News of the World
Yesterday, 05:21 AM
MIDDLE EAST
Quote:Federal agents, in a daring predawn raid Wednesday, pounced on the opulent, $35 million Newport Beach mansion of an Iranian tech boss charged with supplying US computer hardware to Iran’s military and nuclear programs.
The California Post was there as the feds arrested Jamshid Ghomi, 63, of Newport Coast, who was charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and is expected to appear Wednesday afternoon in Santa Ana federal court.
The businessman, who is a dual citizen of Iran and the US, is accused of selling computer hardware to the Iranian government for use in its military and nuclear operations. Prosecutors allege Ghomi made millions on those deals and invented elaborate schemes to hide the transactions.
“Ghomi is accused of aiding our declared enemies by selling US-origin computer networking parts to Iran and earning millions of dollars in violation of US sanction laws,” said Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor Bill Essayli.
“We will hold him accountable by seeking an appropriate prison sentence and by seizing his assets, including his $35 million Newport Beach mansion,” he added.
Early Wednesday morning, dozens of agents dressed in tactical gear and carrying automatic weapons gathered early at a parking lot in tony Newport Beach near the accused Ghomi’s palatial pad.
From there, agents sped in a convoy to the property at 31 High Water within an exclusive gated community, encircling the mansion’s manicured grounds before calling for him to come out.
“What’s going on?” asked one of the stunned occupants of the mansion, as two of Ghomi’s adult sons and his wife were led outside by agents.
More agents carrying power tools and evidence boxes entered Ghomi’s the Italianate estate, while an interpreter arrived to interview him.
Ghomi eventually emerged after the interview and was taken into custody by agents who placed him in a silver SUV.
In addition to allegedly violating US sanction laws, federal authorities are investigating Ghomi for money laundering, tax evasion and other crimes.
He is accused of taking in more than $10 million annually in sales from his computer firm while only reporting a maximum income of $20,000 to the IRS.
Quote:President Trump and Iran have one month to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and get oil flowing again if they want to avoid a worldwide economic slowdown for the next two years, according to projections released Wednesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Already, global economic growth is expected to be significantly lower this year than it was last year — and it could plunge by more than a third if a key oil chokepoint remains shut, according to the group, which aims to promote freedom, economic growth and social wellbeing in member countries, including the US.
“The global economy entered 2026 with robust momentum, but the outlook has weakened significantly since the start of the conflict in the Middle East, with effects likely to be felt for some time,” OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann said in a statement.
“The longer the disruptions last, the larger the economic and social costs become,” he added.
Under the OECD’s predictions, global economic growth would sink to 2.1% this year, down from 3.4 % in 2025 if the strait is not opened for good.
Global economic growth would then plummet to 1.8% in 2027, likely pushing many nations into or close to a recession.
The hardest-hit nations would be in Asia, which are most dependent on crude oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf, whose supplies have been cut off by Iran, the OECD warned.
If the war ends in June and fuel disruptions are quickly addressed and the flow of oil and gas return to their pre-war levels, then the global economy has a chance to rebound and grow by 3.1% next year, the organization added.
The OECD’s prediction comes as negotiations between the US and Iran remain heated over the terms of how to end the war, with attacks continuing in the Persian Gulf this week despite a cease-fire.
US inflation increased at its fastest pace in three years in April, with the personal consumption expenditures price index jumping 3.8% in the last 12 months through April, the largest rise since May 2023, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said.
Quote:Jaw-dropping video shows the moment a massive explosion ripped through Kuwait’s international airport Wednesday, killing one person and injuring dozens more in an act the country’s defense ministry called “criminal Iranian aggression.”
Surveillance footage released by Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation shows a triangular-shaped drone aircraft dive-bombing the roof of Kuwait International Airport’s Terminal 1 just after 7 a.m. local time Wednesday, sending up a huge plume of fire and smoke.
The video is shown from several different angles, including from a parking area right next to where the drone made impact, where a silver car immediately pumped the gas to get out of harm’s way.
Footage taken inside the terminal shows a handful of people going about their day when suddenly their peace was shattered by the explosion, instantly filling the building with smoke and sending broken glass raining down on everyone inside from all angles.
Among the 63 injured were passengers and airport staff.
The airport had just reopened after closing in February due to previous Iran strikes, Kuwait Defense Ministry spokesperson Brig. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi said.
