Tanker Carrying Fuel Bound For Cuba Diverts, While Another Russian Tanker Is Set To Challenge US Blockade

Tanker Carrying Fuel Bound For Cuba Diverts, While Another Russian Tanker Is Set To Challenge US Blockade

 TYLER DURDEN

A tanker carrying fuel originally ‌bound for Cuba on Friday changed its destination to Trinidad and Tobago, according to LSEG ship-tracking data, a blow for the island amid a severe fuel scarcity that has triggered power blackouts. The Hong Kong-flagged vessel Sea Horse loaded a Russian diesel ​cargo earlier this year through a ship-to-ship transfer in the Mediterranean before setting sail to the Caribbean.

But while the Russian-origined ​cargo was bound for Cuba, the ship had suspended course in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean since late February.  And according to LSEG data, the tanker has now changed course and is heading south to Trinidad, with an ​estimated arrival on Monday, leaving Cuba with no immediate supplies in sight.

Cuba on Tuesday reconnected its power grid and ​brought online its largest thermal electricity plant, ending a nationwide blackout that lasted more than ​29 hours. But the US move to choke off fuel supply to Cuba's government ⁠could cause more outages, Cuban officials have said. Sure enough, over the weekend, the island nation suffered another countrywide blackout. 

The US Treasury Department on Thursday changed the terms of a waiver it had ‌granted to ⁠sales of Russian-origin crude and petroleum products already loaded on tankers to specifically exclude transactions involving North Korea, Cuba and Crimea, in order to put the squeeze on Cuba which Trump has threatened to take over.

While the Trump administration wants to contain high crude and gas prices amid the Middle East conflict, it has not eased pressure on the island's Communist government, restricting any oil supplies to ​private entities only.

While the Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse tanker may have given up on its Cuban delivery, another Russian tanker is now powering across the Atlantic and could soon become the first real test of how far the Kremlin is willing to go to aid its old allies in Cuba amid the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against Havana. 

The Russian-flagged, state-owned tanker the Anatoly Kolodkin departed March 8 from Primorsk, Russia, carrying 750,000 barrels of crude that, once refined, could provide Cuba with several precious weeks of energy. Britain’s Royal Navy tracked the ship and its Russian naval escort through the English Channel. Then the escort veered off and the vessel continued its journey solo.

After 10 weeks of a U.S. oil blockade, Cuba's grid is near collapse. Russia may be sending a lifeline: a state-owned tanker full of crude. But a Chinese-owned tanker, spooked by U.S. threats, abandoned its Cuba delivery and is now looking for a buyer elsewhere. w/ @jacknicas pic.twitter.com/86mOORUPnG

The Kolodkin’s destination is listed on manifests only as “Atlantic, For Order.” But the maritime tracking agency Vortexa indicates the Cuban port of Matanzas, home to the island’s largest oil terminal, as the most likely destination, according to Michelle Wiese Bockmann, a senior analyst at the maritime intelligence firm Windward, Vortexa’s partner. Other firms have also reported the ship appears to be heading to Cuba. It’s about a week away from the island, Bockmann said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didn’t confirm or deny Moscow’s links to the Kolodkin or another ship carrying Russian oil in the Atlantic on Friday. But he suggested Moscow was looking for ways to offer Cuba relief. Russia's state-run TASS ​news agency also said this ⁠week the Russian government is in talks with Cuba about aid options, without providing further details.

The Russian government is “in constant contact with the Cuban leadership, with our Cuban friends,” Peskov said. “And we are, indeed, discussing with them possible options for assisting Cuba in the difficult situation it finds itself in.”

Any attempt to deliver crude to Cuba could trigger a direct confrontation with an administration with which Moscow has been eager to build a new working relationship. Last week, the U.S. Treasury Department, looking to ease the surge in energy prices caused by the war in Iran, temporarily lifted sanctions on countries that purchased Russian oil then already at sea. But on Thursday, Treasury issued new guidance that specifically barred Cuba from receiving Russian oil, a move that appeared to send an unsubtle message to Moscow: Back off

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Iran Threatens To Destroy Region-Wide Infrastructure As Trump's 48-Hour Ultimatum Ticks Down, Mass Casualties In Southern Israel

Iran Threatens To Destroy Region-Wide Infrastructure As Trump's 48-Hour Ultimatum Ticks Down, Mass Casualties In Southern Israel

TYLER DURDEN

Summary

• Iran vows regional and US infrastructure will be "irreversibly destroyed" in response to Trump's 48-hour timeline to open Hormuz or else Iranian power plants will be obliterated.

