The U.S. has been enforcing a blockade on ships going to or coming from Iranian ports for about ten days.
As we've already reported, that is putting a huge chokehold on a regime that was already in big economic trouble.
Miad Maleki, who played a central role in Treasury Department sanctions campaigns against Iran and its network of proxy groups, said in an on-camera interview the current moment reflects a rare convergence of economic, political and diplomatic leverage against Tehran.
"We’ve never had the level of leverage that we have today with Iran in the history of our conflict … since 1979," Maleki said.
Funny how when you actually apply real pressure, it can have results.
He said Iran may run out of oil storage in as little as two to three weeks, forcing production cuts, while gasoline shortages could hit on a similar timeline due to heavy reliance on imports. Combined with an estimated $435 million in daily economic losses, the pressure could spill into the financial system, leaving the regime struggling to pay salaries and raising the risk of renewed unrest. [....]
At the core of that pressure is an Iranian economy he describes as "on the verge of collapse," driven by years of sanctions and compounded by recent disruptions.
He pointed to triple-digit food inflation, a sharply devalued currency and a roughly 90% collapse in purchasing power, along with potential long-term oil revenue losses of up to $14 billion annually.
Maleki also noted that if the regime runs out of oil storage, they are going to have a major problem domestically, and such things have generally led to more protests.
We reported how Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the blockade was going to have a real effect on their Kharg Island oil production. We don't have to attack Kharg to force a stoppage of production. If they can't ship the oil out, they can only store so much before they have to shut down. The money from that helps to sustain the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). But as Bessent said, they were going to have to shut down production soon and risk serious damage.
Now the regime has made a move that shows how much the blockade is working. They are pulling a 30-year-old empty tanker, the NASHA, out of mothballs to help with their storage capacity. Tanker Trackers explained on Thursday that it would take about four days to get to Kharg, as Maleki explained the math.
My earlier analysis estimated ~13 days before Kharg Island onshore storage hits capacity. @Tankertrackers confirms Iran has pulled NASHA (9079107), a 30yo VLCC, out of retirement to handle overflow.
~13-day figure was based on ~13M barrels spare capacity at Kharg ÷ ~1.0–1.1M bpd net daily inflow, projected from around early-to-mid April, which puts the saturation window squarely around late April, consistent with NASHA being activated today, April 23.
The fact that they are doing that is a big indication that they need to. It looks like a desperation move, rather than a long-term plan, as the Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) can only hold about 2 million barrels. So it's a temporary buffer for only about two days. Even Gulf News termed this as scrambling and "trying to buy time before the terminal reaches a critical breaking point."
But the clock is ticking, and this is why they're so upset that the blockade continues.
Two years after the Russia-Ukraine war began, people kept wondering why I continued to ask why no western media were boots on the ground in Ukraine delivering news of the conflict. I called it “world war reddit” for a reason. That question loomed even bigger given the relentless on-the-ground reporting over the U.S-Iran conflict.
Why were/are international journalists almost immediately embedded in Iran to cover the details of the conflict, yet that same approach never took place in Ukraine.
For Ukraine there was no daily reports on the fighting; no frontline reports with journalists in helmets and flak jackets; no live interviews or reports of the back-and-forth battles between Russia and Ukraine; no ‘coming to you live from Kiev‘ tonight, nothing. However, as soon as military conflict breaks out in Iran – all the familiar war/conflict reporting surfaced again.
But I see the Ukraine war reported on Telegram, some say. True, but really?
What you “see” is through a social media prism that is structurally controlled by Western intelligence operations. World War Reddit!
For additional context, when the U.S. went to war in Iraq/Afghanistan, how did it impact your daily life? That’s analogous the same impact within Russia that I experienced in 2024 (3 months) and 2025 (1 month). All recognizable impact is sanctions related.
One of the reasons I traveled from Western Russia to Poland -specifically driving across Ukraine- was to see for myself. I shared that story before.
The reality of the Ukraine conflict, World War Reddit, is entirely against the interests of those who are constructing the false impression of it.
In reality the Eastern Donbas region is very pro-Russian and when the Russian Federation took over towns and geography, driving back the Ukraine military, Russian troops were factually greeted as liberators. Now, there is a slow-grinding stalemate, and the losses on the Ukraine side are well beyond what has been reported by government officials.