Kuwait’s Foreign Ministry said it would “neither accept nor tolerate” the attacks — and warned that it reserves the right to respond against Iran’s offensive.
Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) denied involvement in the attack, and attempted to pin it on a mistake by a US missile interceptor.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) quickly refuted IRGC’s claim, firing back that the rogue Islamic state had fired upon the airport in a “deliberate, calculated and unjustified attack.”
The explosion comes amid weeks of slow-going peace talks to end the war, and as Iranian news outlets reported the country has stopped communicating with mediators about extending a ceasefire in the war with the US and Israel.
Quote:WASHINGTON — President Trump shrugged off the House passage Wednesday of a resolution that seeks to end the conflict with Iran absent congressional approval.
The anti-war rebuke from the GOP-held House sets up a high-stakes vote in the Senate, where a simple majority is needed to pass the measure and 50 senators already supported a similar resolution in May.
“Yesterday, in a meaningless vote, the House voted, 4 bad Republicans and all of the Dumocrats, to limit my War Powers, right in the middle of my final negotiations to end the War with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth SocialThursday morning.
“Who would do such an unpatriotic thing. They know where the negotiations stand,” Trump added.
“The Democrats are fueled by Trump Derangement Syndrome. They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories. The four Republicans, that’s a whole other story – They’re GRANDSTANDERS! They should be ashamed of themselves. MAGA!!!”
Tom Barrett of Michigan, Warren Davidson of Ohio, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky voted with 211 Democrats to approve the resolution.
Six other Republicans — Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, Tom Kean Jr. of New Jersey, Morgan Luttrell of Texas, Nancy Mace and Ralph Norman of South Carolina and Andy Ogles of Tennessee — did not vote.
The White House argues the War Powers Resolution, which underpins congressional action, is unconstitutional by infringing on the president’s power to conduct foriegn affairs.
Still, a Senate loss would be a major political blow to Trump.
Courts historically have refused to order presidents to end wars, even if they blatantly ignore the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day deadline to get approval from Congress, as happened with then-President Barack Obama’s intervention in Libya’s civil war.
Quote:About two-thirds of outbound oil tankers used shadow fleet tactics to trickle through the Strait of Hormuz undetected in May — with 900 having already sneaked through during the Iran war, according to analysts.
While only a handful of ships are officially reported going through the Strait of Hormuz each day, dozens more are believed to be sneaking through, with 895 ships in total crossing the passage between March 1 and May 19, according to maritime data company Kpler.
At least 358 of those vessels have done so while employing shadow fleet tactics to “go dark” and avoid detection, with the move gaining wider traction as the conflict in Iran continues.
While only 37% of the outbound tankers had gone dark during the first month of the war, the number shot up to 65% in May, according to shipping analytics firm Vortexa.
The ships are essentially switching off their Automatic Identification System (AIS) before and after transiting the strait, a technique used by Iran’s shadow fleet to transport sanctioned oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
The very nature of “going dark” makes it difficult to estimate how many ships are actually crossing the Strait of Hormuz, with maritime analysts estimating that an average of 7 to 10 vessels are going through every day.
“That shift suggests AIS-off behaviour is becoming an accepted operating protocol, not an exceptional measure,” Vortexa warned.
“Iran-linked vessels helped establish the template before and during the early phase of the crisis. Non-sanctioned Gulf tonnage is now increasingly using similar methods — and, in volume terms, beginning to dominate them,” the firm added.
Given the nature of “going dark,” it remains unclear exactly which routes the oil tankers are using to bypass trouble in the Strait of Hormuz.
Quote:President Trump on Thursday said the Space Force has “very powerful cameras” trained on Iran’s destroyed nuclear sites, scouting for any attempts Iran may take to break out the enriched uranium still buried deep below.
“Every inch of that land has cameras on it,” he said. “We have about nine of them, and they’re on, and we cover it. So, if anybody even got near it, we would know what we had to.”
He further brushed off the idea of the US imminently sending troops into those sites to retrieve the buried nuclear material — saying “we could get it right now” if he chose to go that route.
“I don’t think [Iran] could stop us if we wanted, but there’s no reason to,” he said.
“We have very powerful cameras.”
The president said he considered sending troops on a secret mission to retrieve the uranium “right at the very beginning … before we destroyed their entire military.”
“There was a time, at the very beginning, when we thought about doing that, because they would have not been watching, but they would have found out,” he said.
