The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will leave OPEC and OPEC+, with the decision effective May 1, according to a statement from the country’s Energy Ministry posted on Tuesday. The ministry shared that while the country has been a part of the organization for “decades,” and played an “active role” in supporting the stability of the global oil market, it believes that this was the right time to exit the alliance. “While near-term volatility, including disruptions in the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, continues to affect supply dynamics, underlying trends point to sustained growth in global energy demand over the medium to long term,” the ministry shared. The decision was made after a “comprehensive review” and is based “on our national interest,” the ministry added. The country’s oil production is expected to be raised “gradually.” In February 2026, the UAE was the third-largest OPEC producer, with Saudi Arabia in first and Iraq in second place.
NN: This hasuae move has NO market impact, Reality because of the straights blockade all Gulf OPEC members are producing under their quotes. Oil demand is 101MBPD. Including attempts of all oil producers to increase production reality is the crude oil market is undersupplied, Production is around 90MBPD. For now higher prices and inventory draw down is barely meeting demand. Global reserve supplies are weeks away from running out. EVEN IF GULF PRODUCTION IS RESTORED
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News on Monday that the United States will not tolerate Iran controlling or establishing a toll system in the Strait of Hormuz. “What they mean by opening the straits is, yes, the straits are open, as long as you coordinate with Iran, get our permission, or we’ll blow you up and you pay us,” Rubio said. “That’s not opening the straits. Those are international waterways. They cannot normalize, nor can we tolerate them trying to normalize, a system in which the Iranians decide who gets to use an international waterway and how much you have to pay them to use it.” Rubio further vowed that the waterway would remain open either through international pressure or a coalition-led effort, following significant disruption to global energy supplies.
NN: In case you haven’t noticed the straights are closed and the storage tanks are being drained dry as the world is in denial!
Trump, other officials safe after shooting at correspondents’ dinner
Shooter has been apprehended, officials say
Suspect wielded a shotgun, FBI official
Trump was previously targeted by two assassination attempts
President Donald Trump and officials in his administration were the likely targets of a suspect who fired on a security agent guarding the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner in Washington, U.S. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said on Sunday. The man fired a shotgun at a Secret Service agent at a checkpoint in the Washington Hilton hotel before being tackled and arrested. Trump and first lady Melania Trump were rushed out of the dinner.
“It does appear that he, he did, in fact, set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president,” Blanche told NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” adding that the suspect likely traveled by train from Los Angeles to Chicago and then to Washington.
Trump told reporters at a briefing at the White House after the attack that the Secret Service agent was saved by his bulletproof vest and was in “good shape.” U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi confirmed the officer had been released from hospital. Trump told reporters he believed that he was the target of the attack. The president has survived two previous attempts on his life since 2024, a period of deepening political polarization in the United States.
A law enforcement official identified the suspect as Cole Tomas Allen, a California resident about 31 years old. Little was immediately known about Allen’s background, but social media postings suggested he was a teacher in Torrance, near Los Angeles. Washington interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll said the suspect was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives. He was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated but it was too soon to say what his motivation was, Carroll said. Based on preliminary information, he was believed to have been a guest at the hotel, Carroll added. The chaotic events from around 8:35 p.m. (0035 GMT on Sunday) raised fresh questions about the security of top U.S. officials, many of whom were gathered in the hotel’s expansive ballroom.
A focus of the investigation is likely to be how the gunman was able to smuggle the shotgun into the hotel, which hosts the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, a marquee fixture of Washington’s social calendar.
The black-tie event was attended by many members of Trump’s cabinet and other senior administration officials amid heavy security. It was the first time Trump attended the event as president, having boycotted it in previous years.
Afterward, Trump addressed reporters, many still in evening attire, in an extraordinary late-night press conference in the White House briefing room, flanked by Vice President JD Vance and other cabinet members. Trump’s wife Melania looked on from the sidelines and demurred when he asked her whether she wanted to talk about the events of the evening.
The venue for the dinner was the scene of an attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan, who was shot and wounded by a would-be assassin outside the hotel in 1981. Closed-circuit TV footage released by Trump on Truth Social showed the suspect running rapidly through a security checkpoint, momentarily catching security personnel off-guard before they drew their weapons.