I provide this context of reality -vs- media presentation because Iranian Prince Reza Pahlavi is strongly calling attention to the bias and willful blindness of European media.WATCH:
“I want to speak directly to the people of Europe. In the past two weeks I have had two major press conferences — one in Stockholm, one in Berlin. Between them 150 journalists attended. We spent more than two hours together.”
Not a single one of those 150 journalists asked about the 40,000 Iranians slaughtered on the streets of my country on January 8th and 9th! Not a single one of the 150 journalists asked me about the 19 political prisoners executed in the last two weeks.
When I told them 20 more are currently sentenced to death, nothing. Not a single one of the 150 journalists asked me about them. When I stood next to a mother and next to a father who lost their sons on January 8th and 9th, and asked them to hear their stories, not a single one of the 150 journalists asked them a question.
[…] It is clear to me that my 40,000 brave, innocent compatriots who were slaughtered in the fight for liberty are of little interest to these journalists. They seem more interested in criticizing America and asking why the United States and Israel killed the dictator that has slaughtered our people for 47 YEARS — than criticizing the regime doing the slaughtering.
They seem more interested asking questions about Iran’s past and history than about what is happening in Iran today; or about the democratic future Iranians are seeking. One member of parliament even told me they didn’t think Iranians are ready for democracy. To that member of Parliament, to those journalists, I remind you: Iranians aren’t just “ready” for democracy. 40,000 people just gave their lives for it, and I won’t let that be in vain.”
So know this, whether or not Europe stands with us; whether or not your journalists do their jobs; whether or not your politicians demonstrate their courage to act, I will fight for my people and my country. Even if we have to do this alone – we will fight until Iran is free”!
I don’t know if this guy is the right one to lead the charge to bring a more politically democratic outcome for the people in Iran, but what he is saying about the willful blindness of western media is absolutely correct.
Several people have inquired about the Washington DC subpoenas for former CIA Director John Brennan being withdrawn, and what does that mean. I intentionally did not write about it at the time because I wanted to look closely at the fact pattern.
The DOJ is still planning to send requests for voluntary interviews and grand jury testimony according to media reports.
From my perspective, this is a good sign. Potentially a very good sign.
The issues around the CIA targeting President Trump are extensive, attached to numerous individuals and entities, and generally complex. Normally, an investigation of this scope would begin with questions to the outer perimeter individuals who were carrying out the instructions of those above them.
CIA Director, John Brennan and CIA Analyst, Eric Ciaramella
It is from those types of lower-level interviews that material is gathered for use in examining the truthfulness of those who organized and directed the operations. In the example of John Brennan’s false statements to congress surrounding the ICA (Intelligence Community Assessment), or the inclusion of the Steele Dossier in the analytical material, there are key people within the Directorate of Analysis, National Security Agency and National Intelligence Council who can give first-hand statements about Brennan’s instructions.
Those types of interviews are just as important as questioning John Brennan himself, and for obvious reasons those interviews should come first.
♦ Here is where it becomes important to remember a key thing that happened between the time the investigation of Brennan began and the arrival of investigative Asst to the AG, Joe DiGenova.
Do you remember the recent criminal referral by DNI Tulsi Gabbard for former CIA Analyst Eric Ciaramella?
BACKGROUND: Former CIA Director John Brennan was being investigated during the time that DNI Tulsi Gabbard was working on retrieving and declassifying the material surrounding the first impeachment effort against President Trump. CIA Analyst Eric Ciaramella was the “anonymous whistleblower” that triggered the report to Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson that started the impeachment operation.
This same CIA Analyst Eric Ciaramella was also involved in the fabrication of the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment, which is at the heart of the false testimony to congress that John Brennan is being investigated for.
Eric Ciaramella was criminally referred by DNI Gabbard for his actions in relation to the impeachment operation. This sets the DOJ up with the potential for a plea agreement with Ciaramella on his impeachment conduct, in exchange for testimony against Brennan on the ICA construct.
Suddenly we see reports of DOJ Brennan subpoenas being withdrawn immediately after the DOJ criminal referral for Eric Ciaramella is introduced.