But the president has since assessed that the buried uranium poses no immediate threat to the US, as the facilities in which they are held sit an estimated 260 to 330 feet below ground with no obvious ways Iran could get it without tipping off the Americans.
He also explained that it would be a complex, lengthy ordeal to free the uranium — even for highly trained US special forces.
“It’s not like it’s not like Venezuela where you go in, you’re there for a matter of minutes and you’re out,” Trump said.
“This is different. You have to be there for two weeks, you’d need massive equipment. You’d have to airlift the equipment, and you know you’re in a war zone.”
Quote:Kill an American service member, and we’re back to war, President Trump said Thursday.
“If they killed US troops, that would be a good reason [to end the cease-fire],” he told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “If they killed US troops, I think I would do that very quickly.”
Trump’s warning comes as Iran appears set on continuing strikes on US troops in the region, as its Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Thursday tried to justify Tuesday night strikes on Kuwait that targeted American troops but killed a Kuwaiti civilian and injured dozens of others.
“We had previously warned regional countries about the United States using their bases,” he told IRGC-affiliated media. “Our response is directed at American bases and not the territory of regional countries.”
“Many regional countries opposed the use of their airspace and territory against Iran. Unfortunately, the United States used these facilities against us,” he added.
Since the Feb. 28 war on Iran began, 13 US service members were killed in Operation Epic Fury. Seven were killed by Iranian strikes on US forces, while six died when their aircraft crashed over Iraq while carrying out refueling operations.
But since the US and Iran entered into a shaky April 8 cease-fire, Iran has been unable to kill any US military members — though there have been exchanges of fire.
While the administration has not given the military explicit direction on responding in kind to a fatal attack, it’s been understood that crossing that line may burn up Trump’s remaining patience, a source familiar with US Central Command’s planning told The Post.
Trump on Wednesday downplayed the strikes that saw 13 ballistic missiles and 17 drones rain down on Kuwait, explaining that “in that part of the world, ‘cease-fire’ is when you’re shooting in a more moderate manner.”
But the moment an American service member dies, his calculus would change.
Quote:Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s (D-Mich.) Lebanon war powers resolution was shut down Thursday, with the majority of House Democrats rejecting the “Squad” rep’s effort.
In the floor vote, 117 Democrats voted against her resolution, and 91 voted in favor, resulting in a 92-324 defeat of Tlaib’s attempt to limit potential Trump administration military options in Lebanon.
Tlaib insisted Israel was carrying out an “ethnic cleansing campaign,” and Congress must intervene to stop the “war crime.”
“The Trump administration is helping in greenlighting these attacks,” she said, as Israel seeks to root out the Hezbollah terror threat in Lebanon as a second front to the war against Iran.
Her Lebanon War Powers resolution divided her own Democratic Party and was rebuked by House Republicans. The resolution would have directed President Trump to remove armed forces “from Lebanon” within seven days after its adoption.
But House Democratic leadership, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), came out against her resolution by citing a practical reality. “There are no US servicemembers involved in combat operations or hostilities in Lebanon,” Jeffries said in a statement.
Republicans, like Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), similarly noted that Tlaib was demanding the removal of US forces “from a country where we are not in conflict.”
The debate over the resolution got personal when Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) accused Tlaib of supporting Hezbollah and suggested she enjoys the company of terrorists.
“Hezbollah is a terrorist organization … and its members are butchers that you like to hang out with to a certain extent,” Miller said.
The remark incited a shouting match that saw Tlaib yell at the congressman from across the room as he further charged that Tlaib “advocates for terrorists on a daily basis” and advocated “for a terrorist regime every single day.”
“That is an attack on my character,” Tlaib protested, and the Republican’s remarks were eventually stricken from the record.
Quote:DUBAI — Iran has reaffirmed support for its Lebanese ally Hezbollah and demanded Israel withdraw from southern Lebanon, underscoring complications facing an interim deal to end the broader conflict between the US and Iran.
Iran has made a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah a condition for any peace deal with Washington to resolve the regional war, now in its fourth month, and restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The latest round of fighting between Hezbollah and Israel erupted at the start of March, two days after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran. Hezbollah said its actions were in support of Tehran.
“This war will end only when it ends in Lebanon as well,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told Lebanese TV station Al Mayadeen late on Thursday.
“The end of the war on Lebanon must be accompanied by the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they have occupied,” he said.
