona Beach went through earlier, at 06:59 UTC.”
UTC is the world’s common reference time – two hours ahead of Swedish time, which means that the first ship passed shortly before nine on Wednesday morning.
The strait, where around one-fifth of the world’s oil usually passes through, has been almost closed since the Iran war started more than a month ago. The ships now passing through will be the first to do so since the ceasefire took effect overnight.”
“Even if the Strait of Hormuz remains open, it would take several months for the aviation fuel supply to recover. That’s according to the Director General of the aviation organization IATA, Willie Walsh, as reported by Reuters.
– I still think it will take several months to restore supply to desired levels, says Walsh.
Considering the disruptions in refinery capacity in the Middle East, Walsh believes that aviation fuel costs are likely to remain elevated, even if oil prices were to fall.”
https://omni.se/kan-ta-manader-innan-tillgangen-pa-flygbransle-aterhamtar-sig/a/V6gl9W
“😠 Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence has published new data revealing the use of foreign-made industrial equipment in Russia’s military-industrial complex.”
https://united24media.com/latest-news/ukraine-exposes-german-japanese-and-other-tech-still-powering-russias-war-machine-17718
I think Ukraine should respond by adding all of Russia as its buffer zone.
“Russia added Vinnytsia Oblast to its buffer zone plans, via Transnistria. Ukraine’s deputy presidential chief Palisa: first time such a plan has been recorded — and Russia has no forces to act on any of it.”
https://bsky.app/profile/euromaidanpress.bsky.social/post/3miy3zcf4t52t
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/04/08/russias-buffer-zone-wishlist-now-includes-vinnytsia-via-moldovas-transnistria-ukrainian-official-says/
“❗️ They were preparing a terrorist attack in the center of Kharkiv – SBU detained a couple of Russian agents The couple made a homemade bomb, which was supposed to be planted in the central part of Kharkiv and remotely detonated during the largest gathering of people.”
🔥🚢Ukrainian special forces disabled the last operational Russian railway ferry “Slavyanin” in the Kerch Strait overnight on April 5–6. Following earlier strikes on the ferry fleet, this effectively removes Russia’s remaining rail ferry capability in the area.”
🤬
“Occupied Avdiivka. A Russian “liberator” wanders through the ruins of homes, gloating that the owners were driven out and the city itself was destroyed. This is the true face of “ordinary Russians”.”
https://bsky.app/profile/wartranslated.bsky.social/post/3mixzffhxlc2v
Shortly after Israel’s major person search attack against the Iran-backed terrorist group Hezbollah in 2024, Hungary offered assistance to Iran. This is shown in a transcript of the conversation shared with the Washington Post by a Western intelligence service.
In the conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó promises to share “all information we have gathered during the investigation.”
– If you need more information or want to contact me, I am always at your disposal.
The person search devices were manufactured by a Hungarian company, and therefore the country wanted to emphasize that it was not involved in the attack.
At the same time, the conversation with Iran raises several “uncomfortable questions.” Firstly, this happened despite the USA waging war with Iran, viewing Hezbollah as a terrorist group, and supporting Viktor Orbán in the election. Secondly, Hungary is publicly one of Israel’s closest friends. Thirdly, it raises new questions about Hungary’s ties with Russia, which is a close ally of Iran.
Szijjártó does not deny the conversation but downplays the content.
Oil price falls sharply dn
Yes, the Iran operation is a success, for Ukraine.
The USA, together with Israel, has eliminated significant military capacity, which could potentially have been requisitioned by the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
Potentially?
For those who have followed the war in Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion, it is a known fact that significant amounts of weapons, crucial for the development of the war even, came into Russia’s possession, directly from Iran.
Wearing blinders made of double fabric, one can argue that the Israeli/American attack is a failure. But then one chooses against which targets the operation should be judged, and only the targets set by the USA and Israel themselves. Regarding these targets, it is far from decided.
But the eagerness to point out a failure* is so great that one overlooks what has never been stated as a goal by any party, not even indirectly: that a weakened Iran is positive for Ukraine. The only downside in this regard has been a high oil price. With the agreed ceasefire, the oil price drops immediately. Russia can no longer capitalize on the war economically. And even less can any deliveries of weapons of any kind be expected from Iran. Possibly, a substantial collection of Shia Muslim Revolutionary Guard militias can be imported into the Russian army. That is all Iran can contribute to Russia now and for a good time to come. Ukraine has one less enemy ally to deal with in the ongoing war. Perhaps the most dangerous of its kind. An ally that Budanov argued changed the entire outcome of the war in 2023, when Ukraine had Russia on the ropes, but Iran entered the war with deliveries of Shahed attack drones.
Furthermore, the world has taken notice of Ukrainian defense exports.
*Not even the blogger on the other channel attaches any importance to the fact that the attack on Iran has knocked out its military capacity and the possibilities of acting as an ally to Russia in its invasion war against Ukraine, for a long time to come.
But the UN Security Council did not want to prevent Iran’s blockade.
Dagens Industri: “The Singapore government refuses to negotiate with Iran on ship passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The reason is that individual agreements undermine the whole idea of international free navigation. At the same time, the Singapore Strait is even more important for global oil transport.”
The UN lacks relevance.
Yes, the enthusiasm is great among European media, including the Swedish ones, to discredit Trump and the USA in various ways. That is a mistake. Regardless of Trump’s confused statements and total inability to delegate. But Trump may soon be gone and replaced by the much more sensible Marco Rubio. Who received standing ovations for his speech, I believe it was in Davos.
The USA under Trump dislikes the left-liberal Europe, which in turn dislikes the current right-leaning USA under Trump. It is infected. It’s good that Rutte is going to the USA.