**nudge-nudge* *wink-wink** See the dynamic?
I’m not saying this is happening, but the timing is awfully coincidental, no?
A small handful of subpoenas were known to have been issued over the weekend for witnesses to appear before a grand jury in Washington. But investigators on Monday evening informed lawyers that the subpoenas were being withdrawn in favor of requests for voluntary interviews, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press to discuss developments in an ongoing investigation.
The reason for the reversal in course was not immediately known.
December 2025 – Brennan attorney notified he is under investigation.
Jan – March 2026 – DNI gains access to Atkinson transcript from HPSCI
March 2026 – DNI assembled ICIG Atkinson material from Ciaramella report and investigation.
March 25 – HPSCI releases transcript to DNI.
April 13 – HPSCI released ICIG declassified transcript / DNI releases ICIG Ciaramella report.
April 15 – Eric Ciaramella criminal referral.
April 21 – Brennan witness subpoenas withdrawn.
Hopefully the timeline helps people to understand what is likely happening in the background.
I suspect, well, let’s consider, Ciaramella has been given the opportunity to cooperate as a witness in the 2017 Brennan case; perhaps in exchange for something like limited immunity in the 2019 impeachment issue. The timeline tracks.
Following direct remarks from both Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, a triggered Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says the U.S. will not be permitted to dictate terms of the USMCA renegotiation, now scheduled for formal talks with Mexico only beginning May 25th.
According to the Canadian leadership they do not need the United States in order to maintain their economy. The unfortunate people of Canada are very close to finding out exactly what that level of arrogance delivers.
USTR Jamieson Greer was just in Mexico meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and the Mexican trade delegation. “Mexico’s economy minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Monday that formal negotiations to review the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade pact, known as the USMCA, are due to begin the week of May 25.”
“Tomorrow and this afternoon we will hear the U.S. side’s views. Once that is done, we will move on to the next phase, which is formal negotiations. We expect formal negotiations to begin the week of May 25,” Ebrard said following a meeting with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.” {source}
Meanwhile Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney continues talking to his domestic audience about fighting Donald Trump and refusing to accept any terms that do not meet his current pontifications: “It’s not a case that the United States dictates the terms. We have a negotiation, we can come to a mutually successful outcome – it will take some time,” he continued.
In Washington, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said unless Canada engaged in talks about broadening the so-called rules of origin that allow goods to enter the United States tariff-free, Washington might have to impose other border controls. {source}
It is worth remembering, the recent Supreme Court decision that overturned the IEEPA tariffs also reinforced the unilateral power of the U.S. President to regulate any/all trade with any foreign country including a full block of trade if designated. Canada is positioned to be the first nation to discover the expressed power of the U.S. President as affirmed by the United States Supreme Court.
One of the reasons why Canadians are oblivious to the potential collapse of their economy is because U.S. media reports are blocked from Canadian social media sites. One of the infringements within the USMCA is the Canadian Law Bill [C-18, the Online News Act] that blocks information to Canadian citizens that is not supported by the Canadian government.
The people of Canada are stuck inside an Orwellian government constructed echo-chamber unable to hear opposing viewpoints. They simply have no idea what is heading in their direction. Which is incredibly ironic considering how much Mark Carney rails against Russian President Vladimir Putin, yet Canada has more restrictions on information than Russia. Think about it. The need for control is a reaction to fear.
This information control dynamic helps to explain why Canadians, in the aggregate, simply do not realize the nature of the trade conflict that has been created by their own government. Perhaps a full 30-day blockade would help their eyes to open; perhaps not. However, something needs to happen in order for the Canadian people to have time to prepare for the economic collapse soon to fall upon them.
Those differences include a completely different import/export profile with each country, different sectors of goods, difference in the wage rates within each country and a structural difference in the way each country is establishing their own, independent free trade agreements with other third-party countries. These baselines form the reason to tell congress of the dissolution, and on July 1st inform both Canada and Mexico about it.
In the interim, the points of conflict are currently being negotiated with Mexico toward resolution. Hence Jamieson Greer in Mexico meeting with officials on Monday and Tuesday.