The comments came after Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem rejected a US-brokered pact between Israel and the Lebanese government to halt the fighting in Lebanon. The deal did not provide for an Israeli withdrawal and Hezbollah had not been party to the negotiations.
Israel has kept up strikes in southern Lebanon, and has said its forces would not withdraw or halt operations in the country amid increasing friction with the US.
Hezbollah said on Friday it had carried out two attacks on Israeli troops in south Lebanon, including near the recently captured Beaufort Castle, while Lebanese security services said Israeli airstrikes hit towns across southern Lebanon.
Fighting flares across region despite cease-fires
Mohsen Rezaei, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said Hezbollah had “made great sacrifices in the recent war and it is our ally. Therefore, we support Hezbollah and remain firmly committed to our obligations toward it.”
Quote:Retired four-star Gen. Jack Keane said enough with the diplomatic charade — Iran is stalling for time and the best solution is to resume full-scale war.
The chairman of the Institute for the Study of War and former Army vice chief of staff on Friday blasted eight weeks of fruitless talks as a waste while the mullahs play games.
“We have to accept the reality that’s just not going to happen,” Keane said on Fox News. “They have one motive: Stretch out negotiations as much as possible, get as close to the political situation in terms of midterm elections, and there will be less likelihood that President Trump would ever pull the trigger and go back to military operations. I believe that is their unstated strategy.”
Even if a deal somehow was inked, Keane warned it would be worthless — and dangerously so.
“We can’t throw them a financial lifeline … because then they’ll systematically reverse everything,” he said. “They’ve always cheated in the past, and they’ll cheat in the future.”
Still, he championed Trump’s decision to launch the war on Feb. 28 — but said the job isn’t over yet.
“Look, in close to 50 years, only one president has taken consequential action against Iran and their predator behavior — and that’s President Trump,” Keane said. “Five weeks of Epic Fury and a naval blockade devastated this regime militarily and economically. They’re down, but they’re not out.”
When operations paused, the IDF and US Central Command had about two weeks left to finish the job, the general said. Now, after eight weeks of watching the Iranians try to recover, the US has even more targets and better intelligence.
“If we go back to military operations — and I believe that’s the preferred option — we should return to full combat operations,” Keane said.
He shot down any talk of limited strikes just to send a message.
“Iran is going to retaliate regardless of whether you go small or go big. Let’s go big,” he said. “Take down as much of their capability as we possibly can and get these guys as close to collapse as military operations can possibly achieve.”
“And then with economic pressure, we can put this regime truly on the path to collapse.”
It comes as some US military sources told The Post that a full-out approach eliminating Iran’s most influential hardliners may be necessary, as they quietly doubt more military action would pressure the regime to make necessary changes.
That’s largely due to the stubborn nature of hardliner politicians, as well as the ideology of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is more allegiant to the “Islamic revolution” than nationalism and the needs of the Iranian people.
Olympians call on world governing powers, sports bodies to prevent Iran’s execution of star athletes
Quote:A coalition of athletes, including several Olympians, have signed a letter advocating against Iran for its history and plans to execute star athletes, as the planned execution of Iranian boxing champion Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani looms.
Sani is a boxing champion, coach and political prisoner who is currently facing an imminent risk of execution in Iran by the Ayatollah.
He was arrested by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in March 2020 following his participation in the November 2019 nationwide protests, which were initially sparked by a sudden hike in gas prices.
The Iranian judiciary charged him with “corruption on earth,” which is a capital offense in the country.
The Olympians, headlined by women’s tennis legend Martina Navratilova and British swimming gold medalist Sharron Davies, call on world governing powers and sports bodies to intervene to prevent the execution.
“Currently, Mohammad Javad Vafaei Sani, a 31-year-old boxing champion and coach, remains on death row,” the letter states.
“We call on the United Nations, international sports federations, and governments to act immediately to save the lives of Iranian dissidents, including athletes. The world must not stand by while Iran silences its champions. We stand with the victims. We stand for justice.”
The letter also pointed to past incidents of Iranian execution of star athletes in the country, including 19-year-old champion wrestler Saleh Mohammadi, whose execution sparked a global uproar in March.
“Since mid-March, Iran has witnessed a horrific spree of executions of political dissidents, marking one of the most severe crackdowns in the past three decades. Dozens of people have been executed following unfair trials and coerced confessions.