• Iran announces imposition a $2 million transit fee on 'non-enemy' ships wishing to transit strait.

• Unprecedented damage and many dozens of casualties in Israel's south after tit-for-tat strikes on areas with nuclear plants.

• Reports of US prepping diplomatic offramp plan but Iran says expanding war has effectively shut the door; Bessent says "50 days" of higher prices for 50 years of no Iran nukes, and "escalate to de-escalate."

  
  

  Scott Bessent said US-Israeli strikes are focused on weakening Iran's fortified positions along the Strait of Hormuz as Donald Trump presses a deadline for Tehran to "fully open, without threat" the critical global shipping waterway. He stated the US will "take whatever steps it takes" to eliminate Iran's military capabilities, including its ability to project power abroad; however, it remains to be seen just how degraded Iran's missile program is.

  "There has been a campaign… to soften up the Iranian fortifications… that's going to continue until they are completely demolished… Sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate," he asserted.

  As the conflict enters its fourth week, and amid rising oil and gasoline prices which have intensified economic pressure at home, Bessent framed the surge as a temporary cost tied to a longer-term greater objective, stating: "Let’s just pick 50 days of temporary elevated prices… Prices will come off on the other side for 50 years of not having an Iranian regime with a nuclear weapon." But then the usual more open-ended caveats: "I don’t know whether it’s going to be 50 days. I don’t know whether it’s going to be a hundred days." As the US keeps going up the escalation ladder with Iran, will it be able to come down?

  
  

  As a reminder here's what President Trump threatened Saturday - so the clock is ticking - assuming he's ready to make good on the promise: "If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!" Trump wrote.

  
  

  Iran has responded with its own vow of escalation in response. In a post on X, Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf warned that critical infrastructure and energy facilities across the Middle East will be "irreversibly destroyed" if Iranian power plants are attacked. He wrote:

  "Immediately after the power plants and infrastructure in our country are targeted, the critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure, and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed in an irreversible manner, and the price of oil will remain high for a long time."

  
  

  By now it's clear that Iran's approach to the Strait of Hormuz has been to only allow select countries while targeting others' shipping and reportedly mining the waterway. An Iranian official said the strait is open to all vessels except those from "enemy" countries.

  
  

  Iran state TV has further announced the imposition a $2 million transit fee on ships, with a senior lawmaker stating: "We have established a new regime governing the Strait after 47 years… We have to fund the war."

  
  

Antonio Guterres stated the UN is prepared to help reopen the strait, along with some Gulf countries - but there's still nothing in the way of any level of a practical military plan in place, given the obvious extreme risks.

The US is still considering plans to seize or blockade Kharg Island, which would be another massive escalation which some analysts have deemed 'suicidal' in terms of warships or any Marines sent that deep into Persian Gulf and strait waters.

US and Israeli forces continued strikes across Iran, including in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan, Natanz, and Ramsar - while as we've been reporting, Iran's Atomic Energy Organization said the Natanz nuclear site was targeted in "criminal attacks."

This in turn resulted in Iran targeting Dimona and Arad for the first time of the war, causing roughly 100 injuries. The conflict has just entered week four and already they are trading strikes on nuclear plants. Central Israel has continued getting hit hard, with Iranian cluster munitions spreading bomblets across Tel Aviv and nearby areas. Fifteen people were injured there, one seriously. Additional impacts damaged residential areas in Jaffa and Petah Tikva.

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Daniel 12 Dynamics

Daniel 12 Dynamics

Terry James

Daniel is likely the most disparaged book of the Bible. Its author, the prophet, presented highly significant, far-into-the-future events so accurately that the unbelieving world finds them impossible to accept. The naysayers declare that all such fulfilled prophecy was cobbled together long after Daniel’s time and somehow put into the biblical canon to falsely make us believe the prophet was accurate.

Author Ray C. Stedman, in his study, Introduction to Daniel, writes the following:

Why such a strong attack against Daniel? Simply because Daniel contains more fulfilled prophecies than any other book in the Bible. In New Testament prophecy, Daniel is referred to more than any other Old Testament book. Marxist governments have prohibited preaching from passages like Daniel because they tell God’s words on the course of history, where He and His people win.

All we have to do is to pay attention to the news at any given hour today to know why this hatred of the book of Daniel is so virulent.