It is not just Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer who are publicly warning the Canadian government about what lies at the end of this self-destructive path they have chosen, Deputy USTR Rick Switzer recently also sounded the alarm.WATCH (prompted):
The Canadians have been talking to U.S. media looking for sympathetic ‘Orange man bad’ coverage. However, within the contacts between Canadian government officials and U.S. corporate allies, the sentiment from team Trump is very clear:
“The key thing that has struck me, and I think it has struck all Canadians, is so many of these guys in the Trump administration, frankly, they just hate Canada,” said Brian Clow, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s deputy chief of staff who led Canada-U.S. affairs. {source}
It’s not hatred, it’s annoyance.
Years of compounding parasitic annoyances and sanctimonious, ‘holier-than-thou’ pontifications from the arrogant and uppity Canadian government.
The only time Canada has been honest with themselves and with President Trump was when Justin Trudeau was exiting office and admitted Canada cannot function without all of the one-way benefits it receives from the USA {GO DEEP}.
When President Trump was asked about Prime Minister Mark Carney creating a new trade agreement with China, President Trump responded that he didn’t care – it was irrelevant to him. Yet, simultaneously inside the USMCA President Trump has the power to veto any trade agreement between Mexico or Canada and a non-member nation.
So, why didn’t President Trump care? Easy, because in President Trump’s mind there’s not going to be a USMCA; so, he really doesn’t care if Canada runs to violate it. In real terms, Canada doing bilateral deals with other countries, especially deals potentially detrimental to the USA, only strengthens his position on dissolving the USMCA.
If Canada violates the terms and spirit of the USMCA, it makes dispatch of the unliked trade agreement even easier. Canada is helping President Trump remove the congressional justification they could use to block him. If Canada is violating the USMCA (CUSMA), Congress is kneecapped from interference.
Provoking Canada into a trade position, that puts them at a disadvantage trying to stop the dissolution of the CUSMA, stops Congress from opposing the fracture, and then opens the door to a bilateral trade agreement, is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy that is entirely controlled by President Donald Trump.
Both Canada and Europe are independently, out of necessity, taking action that takes apart the trade and economic system they created. At the core of the old trade system both Canada and Europe were exploiting the USA, exfiltrating wealth and skimming the independent entrepreneurial innovation that originates from within the U.S. economic system.
That necessary exploitation happened because the USA is innovative (freedom-based capitalism), while the CA/EU system is built on government control mechanisms. The CA/EU energy policy is just one impactful example of their pontificating inability to be insightful when it comes to consequences. The EU and Canada are now stuck looking for markets that will do the dirty jobs, provide them with core components, while simultaneously looking for markets for their finished products.
On the other side of the approach is President Trump, working to expand U.S. industrial dirty job capacity, create our own core components, then create finished goods entirely on our own. A complete revitalization of the U.S. industrial and manufacturing base. Our U.S. GDP is currently expected to grow north of 5%. This is not happening by accident.
♦ SUMMARY: Some people have construed the bilateral trade preference of President Trump to be the elimination of globalism in favor of nationalism in trade agreements. While the outcome of Trump’s approach indeed aligns with that theme, it is not specifically the objective of President Trump to eliminate global trade, but rather to focus on specific interests in trade that benefit the unique nature of each party involved.
Canada can embrace China, and Europe can embrace India; in the bigger picture it really doesn’t matter. These relationships only create dependencies which are the natural outcome of globalism. From President Trump’s position, what really matters is what happens within our borders and how the United States economy is positioned. This is President Trump’s singular focus.
Do you remember President Trump leaving the 2025 G7 meeting in Canada early? The final day invitation list brought Australia, Mexico, Ukraine, South Korea, South Africa, India, the United Nations and the World Bank into the G7. President Donald Trump smartly exited the G7 assembly a day early, he departed before that crowd of interests arrived. The world leaders came because the process to keep USA wealth inside the USA is against their interests. That’s why they came, and that’s why President Trump left.
Globalism, in its economic construct, is a series of dependencies. However, the opposite is also true. If nations are not dependent, they are sovereign – able to exist without the need for support from other nations and systems. If nations are sovereign, then globalism is no longer needed.
If each nation of the world is operating according to its individual best interests, the position of Donald Trump, then what happens to the governing elite who set up the system of interdependencies?
