TOP STORIES
US Naval Blockade Squeezes Iran’s Oil Exports, Forces Crude Onto Floating Storage | Reuters
“A U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports has shrunk Tehran’s oil exports, stranding a growing stockpile of crude on tankers as Iranian storage sites run out of space, shipping data showed and analysts said. With some vessels switching off tracking systems and U.S. forces turning back Iranian tankers, how much crude Iran is delivering to customers, particularly main customer China, is impossible to measure. Just a handful of carriers carrying Iranian crude have left the Gulf of Oman between April 13-25, oil analytics firm Vortexa said. That's down over 80% from a comparable period in March, when Iran exported 23.4 million barrels, LSEG data shows.”
Iran May Run Out of Oil Storage Within Weeks Under US Blockade Pressure | Jerusalem Post
“Iran could run out of storage capacity for the oil it is producing within 15 to 60 days, two Western intelligence sources have told The Jerusalem Post. Once its storage capacity is exhausted, Iran will be forced to make significant decisions, which could cause substantial economic damage that might take a long time to repair, they said.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Vows to Protect Nuclear and Missile Capabilities | Associated Press
“Iran's supreme leader vowed Thursday in a defiant tone to protect the Islamic Republic's nuclear and missile capabilities . . . In a statement read by a state television anchor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said the only place Americans belonged in the Persian Gulf is ‘at the bottom of its waters’ and that a ‘new chapter’ was being written in the region's history.”
UANI IN THE NEWS
As the dust settles on an intense, targeted bombing campaign waged against the Islamic Republic in Iran, the focus now turns to how we combat the regime’s inevitable response. Because, make no mistake, there will be one. And here in the West it won’t come from the skies, but from our streets – something that may already have started. In recent weeks we have seen Iranian sleeper agents, hired thugs and radicalised regime supporters launch more than 20 violent attacks in the UK, Europe and the US.
Iran’s Leaders Turn to Old Supertanker to Survive US Blockade | Newsweek
On Sunday, satellite imagery showed the supertanker, which measures nearly 1,100 feet long, loading at Kharg’s western jetty, but it was no longer there on Wednesday, analysts at the nonprofit United Against Nuclear Iran said.
Whose Iran Nuclear Deal is Better, Trump’s or Obama’s? | Washington Examiner
At the time, the group United Against Nuclear Iran said in a report, “The JCPOA does not require Iran to submit to 'anytime, anywhere' IAEA inspections.
The large crude oil tanker Nasha, which can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil, was visible on public ship trackers last week as the vessel sailed through the Persian Gulf towards Kharg Island, Iran's main export terminal. On Sunday, satellite images showed that the supertanker, which is nearly 335 meters long, was loading at the western jetty of Kharg. However, by Wednesday it had disappeared from there, analysts from the non-profit organization United Against Nuclear Iran reported.
MILITARY MATTERS
Iran Threatens Painful Response if US Renews Attacks | Reuters
“Iran said on Thursday it would respond with ‘long and painful strikes’ on U.S. positions if Washington renewed attacks, and also reasserted its control over the Strait of Hormuz, complicating U.S. plans for a coalition to reopen the waterway.”
Iran Is Accelerating Efforts to Dig Out Missiles and Munitions | NBC News
Iran is taking advantage of the ceasefire with the U.S. to dig out its weapons, according to a U.S. official and two other people familiar with the matter. The regime has stepped up its efforts to excavate missiles and other munitions it hid underground or that were buried beneath rubble from U.S. and Israeli airstrikes, they said.
Israel is on heightened alert, ramping up preparations for a possible return to fighting with Iran, amid indications that US President Donald Trump may be nearing a decision on renewed military action, Israeli television reported Thursday.
DIPLOMACY
Iran’s judiciary chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei on Friday said Tehran remained open to talks with the United States but would not accept what he called policy “imposition” under threats. “The Islamic Republic has never shied away from negotiations... but we certainly do not accept imposition,” Ejei said in a video carried by the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.
SHIPPING, SANCTIONS, BUSINESS RISKS & OTHER ECONOMIC NEWS
Trump's 'Economic Fury' on Iran Divides Analysts Over Its Real Impact | Fox News
As the Trump administration escalates its campaign against Iran through sanctions, naval pressure and financial enforcement, a central question is emerging: Can unprecedented economic strain truly weaken the regime, or will Iran’s rulers once again absorb the pain, suppress unrest and survive? Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a Tuesday post on X that the "Economic Fury" campaign already has disrupted "tens of billions of dollars in revenue" that would otherwise support terrorism, while arguing Iran’s inflation has doubled and its currency has sharply depreciated under the current maximum pressure campaign.