“The theocratic regime, fearing another uprising, has exploited the cover of war to suppress growing dissent. Several victims of these executions were protesters arrested during the January 2026 uprising. Among them were Saleh Mohammadi, a 19-year-old national wrestling champion, and Sasan Azadvar Joonaghan, a 21-year-old karate champion,” the letter states.
“Tragically, Iran has a grim history of executing athletes for their beliefs, including Habib Khabiri, the captain of Iran’s national football team, who was executed for his affiliation with the PMOI, and Forouzan Abdi, captain of Iran’s national women’s volleyball team, who was executed alongside 30,000 political prisoners during the 1988 massacre.
“In 2020, Iranian wrestling champion Navid Afkari was executed after participating in peaceful protests in 2018.”
Quote:The US military shot down four Iranian drones launched toward the Strait of Hormuz on Friday evening, US Central Command said — as President Trump told an audience in Wisconsin he had to hurry back to work to “straighten out a little unfinished business in Iran.”
“Moments ago, CENTCOM forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that were launched toward the Strait of Hormuz,” the combatant command said in a statement shortly before 7 p.m. “The attack drones posed an immediate threat to regional maritime traffic.”
The US has been enforcing an naval blockade around Iran’s ports to impose economic pain. Tehran shut down maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz since the start of US and Israel’s war on Iran on Feb. 28.
CENTCOM said the military went on to strike “Iranian coastal surveillance radar sites in Goruk and on Qeshm Island to defend against further attacks.
Follow The Post’s live coverage of President Trump and national politics for the latest news and analysis
“American forces remain vigilant and postured to respond to unjustified Iranian aggression in self-defense,” CENTCOM said.
About an hour before the announcement, Iranian independent media reported the sounds of explosions from nearby Bandar Abbas — which state-affiliated media promptly denied.
The statement came shortly after Trump told speakers at his economic event in Wisconsin they would have to be quick.
“We’ll go pretty quickly, because I have to get back to fighting a war, Iran,” he said.
While the US and Iran entered into a cease-fire on April 8, ahead of short-lived peace talks in Pakistan, there have been numerous violations.
Originally meant to be a two-week temporary cessation, Trump declared it an indefinite cease-fire on April 21.
Six weeks later, there has been an increasing number of skirmishes that have so far stopped short of prompting a return to full-scale combat operations.
UKRAINE WAR
Quote:Russia attacked Ukraine with a barrage of missiles and drones overnight, killing at least 11 people, injuring dozens and trapping others, authorities said on Tuesday.
Russia unleashed 73 missiles and 656 drones across Ukraine, according to the country’s air force, with the main targets including Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro, and the eastern cities of Poltava, Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian air defense forces destroyed and suppressed 40 missiles and 602 drones.
Hits of 30 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and 33 drones were recorded at at least 38 locations. Debris from destroyed drones fell on 15 locations, the air force said.
At least four people were killed in Kyiv and 63 people were injured, including three children, Ukraine’s state emergency service said in a statement on Telegram.
Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were damaged in eight of Kyiv’s districts.
In the central Dnipropetrovsk region, at least six people were killed and 36 others injured after Russian strikes hit the city of Dnipro, according to the emergency service.
A second attack as first responders arrived at the scene killed one rescuer.
In Kharkiv, at least 14 people were injured and residential homes, garages and cars were damaged.
A two-story residential building and part of a four-story apartment block were damaged, with people trapped beneath the rubble of the larger building.
The boom of explosions echoed through most of the night and into the early morning.
Kyiv had been bracing for another mass attack for days, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russia was preparing a renewed assault and urged people to remain cautious and seek shelter during air raid alerts.
Quote:Ukraine unleashed a massive drone blitz on Russia’s largest fuel export hub in St. Petersburg Wednesday morning – sending a stinging blow to Vladimir Putin as he kicks off his ritzy annual economic forum.
The attack on Putin’s hometown – where the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is being held this week – left thick black smoke billowing into the sky after long-range drones slammed into the Petersburg Oil Terminal after Russian air defenses failed to stop them.
Ukraine also hit the Kronstadt naval base and shipyard in Leningrad Oblast, with footage released by Kyiv showing damage to Russian warships, including the Baltic Fleet corvette Boikiy.
“Important facilities on Russian territory were hit last night,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced in an X post, adding that a weapons production facility in Tambov was also targeted.
“I thank our warriors for their precision. Ukraine’s plan for long-range sanctions is being implemented exactly as needed to bring peace closer. Glory to Ukraine!”
