Despite the Bluster No One Has Challenged the U.S. Navy's Blockade of Iran's Ports

RedState 

Two days into the U.S. Navy's blockade of Iranian ports, the operation is succeeding despite some stories of ships running the blockade; see CENTCOM Starts the Iranian Blockade Monday - Here Are the Rules and What to Look For. U.S. Central Command has reported ten instances of ships being turned back from leaving Iranian ports or entering the Strait of Hormuz en route to Iran. 

“A blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented,” said Adm. Brad Cooper, the command’s top officer. “In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea.”

There are some other interceptions.

U.S. officials have also provided details of early enforcement actions. A Navy destroyer contacted two tankers leaving the Iranian port of Chabahar and ordered them to turn around, according to a U.S. official familiar with the operation. Both vessels complied.

On Wednesday, U.S. Central Command reported that the destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) redirected an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that had tried to evade the U.S. blockade after transiting Hormuz along Iran’s coastline from Bandar Abbas, Iran. “Ten vessels have now been turned around and ZERO ships have broken through since the start of the U.S. blockade on Monday,” CENTCOM said.

The blockade is being carried out by a large U.S. force, with more than 10,000 personnel, over a dozen warships, and dozens of aircraft deployed across the region, according to the military.

The measures target ships entering or leaving Iranian ports, while U.S. officials say traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to other destinations remains permitted. Even so, vessel movements in the area have slowed sharply as shipowners assess the risks.

Tracking data shows several ships have delayed or reversed course near the approaches to the strait in recent days.

The sanctioned tanker Rich Starry (IMO: 9773301) reversed course in the Gulf of Oman after traversing the Iranian-controlled route of Strait of Hormuz and is now anchored off Iran after failing to proceed. At the same time, two sanctioned VLCCs, Alicia (IMO: 9281695) and RHN (IMO 9208215), have entered the Persian Gulf empty and may load Iranian crude, according to tracking data shared by TankerTrackers.

One crude carrier has also made it through the strait under the new conditions. The Malta-flagged VLCC Agios Fanourios I (IMO: 9759824), tracked by MarineTraffic, entered the Persian Gulf after waiting offshore for nearly two days and is heading to Iraq. The vessel also used the Iranian-controlled route hugging Iran’s coastline.

This is how ships potentially trying to run the blockade are greeted.

"The U.S. has announced a formal blockade of Iranian ports and coastal areas. This is a legal action. All vessels are advised to immediately return to port if leaving and discontinue transit to Iran if that is your next port of call. Do not attempt to breach the blockade. Vessels will be boarded for interdiction and seizure transiting to or from an Iranian port. Turn around or prepare to be boarded. If you do not comply with this blockade, we will use force. The whole of the United States Navy is ready to force compliance. Out."

So far, no one has felt inclined to challenge the "we will use force" warning.

The Iranians aren't all that happy. Not only are their ports blockaded, but they have been forced to suspend their export of petrochemicals after an Israeli air strike took out a major refining facility a week ago; see Iran Announces Blockade of Its Own Petrochemical Industry – RedState. The fact that they no longer have a navy or air force doesn't stop them from talking smack.

Mohsen Rezaei, a senior Iranian official and military adviser to the Supreme Leader, said on Wednesday US warships in the Strait of Hormuz would be targeted, according to remarks in a video statement in which he warned American naval forces were “under our missile launchers.”

 “The launchers have most likely been moved by our brothers and are now aimed at the Abraham Lincoln and all American warships. They are all under our launchers now and we will sink them all. We will not allow a single one to escape us. A ceasefire, normally, should be the first step after a series of agreements. That is why I do not accept this as a ceasefire. This is silence," Rezaei said in an interview with official media.

Sometimes I get the feeling that the entire regime leadership is just one guy who changes uniforms but otherwise looks the same and says the same stuff.