The sons of a powerful family with close ties to Iran’s new supreme leader control the country’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, transforming it from a startup into a conduit to the global economy used by both blacklisted state institutions and ordinary citizens. Since Nobitex was founded by the two brothers under an alternative family name, it has processed between tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions linked to sanctioned groups including Iran’s central bank and the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a Reuters investigation has found.
Supreme Leader Says Iran Is Planning for Ongoing Control of Strait | New York Times
“Iran’s supreme leader issued a rare statement on Thursday saying that the United States had no place in the future of the Persian Gulf region and making clear that his country planned to manage the strategic Strait of Hormuz waterway going forward.”
Trump Said Iran’s Oil Industry Faces Disaster. Data Suggests Otherwise | Washington Post
After weeks of unsuccessfully pressuring Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, President Donald Trump spent recent days arguing that its closure had brought Tehran to the brink of an explosive plumbing problem that would force it to the bargaining table. “If they don’t get their oil moving, their whole oil infrastructure is going to explode,” Trump told reporters at the White House last Thursday, touting the success of a U.S. blockade on the waterway that ordinarily ferries about 20 percent of the world’s oil and natural gas.
PROTESTS & HUMAN RIGHTS
Iran Executes 21-Year-Old Protester Sasan Azadvar | IranWire
“The judiciary media of the Islamic Republic announced that the death sentence for Sasan Azadvar, one of the protesters detained during the January protests, was carried out at dawn on Thursday, April 30. This verdict was issued by Branch 1 of the Isfahan Revolutionary Court, presided over by Judge Barati, and was communicated to his lawyer on April 20, 2026. Relatives of Sasan Azadvar, a 21-year-old from Isfahan, stated that the sentence was upheld by the Supreme Court after an appeal was filed. Sasan Azadvar held titles as a regional champion in Isfahan’s provincial karate competitions.”
HOSTAGES
British Couple Jailed in Iran: 'We're Likely to be Here for a Long Time' | BBC News
Lindsay Foreman says she is keeping sane by reading, doing laps of the prison yard and, when she can, practising yoga. Exercise, she says, has always been her "salvation". But after 16 months in jail in Iran, Lindsay admits she is struggling. "I'm dealing with the realisation that we're likely to be here for a long time," she tells me over the phone from Iran's notorious Evin jail.
IRANIAN INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
Pezeshkian, Ghalibaf Seek Araghchi’s Ouster over ‘Subservience’ to Guards | Iran International
“Iran’s president and parliament speaker are seeking Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s removal, accusing him of following the Revolutionary Guard chief’s instructions in nuclear talks without informing the president. President Masoud Pezeshkian and Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf believe Araghchi has in recent weeks acted less as a cabinet minister tasked with implementing government policy and more as an aide to [IRGC Commander] Ahmad Vahidi. Araghchi has acted over the past two weeks without informing Pezeshkian, in full coordination with Vahidi and based on his directives.”
CONGRESS & IRAN
Hegseth Says Iran War Can Continue Despite Legal Deadline | Politico
“Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday suggested American troops can remain at war with Iran indefinitely without congressional authorization because of the ceasefire between Iran and the United States. Hegseth’s broad assertion that the pause in fighting negates a 60-day legal deadline for the U.S. to exit the war—which came during his testimony before the Senate Armed Services committee—drew immediate objections from Democratic lawmakers. They said current law mandates that the White House either begin withdrawing troops from the region on Friday or seek congressional approval for the two-month-old conflict.”
Senate Rejects Measure to Restrict Iran War Hours Before Key Legal Deadline | Time
“The Senate on Thursday rejected a Democratic-led effort to force the removal of U.S. forces from Iran, turning back a War Powers Resolution just one day before a critical legal deadline that even some Republicans acknowledge amounts to a binding constraint on President Donald Trump’s authority. The procedural measure failed 47 to 50, with Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky the only Republicans breaking with their party as Congress again declined to assert its authority over a war that has entered its eighth week without formal approval. Significantly, it was the first time Collins had voted for such a measure.”
“House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Thursday said that it is not necessary for Congress to weigh in on the Trump administration’s military action in Iran because the United States is currently ‘not at war.’ ‘I don’t think we have an active, kinetic military bombing, firing or anything like that. Right now, we are trying to broker a peace,’ Johnson told NBC News in the Capitol. ‘I would be very reluctant to get in front of the administration in the midst of these very sensitive negotiations, so we’ll have to see how that plays out.’”