No shots were fired at the gunman who got through two checkpoints before being brought down.
Video footage shows Trump and his wife sitting at a banquet table on stage in conversation with someone when a commotion at the rear of the ballroom – caused by the noise of gunshots – triggers a ripple of gasps through the room.
People started screaming “Get down, get down!” Many of the 2,600 attendees dressed in tuxedos and ball gowns took cover under tables as security personnel drew their weapons, with some pushing cabinet secretaries to the floor and covering them with their bodies while others formed a protective cordon.
Security personnel in combat fatigues stormed the stage pointing rifles into the ballroom as Trump, his wife and Vance were evacuated. Cabinet members who had been sitting at tables dotted around the vast room were escorted out by their security details one by one. While most guests huddled under tables, some people began chanting “USA, USA!”
Trump stayed backstage for about an hour after being hustled from the stage, a source told Reuters. He later said he had not wanted to leave the event, a remark that echoed images of him defiantly pumping his fist after narrowly escaping an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in 2024.
In that attempt, Trump was shot and wounded in his upper ear by a 20-year-old gunman, who was shot dead by security personnel.
NN: Their is a LOT more to this story. This was not a lone wolf attack. And he got a lot closer to a massacre. Let me finish running down some information sources and ill revert back to you. All the leaders were there. And security was a joke!
Three US aircraft carriers are operating in the Middle East simultaneously “for the first time in decades,” amid Washington’s naval blockade of Iranian ports, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) stated on Friday. “For the first time in decades, three aircraft carriers are operating in the Middle East at the same time. Accompanied by their carrier air wings, the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), and USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) include over 200 aircraft and 15,000 Sailors and Marines,” CENTCOM said in an X post. The command said yesterday that US forces have directed 33 vessels to turn around or return to port since the start of the blockade.
International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol said on Thursday that the global oil markets have been losing 13 million barrels per day (bpd) due to the energy crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict. He added that the loss of other vital commodities, including fertilisers and petrochemicals, “which will have a significant impact on the supply chains around the world” in the weeks and months to come. Speaking at CNBC’s CONVERGE LIVE forum, Birol repeated that this is the “biggest energy security threat in history,” stressing that the longer the conflict lasts, the longer markets will need to recover. He predicted that Europe will need to implement measures limiting air travel if the jet fuel supply is not normalized, especially when the summer travel season begins.
The USS George H.W. Bush aircraft carrier is expected to arrive in the Middle East in approximately 3-5 days, a Fox News correspondent shared on Wednesday. The journalist made the announcement in response to a post on X, which stated that United States President Donald Trump’s new deadline to Iran is set to expire on Sunday, suggesting that the timing of the carrier’s arrival aligns with Trump’s deadline. Last week, media reports claimed that the United States Department of Defense (DoD) will deploy 6,000 more troops in the region soon, and an additional 4,200 by the end of the month.
Crude prices continued to climb on Wednesday after Iran seized two vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, escalating Middle East tensions. The attacks came even as the US extended its ceasefire deal with Iran, leaving the fate of negotiations uncertain. Tehran has linked future talks to Washington lifting its port blockade. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for June’s settlements jumped by 3.48% at 11:37 am ET to sell for $92.79 per barrel. Meanwhile, Brent for June’s deliveries increased by 3.34% to $101.77 per barrel.
Iran seizes two ships for maritime violations, escalating tensions in Strait of Hormuz
Pakistan continues mediation efforts
Iran and US remain divided on ceasefire, blockade, nuclear issues and control of strait
Iran seized two ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, tightening its grip on the strategic waterway, after U.S. President Donald Trump called off attacks indefinitely with no sign of peace talks restarting. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said the Revolutionary Guards had seized two vessels for maritime violations and escorted them to Iranian shores. It was the first time Iran has seized ships since the beginning of the war at the end of February.
Earlier, a British maritime security agency reported three ships had come under fire.
Trump said in a statement on social media late on Tuesday that the U.S. had agreed to a request by Pakistani mediators “to hold our Attack on the Country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal … and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.” But even as he announced what appeared to be a unilateral ceasefire extension,
Trump also said he would continue the U.S. Navy’s blockade of Iran’s trade by sea. The United States fired on and seized an Iranian cargo vessel on Saturday and boarded a huge Iranian oil tanker on Tuesday in the Indian Ocean.