This is just more of the detachment from reality that permeates the Iranian leadership. They're finally fighting a force that is not unarmed men and women and getting curb-stomped, and all they have are empty, childish threats. No one is afraid of them or their missiles or their sheep...well, maybe the sheep.

Beijing Satellite Intel (not Moscow) Helped Iran Strike U.S. Air Bases

RedState 

One of Iran's few successful strikes in Operation Epic Fury was the attack by missile and drone on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, which damaged several American aircraft, injured 15 American service members, two seriously, and infuriated the Saudis. 

On Wednesday, we learned that the Iranians, before launching the attack, may have had the benefit of satellite intel from a Chinese spy satellite.

Iran secretly got its hands on a Chinese spy satellite to target American bases in the Middle East during the war, leaked military documents revealed.

Following its launch to space in 2024, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) had acquired Beijing’s TEE-01B satellite, tasking it to monitor key US military sites in the region, the Financial Times reported.

Time-stamped records show some of the images were taken last month before and after Iranian drone and missile attacks on those very bases.

The logs indicate that the satellite, which was built by the Earth Eye Chinese company, had taken images of the Prince Sultan Air Base, in Saudi Arabia, on March 13, 14, and 15.

It was during that same timespan that Iran struck the American base, damaging five US Air Force refueling planes.

If these reports are accurate, then President Trump and Chairman Xi should have something new to talk about when President Trump visits Beijing next month. 

Again, if these reports are accurate, Iran may have had access to the Chinese spy bird thanks to a long-standing agreement between Tehran and Beijing.

The TEE-01B, which launched on June, 6, 2024, was intended to be used for agriculture, emergency management and municipal transportation purposes, according to Earth Eye Co.’s website.

The IRGC, however, took control over the satellite in September 2024 after forking over about $36 million, the (Financial Time) reported.

Earthy Eye confirmed that it carried out an “in-orbit” transfer of the satellite to a member of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a coalition that Iran joined back in 2021.

Under the agreement, the IRGC receives access to ground stations operated by Emposat, a Beijing-based satellite control and data services provider with networks extending across Asia and Latin America

President Trump has stated, with a pleased expression, that China has promised not to supply any arms, presumably including air-defense systems, to Iran while the conflict is still underway. China's word on this is probably at least as good as Tehran's word on, well, anything.

Now, to be fair to China, we have to note that Iran's use of TEE-01B dates back to 2024 and was not initiated during Operation Epic Fury. China, Russia, and Iran have all been involved in a troika of nastiness for quite a few years, after all, and this would be far from the first time either larger country had favored Iran with technology that the mullahs can't obtain or develop on their own. And, in this instance, there's not much the United States can do about it; we can't really shoot down a Chinese satellite, not without making things considerably more complicated than they already are.

Then, there's this:

Neither Earth Eye Co. nor Emposat have responded publicly to the deal with Iran.

You don't say.

The Somali Community Of Minnesota Would Like To Remind America That Today Is Tax Day

·Apr 15, 2026 · BabylonBee.com

ST. PAUL, MN — Tax Day is here and Minnesota's vibrant Somali community would like to remind everyone that the deadline to file is midnight.

"Don't forget to pay your taxes!" announced Sarah Farah, a volunteer at the Minnesota Somali Community Center. "All sorts of very necessary social programs are counting on your income."

According to the IRS, April 15 is also the deadline to file extensions on your tax return, but the Somali community is encouraging everyone not to delay and file their taxes now. "Don't put off later what you can do today," said Abdullahi Elmi as he drove by in a Lamborghini Revuelto. "I have payments due."

To assist the public in completing their tax filings on time, Somalians are offering free tax preparation services in direct competition with H&R Block. "Here's a great tax tip — don't claim any exemptions or dependents," said Raage Guleed, a day care center worker, as he filed tax paperwork for a middle class family with six kids. "It speeds everything up."

At publishing time, the Somali community had announced that in lieu of filing taxes, the IRS would accept a donation to fund a local daycare.

Learing Centers need help to !