Unspecified “Infrastructure objects” in three districts within Russia’s second-largest city – home to more than 5 million people – also came under attack by Ukrainian drones, according to Governor Alexander Beglov.
Leningrad Governor Alexander Drozdenko said air defenses downed 59 Ukrainian drones overnight.
“Several facilities have been damaged,” Beglov said. “Clean-up operations are currently underway. Several people have been injured. There have been no fatalities.”
The humiliating strike to the Kremlin erupted just 10 miles from the glitzy venue where Putin is hosting his annual “Russia’s Davos” showcase, which saw high-profile guests arriving as blasts rang out and smoke flooded the air.
The flagship three-day summit draws about 20,000 guests, including business leaders and foreign delegates from more than 130 countries, and is used to promote investment projects and deals as the Kremlin tries to signal fiscal strength amid Western sanctions and the nearly four-year war.
Quote:NATO’s top official warned young Russians on Wednesday that they would likely die on the front lines if they enlist in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Secretary General Mark Rutte said the Kremlin was suffering “absolutely staggering” losses in Ukraine, warning that any new recruit stands the risk of being among the more than 30,000 Russian soldiers killed on the battlefield every month.
“You are being sold a raw deal,” Rutte said in remarks directly addressed to young Russians during a visit to Kyiv.
“Men like you who join the fight — you won’t be trained. Equipment they’ll provide you with is substandard,” the NATO chief added.
“There is a very high chance you’ll die or be wounded while you’re out there. And odds are, that if you are wounded, you will be left to suffer in the mud and die,” Rutte said.
To put the numbers in context, the secretary general said Russia is actively losing in a month what the whole Soviet Union lost in the decade of fighting in Afghanistan.
“That’s not abstract,” he said. “That will probably be you.”
Russia has been repeatedly criticized during the more than four years of war of using “meatgrinder tactics” to overwhelm Ukraine’s defenses.
The tactic, however, has proven less and less effective as Kyiv quickly adapted to the war and fortified its strategic fortress belt in the Donetsk region, where the Kremlin has struggled to make any significant gains in more than a year.
Quote:Some of Moscow’s biggest supporters of war are now flat out saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin can’t accomplish victory in Ukraine.
As Russia fails to make any significant progress on the frontlines for more than a year, Putin has seen his support greatly wane, with loyalist and Ukrainian expat Oleg Tsaryov saying Moscow’s claim that the war will be won is nothing more than propaganda, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Tsaryov, a former Ukrainian lawmaker who left following the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 that toppled the Moscow-friendly regime, noted that Kyiv’s latest attacks deep inside Russia and the war’s prolonged existence have made it impossible to shield people from the truth.
“Sooner or later, these worlds of illusion and reality must clash,” Tsaryov said in a Telegram post. “And now it is happening in the most painful form.”
Tsaryov’s sourness on the war is especially notable given that he was the target of an alleged Ukrainian assassination attempt in 2023, which left him severely injured.
Former Kremlin official Aleksey Chadaev, who now runs the Ushkuynik drone-warfare research center, went even further and claimed that the current course of the war will not only lead to a failure of Putin’s goals, “but to a full-scale defeat.”
Rather than continue the war, Chadaev is among the hardliners calling for a cease-fire so that Russia can reassess its standing for whatever follows.
Putin’s ambitions were also dealt a blow in last month’s issue of “Russia In Global Affairs,” the nation’s foremost foreign-policy journal.
In the journal, Vasily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics, argued that it was unrealistic for Putin to achieve his goal of installing a pro-Russian regime in Ukraine.
“The goal of eliminating the anti-Russian regime in Ukraine at the current stage is fundamentally unachievable without the complete military occupation of the entire country, including the western part, for a long period. For Russia this is technically impossible,” Kashin concluded.
Quote:Russian President Vladimir Putin slapped down the idea of any face-to-face talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, while admitting his economy is tanking as swarms of Kyiv’s drones keep breaching Moscow’s defenses.
The strongman used his speech to business leaders and foreign delegates at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum Friday to trash an open letter from Zelensky requesting a sit-down aimed at ending the deadly four-year war in Ukraine, branding his request “boorish.”
“It is a way to create conditions for personal meetings and talks, or create an environment which makes any personal meetings impossible,” Putin told the crowd during a question-and-answer session.
“I think it’s the second.”