Iran considers the U.S. blockade an act of war and has said it will not lift its closure of the strait, which has caused a global energy crisis, as long as the U.S. blockade continues. Just hours before Trump called off attacks, he had repeated threats to resume them, declaring that his military was “raring to go”. Throughout the war, Iran has effectively shut the strait to ships other than its own by attacking vessels that attempt to transit without its permission. Around a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes through the waterway.
On Wednesday, Britain’s maritime security agency UKMTO said that at least three container ships had reported being hit by gunfire in the strait. The master of one ship reported being approached by an Iranian gunboat northeast of Oman on Wednesday, the agency said. The vessel came under fire from guns and rocket-propelled grenades and its bridge was heavily damaged, although there were no reports of casualties or environmental damage. Two other ships had said they came under fire about eight nautical miles west of Iran with no reported injuries. Iran has condemned the U.S. Navy intercepting Iranian ships at sea as part of its blockade, including a huge tanker bound for Singapore that was boarded in the Indian Ocean on Tuesday hours before peace talks had been due to resume. Iran’s foreign ministry accused the U.S. of “piracy at sea and state terrorism”.
NN: That’s rich! The worlds largest terrorists state that has shut down the worlds most critical shipping lane accuses the US of “piracy at sea and state terrorism”. Sommer or later like Hitler before the the liberal fagots wokes will figure out they
US President Donald Trump indefinitely extended a ceasefire with Iran just before its expiration, while maintaining a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The extension came after planned peace talks between the US and Iran fell apart, with Iran’s representatives refusing to attend due to what they said were unreasonable American demands.
Trump said the US is extending the ceasefire until Iran submits a new proposal “and discussions are concluded, one way or the other,” and that without the blockade, “there can never be a Deal with Iran.”
US President Donald Trump indefinitely extended a ceasefire with Iran just before its expiration, while maintaining a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz after planned peace talks between the two sides fell apart. Trump said in a Truth Social post that Pakistan, which is mediating, asked the US to hold off on fresh strikes. The US is extending the ceasefire until Iran submits a new proposal “and discussions are concluded, one way or the other.” In another post, the president said that without the blockade, “there can never be a Deal with Iran, unless we blow up the rest of their Country, their leaders included!” Vice President JD Vance had been set to travel to Pakistan to resume talks with Iran, but representatives from Tehran refused to attend, citing what they said were unreasonable American demands. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said there is currently no prospect of Iran participating in negotiations. A White House official confirmed in a statement that the vice president’s trip would not take place on Tuesday. Trump’s announcement struck a markedly different tone from earlier in the day when he told CNBC that “I expect to be bombing” if Iran didn’t meet his conditions, adding the military was “raring to go.” In a telephone interview on Monday, Trump said it was “highly unlikely that I’d extend” the cessation of hostilities if no deal is reached.mTop Iranian officials didn’t immediately comment on Trump’s pronouncement in overnight hours, Tehran time. Iran didn’t request an extension of the ceasefire, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported, citing unidentified sources. It also said the country won’t reopen the strait as long as the US naval blockade continues. Iranian forces are “at full readiness, with their fingers on the trigger,” the semi-official Fars News Agency reported, citing a statement by the country’s armed forces. The developments marked the latest turn in the back and forth between Washington and Tehran since the two sides announced a two-week truce on April 7. Since then, they have publicly bickered over the terms of an agreement and alternatively opened and closed Hormuz, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas exports flowed before the war.
NN: Why are we doing the Monster Mash dance with these liars, thieves, murder’s savages. We all know what has to be done. Time to get down to the nut cutting.
Crude oil prices jumped by more than 4% on Tuesday as investors grew more uncertain about the potential negotiations between the United States and Iran taking place in Islamabad, after reports of US Vice President JD Vance delaying his trip to Pakistan and Iranian officials reportedly saying that they won’t continue talks with the US until the naval blockade is removed from the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate futures for June deliveries climbed by 4.46% to $91.39 per barrel at 11:13 am ET. Meanwhile, Brent for the same month’s settlements gained 4.50% to $99.79 a barrel at the same time.