The hatred for Daniel’s people–Israel—is so prevalent at this late hour of this dispensation (the Age of Grace) that a large portion of our nation has lost its collective mind. They have become totally reprobate, as Paul prophesied in Romans 1:28. The haters have become mad and upside down in their ability to reason when it comes to the much-hated Israel. Anti-Semitism is at a level even greater than at the time of Hitler’s rise to power.

I say the noise of hatred for Daniel’s people, the Jews, is greater in volume than at the time of the Nazis because anti-Semitism is not confined to any one nation today. It is worldwide, and its chief instigation comes from the fanatical, satanic wickedness within Islam.

The Islamic regime of Iran is one such faction that does all within its power to murder as many Jews as possible. The following report gives an idea of the hatred Daniel’s people face at this present hour.

In a stark warning to Israeli travelers abroad, a senior National Security Council (NSC) official warned in a conversation with The Jerusalem Post that the Islamic Republic has engaged in an “unprecedented removal of restraints” regarding terror plots abroad, shifting from cautious proxy warfare to direct, “dirty,” and unfiltered attempts to harm Israelis globally.

The senior official described a dramatic shift in Tehran’s modus operandi. Following a series of intelligence and military blows sustained by the regime, Iran is no longer operating solely through layers of deniability.

“We are seeing an Iranian removal of restraints that is almost unprecedented,” the official stated. “No proxies, no filters. Where they can act, they act. Whether with brazen determination or in a ‘dirty’ manner. It is a fundamental change in approach because they feel they have nothing to lose right now, given what they have absorbed.” (“Senior official warns about global Iranian violence,” Jerusalem Post, March 9, 2026)

Daniel, near the end of his life, was perplexed at all the prophecy he had been given. He wanted desperately to know the fate of his people. He had witnessed through the words of the angel Gabriel extremely powerful prophecies about things his people would face in the future.

No doubt he was given a vision of some of the hatreds we see taking place at this moment across America and the world.

Daily, the news tells of jihadi attacks in American cities and cities across the globe. Now there is warning of “sleeper cells” of Israel-hating Islamic terrorists who were allowed into this nation in the previous presidential administration. These, we’re warned, will be released to do their evil in a murderous rampage once the orders are issued by, for example, the Iranian regime’s ayatollahs.

Rather than mainstream news organizations and Democrat Party mouthpieces coming against the anti-Israel Muslim interests in America, these rant incessantly against Israel. They accuse Jews of being the genocidal agents against Palestinians. They accuse Israel of causing Muslims to righteously, in defensive efforts, foment Islamic anti-Semitism and violence.

News media, Democrat Party activists, entertainment leftists, and university students and faculty across the US promote and cheer chants from Israel-haters such as “Free, free Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free!” But there is no such support from mainstream media and the others for ninety-seven million Iranians oppressed by the Iranian revolutionary regime since 1979. There is no collective commiseration for the reported fifty thousand Iranians who opposed the regime and were slaughtered by the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp.)

Daniel’s final words expressed his great concern about what will become of his people–the Jews. After appealing for an answer in what must have been an agonizing desire to know, the Heavenly Being told him the following.

“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1).

This seemed to make the old prophet’s worry meter register his concern even more intensely.

“And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?” (Daniel 12:8).

Daniel’s appeal must have become even more anxiety-ridden. The Heavenly Being that spoke to him must have been Jesus Christ in a Theophany—His preincarnate position—because the word “Lord” was capitalized.

“And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand” (Daniel 12:9-11).

The Lord, who spoke to the old prophet in answer to Daniel’s question, then told of the seven-year Tribulation period, giving specific terms about the number of days when all would be finished. Then the Lord said the following:

“But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days” (Daniel 12:13).

We are, I’m convinced, witnessing the dynamics wrapped up within this prophecy. I believe those who are “wise” (according to Daniel 12:11) in terms of being “watchers,” as in Mark 13: 37 and Luke 21: 28, are being given insight about what Daniel wanted to know.

We’re seeing the build-up toward the Tribulation (Daniel’s seventieth week). For us, the book that was closed to Daniel has been opened.

Those dynamics have Daniel’s people–Israel—at the very center of things while we watch these issues and events unfold. It all points to a soon-coming moment when Jesus will step onto the clouds of Glory and call all believers to Himself.

You want to be “Rapture ready” when the Lord shouts, “Come up here!” Here’s how:

“That if you will confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and will believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Romans 10: 9-10).