The Thursday letter – Zelensky’s first written directly to Putin since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 – mocked the 73-year-old’s advanced age and stalled progress in the war, and slammed his 26-year grip on the Kremlin, labeling the bloody conflict a “personal choice” and a “war without real cause.”
President Trump added Thursday that “it would be great” if Putin and Zelensky sat down for talks.
But the Russian strongman shot it down, telling forum attendees he saw “no point” in meeting with his adversary.
“First, let experts work, work something out, and then we can meet to sign things,” Putin told the crowd, adding that there was still “work to do,” NBC News reported.
Putin also tried to downplay Russia’s economic tailspin while admitting that its deficit might surge this year – desperately claiming “inflation has slowed down significantly,” and expected it to hit about 5.2%.
Quote:BUCHAREST, Romania — A maritime drone that is being used in the war in neighboring Ukraine exploded Friday at a Black Sea port in Romania but did not cause any casualties, the Defense Ministry said.
It said the drone self-detonated in the port of Constanta at around 10:30 a.m., and that the area had already been secured and isolated by the Romanian Intelligence Service, coast guard and the Defense Ministry.
The drone was not part of the Romanian army’s equipment and was not involved in its recent exercises in the Black Sea area, the ministry said. The area was evacuated, authorities said.
The maritime incident occurred a week after a Russian aerial drone that was part of an attack on Ukraine went astray and struck an apartment building in Romania’s eastern Danube port city of Galati, injuring two people in the NATO member country.
Raed Arafat, the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, told a news conference that helicopters were deployed to search for more drones and that the authorities issued text message alerts to residents.
“There is a possibility that there may be other drones,” he said. “We are not panicking. These are preventive measures. If there are other drones, we want to make sure there is not another explosion in an area where people are not evacuated.”
More than 1,300 people have been evacuated from several Black Sea beaches and the routes leading to them have been blocked, authorities said.
Romanian President Nicusor Dan said that law enforcement and security services “acted quickly and preventively” before the explosion and that the priority was the protection of lives and the security of port infrastructure.
“With a military conflict on the border, it is obvious that the security environment we are in is a sensitive one, which is why we will maintain a high level of vigilance,” he said, adding that the incident is a “direct consequence of the war of aggression unleashed by Russia against Ukraine.”
The two incidents are some of the latest in a series of drone incursions — from both Russia and Ukraine — to hit a NATO member since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Romanian forces destroyed another maritime drone in the Black Sea on Wednesday. Since the beginning of the war next door, the Defense Ministry said that the Romanian navy has neutralized nine of the 156 sea mines in the Black Sea basin.
French President Emmanuel Macron pledged support for Romania on Friday after the incident, saying, “We will do whatever your authorities consider as a necessity in order to protect the sovereignty of the land and the air.”
“You can count on us,” he said.
For its part, the European Union was giving “full solidarity and support to Romania,” European Council President António Costa said Friday.
"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thessalonians 5:9
Maranatha!
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![[Image: SP1-Scripter.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Scripter.png)
![[Image: SP1-Writer.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Writer.png)
![[Image: SP1-Poet.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-Poet.png)
![[Image: SP1-PixelArtist.png]](https://www.save-point.org/images/userbars/SP1-PixelArtist.png)
![[Image: SP1-Reporter.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/GmxWbHyL/SP1-Reporter.png)
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
Maranatha!
The Internet might be either your friend or enemy. It just depends on whether or not she has a bad hair day.
My Original Stories (available in English and Spanish)
List of Compiled Binary Executables I have published...
HiddenChest & Roole
Give me a free copy of your completed game if you include at least 3 of my scripts!
Just some scripts I've already published on the board...
KyoGemBoost XP VX & ACE, RandomEnkounters XP, KSkillShop XP, Kolloseum States XP, KEvents XP, KScenario XP & Gosu, KyoPrizeShop XP Mangostan, Kuests XP, KyoDiscounts XP VX, ACE & MV, KChest XP VX & ACE 2016, KTelePort XP, KSkillMax XP & VX & ACE, Gem Roulette XP VX & VX Ace, KRespawnPoint XP, VX & VX Ace, GiveAway XP VX & ACE, Klearance XP VX & ACE, KUnits XP VX, ACE & Gosu 2017, KLevel XP, KRumors XP & ACE, KMonsterPals XP VX & ACE, KStatsRefill XP VX & ACE, KLotto XP VX & ACE, KItemDesc XP & VX, KPocket XP & VX, OpenChest XP VX & ACE