The CIA Tried to Remove a Sitting President

Conservative Treehouse 

For the past 72 hours I have been attempting to draw attention to the big picture.  The CIA tried to remove a sitting United States President.

The evidence has been released. {GO DEEP} The long-debated issue is no longer a matter of opinion or question.

The CIA tried to remove a President.

Unfortunately, now we watch the silence.

I see a lot of punditries missing the forest as they peer intently at the trees.

The CIA tried to remove a sitting President.

We now know the real reason CIA whistleblower Eric Ciaramella’s name was never ¹permitted to be mentioned. It’s not the name Eric Ciaramella that presented the issue, it’s the organization where he was working, the CIA – That’s what needed to be protected.

[¹The Biden administration created the Dept of Homeland Security Disinformation Governance Board to interact with Social media and create content controls.  That’s where Nina Jankowicz comes in.]

There was/is documented evidence showing the CIA tried to remove a sitting President from office.  CIA Analyst Eric Ciaramella, the anonymous CIA ‘whistleblower’ worked with Joe Biden on Ukraine policy.  Biden appointed DHS Nina Jankowicz worked inside Zelenskyy’s campaign HQ.  Just a coincidence?

Don’t get lost in the details or the politics of this. When you peel back all the layers of DC, at its epicenter this was an operation to impeach a sitting President that came from within the CIA, and it almost succeeded. {GO DEEP}

In the details, an impeachment effort against President Trump was triggered when a member of the National Security Council named Alexander Vindman coordinated with a member of the CIA National Intelligence Council named Eric Ciaramella to fabricate a false claim that President Trump leveraged his power and authority to demand Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy release information on Joe and Hunter Biden’s corrupt financial dealings in Ukraine.

At the time of the 2019 impeachment construct Eric Ciaramella was working for the CIA as an analyst within the National Intelligence Council (NIC).

Two years prior to the 2019 impeachment construct, in January 2017, the same CIA analyst, Eric Ciaramella, had worked on the fraudulent Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) at the behest of CIA Director John Brennan.

Outlining Ciaramella’s activity not only hits CIA Director John Brennan and former DNI James Clapper, but it also hits former President Barack Obama.

The National Intelligence Council was the internal sub-agency within the larger Intelligence Community, that was constructing all of the fraudulent analysis to support the 2016 Russian Election Interference narrative.

Ciaramella was doing what John Brennan, James Clapper and Barack Obama wanted him to do. That’s why his story is so much more important than just his fabrication and lying to ICIG Michael Atkinson, who was also a participant in the endeavor and the false construct of the 2019 impeachment effort.

Former DOJ-NSD lawyer Michael Atkinson and former DOJ-NSD head Mary McCord were at the heart of the operations against Trump in 2017, and then both surface again against Trump in the 2019 impeachment effort.  Mary McCord was working for Adam Schiff and Jerry Nadler at the time of the impeachment in 2019.

Michael Atkinson was moved from DOJ-NSD to the IC OIG specifically for this operation.

Before this operation in 2019, CIA analysts weren’t allowed to anonymously make claims against political officials. The reasons are obvious. Because of the sensitive information they handled, any allegation of wrongdoing based on intelligence had to be made with their name attached. Without anonymity, inside the Intelligence Community oversight system, the Ciaramella connection to both IC operations could have been made. His anonymity as a whistleblower served a purpose.

Having switched locations to IC IG, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson independently changed the ICIG rules permitting Ciaramella to remain anonymous and make an “urgent concern” claim that ultimately led to an impeachment effort.

Eric Ciaramella fabricated intelligence information. ICIG Atkinson shared it with Congress and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI).  Representatives of HPSCI Chairman Adam Schiff met with Ciaramella and assisted him during the construct.

ICIG Michael Atkinson never even read the transcript of the call between President Trump and President Zelenskyy that formed the basis for the Ciaramella complaint.  The complaint was also criminalized by Atkinson and sent to the Office of Inspector General for the DOJ for review.  Unlike Atkinson, the DOJ reviewed the Trump-Zelenskyy transcript and said there was no issue.