Global surge in antisemitic attacks sparks urgent call for Jews to return to Israel

Global surge in antisemitic attacks sparks urgent call for Jews to return to Israel

Paul Calvert

It’s been a bad week for Jews around the world.

Two brothers were arrested after planning an attack on Jews in France.
A Jewish school was targeted in Amsterdam.
There was an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam.
There was also an attack on a synagogue in Michigan, USA.

While Israel is serving the world by getting rid of a nuclear program run by a tyrannical regime that threatens the world, Jews are being targeted globally.

We thank God that no one was killed in these attacks, but we know it is only a matter of time before a very serious incident arises, like in Bondi or Manchester.

The pro-Palestine mobs who have been chanting “globalize the intifada” should be very grateful that no one has been killed in these attacks this week, because they would have blood on their hands.

This is what “globalize the intifada” means. It means go out and kill Jews. Do they really understand that?

When a Jew dies in one of these attacks, I hold every person responsible who has shouted “globalize the intifada.” You will have blood on your hands.

You will be guilty of inciting hatred which led to the murder of an innocent Jew. Can you live with that? You will be no better than Hitler and the Nazis.

I think this week, and the weeks before it, should be a wake-up call to Jews around the world. Come home. Come to Israel. Be the generation that fulfills biblical prophecy. Your home is here, so come home.

The world is not safe for Jews anymore.

I have recently been reading the book of Genesis, the story of Joseph. Joseph became great in Egypt; he was second in command. Jacob, his father, and his family joined him. When Jacob died, Egypt mourned. There was great respect for Joseph and Jacob.

But things changed. Over time, things changed. A new ruler arose who did not know Joseph or Jacob. The attitude toward the Jews changed, and they ended up in bondage for 400 years.

After October 7, the attitude of the world has changed. There has always been antisemitism, but the world has changed. Jews should not feel settled anymore—they should come home.

“Globalize the intifada” is being shouted on the streets, so see the warning signs. You don’t live in the same world anymore.

Come, come home to Eretz Israel and fulfill biblical prophecy.

Ezekiel 34:13
“And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.” (NKJV)

Psalms 107:2–3
“Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy, and gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.”

Come and invest in your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in the nation of Israel. There is a future and a hope for you.

There is a nation ready and waiting for you—a nation that cares for the Jews. The Jewish homeland Jacob called Israel.

Iran sees control of Strait of Hormuz as victory over US, Israel - report

Iran sees control of Strait of Hormuz as victory over US, Israel - report

i24NEWS

Iran is showing no indication it is ready to end the war with the United States and Israel, as officials say Tehran is relying on its control over the Strait of Hormuz to increase global economic pressure and strengthen its position.

According to regional officials cited by The Washington Post, Iran is rejecting diplomatic efforts to identify an off-ramp and instead escalating attacks on neighboring countries. An Iranian diplomat said the strategy is to “make this aggression super expensive for the aggressors,” as Tehran faces sustained military pressure.

The Strait of Hormuz remains central to Iran’s calculations. The waterway carries roughly one-fifth of global fuel shipments, and its partial closure has disrupted energy markets. US President Donald Trump issued a 48-hour deadline for Iran to reopen the route, warning of further escalation if it does not comply

Iranian officials and diplomats said the leadership views its ability to maintain pressure through the strait as a short-term success, even as infrastructure damage mounts. “They don’t feel any pressure to negotiate,” one European diplomat based in the Gulf said, adding that Iran sees its influence over oil markets as a form of leverage.

At the same time, efforts to mediate a ceasefire have so far failed. Officials from Qatar and Oman approached Iran last week, but Tehran said it would only engage if US and Israeli strikes stopped first. An Iranian diplomat said the country would not accept a “premature ceasefire” and is seeking guarantees, including compensation and commitments to prevent future attacks.

The war has already caused significant damage. The Pentagon says more than 15,000 targets have been struck across Iran, while Iranian authorities report over 1,200 civilian deaths. The conflict has also expanded regionally, with Iranian strikes targeting energy infrastructure in Gulf states following attacks on its own facilities.

Despite mounting losses, analysts say Iran’s leadership believes prolonging the conflict could shift pressure onto Washington and its allies through rising energy prices and regional instability. “We’re still on an escalatory path,” said Alan Eyre, a former US official, adding that Tehran is attempting to “up the costs” rather than move toward negotiations.