On October 4, 2019, as part of the House impeachment inquiry, Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson gave closed-door testimony to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) as part of their pre-impeachment investigation. {Transcript Here}

One of the key questions to ICIG Atkinson surrounded the authority of his office changing the CIA whistleblower rules that permitted Eric Ciaramella to remain anonymous.  Atkinson had no reasonable explanation.

The Intelligence Community Office of Inspector General (Atkinson) also altered the whistleblower form within months of the July 2019 Trump/Zelenskyy phone call to no longer require firsthand knowledge as a prerequisite for reporting complaints.

This indicates forethought and specific intent.  Michael Atkinson knew a ‘second-hand’ complaint was coming.

From all appearances, IC IG Atkinson was organizing the operation in advance.  CIA Analyst Eric Ciaramella provided the story.  With Adam Schiff prepared to receive the complaint, and Mary McCord prepared to weaponize the complaint, collectively they ran the operation to impeach a sitting President on an entirely fraudulent basis.

[Executive] The CIA tried to impeach President Donald Trump; the aggregate Intelligence Community was there to assist.

[Legislative] The HPSCI and HJC, Pelosi, Schiff, Nadler were prepared to organize the impeachment construct. Mary McCord working as staff.

[Judicial] Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts would not let Eric Ciaramella’s name be spoken at trial.  Mary McCord’s husband, Sheldon Snook, was working for John Roberts at the time.

This was a coordinated impeachment effort across all three branches of government.

The CIA tried to remove a President.

Unfortunately, now we watch the silence.

We have known this for all long time; what we lacked was the specific evidence.

Now, we see the evidence and yet it is almost more alarming to notice the silence than it is to absorb the reality of the events that evidence describes.

The CIA tried to remove a President!

DNI Tulsi Gabbard Sends Criminal Referrals for ICIG Michael Atkinson and CIA Analyst Eric Ciaramella

Conservative Treehouse 

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has sent criminal referrals to the DOJ for former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson and former CIA Analyst (National Intelligence Council) Eric Ciaramella.

Atkinson was the intentional organizer of false impeachment material submitted by CIA operative Ciaramella.  Apparently, people know the background. lol

WASHINGTON DC – The Office of the Director of National Intelligence sent criminal referrals to the Justice Department for the whistleblower whose complaint helped trigger President Donald Trump’s 2019 impeachment and for the former intelligence community inspector general who notified Congress of the allegations, Fox News Digital has learned.

“I want to refer information that may constitute possible criminal activity in violation of federal criminal law committed by one or more former employees of the intelligence community,” ODNI’s general counsel wrote in the referral to the Justice Department. Fox News Digital on Wednesday reviewed the referrals ODNI sent to the Justice Department.

“The possible criminal activity concerns the circumstances described in the following congressional briefings: Discussion with Intelligence Community Inspector General, House Permanent Select Comm. on Intel., 116th Cong. (2019); Briefing by the Intelligence Community Inspector General, House Permanent Select Comm. on Intel., 116th Cong. (2019),” it continued.

[…] An intelligence official told Fox News Digital that the language in the referral is broad, but that it’s specifically directed at Atkinson and the whistleblower who reported concerns about President Trump’s July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (read more)

Don’t forget, Michael Atkinson turned the Ciaramella complaint into a criminal referral, a criminal complaint, then submitted it to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Abuse of govt position.

Manufacturing evidence for a legislative procedure.

Conspiracy to conduct fraud.

Lying to federal investigators.

Falsifying information to manufacture a criminal complaint.

It will be interesting to see where this goes.

Analysis: Geopolitical Shifts and Domestic Obstruction Operations

Promethean Action’s Barbara Boyd does a video recap of interconnected current events centered around Iran, President Trump’s seismic geopolitical shifts, and European, Nato and British intransigence. Meanwhile a U.S. Intelligence Community guardian is leading the fight against domestic intelligence opposition.  WATCH: