The UAE has reportedly threatened that it could shift to the Chinese currency in oil trade as it presses Washington for a financial backstop The United Arab Emirates has warned the US Treasury that it could be “forced to use Chinese yuan” in oil trade, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday. UAE Central Bank Governor Khaled Mohamed Balama delivered what the newspaper described as an “implicit threat” against the dollar’s dominant position during a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington last week, the outlet said, citing unnamed US officials. Balama reportedly explained that Abu Dhabi could require a lifeline to prevent a dollar liquidity crunch if the economic fallout from the US war against Iran continues to rise. Tehran has pursued a strategy of asymmetric pressure aimed at raising costs for Washington and its allies. The UAE bore the brunt of Iranian retaliation against US military bases and other high-value locations, with over 2,800 drones...
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Rumen Radev, the leader of Progressive Bulgaria, has pushed for more “critical thinking and pragmatism” in EU foreign policy The winner of the Bulgarian parliamentary election, Progressive Bulgaria’s Rumen Radev, has called for dialogue with Russia to be restored. The former president has led the newly formed left-leaning populist party to a landslide victory on a platform of critical dialogue with Brussels and pragmatism towards Moscow. Speaking to reporters after the first exit polls showed his party well in the lead, the EU-skeptic Radev said Bulgaria would remain “on its European path,” but argued that Sofia and the bloc both need “more critical thinking” in foreign policy. “Ask [French President Emmanuel] Macron, the prime minister of Belgium, ask other European leaders, including [German] Chancellor [Friedrich] Merz, who said that this dialogue [with Russia] must be restored,” Radev stated, stressing that engagement is necessary to shape Europe’s future security architectur...
Tehran has accused Washington of violating a ceasefire, vowing to respond Iran has denounced a US attack on one of its vessels as “armed maritime piracy,” warning of retaliation. On Sunday, a US warship fired at and subsequently seized an Iranian-flagged cargo vessel in the Gulf of Oman. The military said the ship, identified as the Touska, was attempting to breach a naval blockade and head for Bandar Abbas through the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement released shortly afterward, Iran’s military command center, Khatam al-Anbiya, condemned the strike on a vessel returning from China, accusing Washington of violating the ceasefire in place since April 8. “We warn that the armed forces of... Iran will soon respond and retaliate against this armed piracy and the US military,” a spokesperson for the command center said, as cited by ISNA news agency. US President Donald Trump announced the blockade of Iranian ports last week after Pakistani-mediated talks failed to achieve a breakthrou...
Rumen Radev and Boyko Borissov are competing in a vote that will shape Bulgaria’s relations with Brussels, Kiev, and Moscow Bulgaria’s Rumen Radev and Boyko Borissov have cast their votes, and the country’s eighth election in five years is underway. Radev, who opposes EU aid to Ukraine, has vowed to break the stranglehold of the “oligarchic mafia” on Bulgaria. The election is another flashpoint in the battle between pro-EU and sovereignist political forces in Europe. Borissov’s GERB-SDS party is aligned with Brussels’ foreign policy, and he reassured voters on Sunday that the party gives “full support to Ukraine.” Radev's Progressive Bulgaria faction promises to balance relations between East and West, with Radev vowing to build a “modern European Bulgaria,” while developing “practical relations with Russia based on mutual respect.” Radev is a former fighter pilot who served as Bulgaria’s president between 2017 and 2026. Borissov is the country’s longest-servin...
Moscow says it has always treated Western energy sanctions as hollow and illegal The US has renewed a sanctions exemption allowing Russian crude and petroleum products already loaded onto tankers to be delivered and sold freely, the US Treasury Department has announced. The move came despite a pledge by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made two days prior that the waiver would not be extended. On Friday, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued a general license covering Russian oil loaded onto vessels as of April 17 and authorizing transactions through May 16. The waiver replaces an earlier 30-day order – which took effect on March 19 – and extends to services including safe docking, crew safety, emergency repairs, and insurance, even for previously sanctioned vessels. The goal of the initial waiver was to contain the spike in oil prices caused by the Iran war and the de-facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Read more US to target Iran-linked ships worldwide – top...
Falsehood will not help the US achieve its goals in negotiations, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said US President Donald Trump made seven claims in one hour after Tehran announced the temporary reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and all of them are untrue, Iranian parliamentary speaker and chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has said. On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared the waterway, which handles around 25% of the global crude oil trade, “completely open” for commercial vessels for the remainder of the ten-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. The announcement sent oil prices down by about 10%. On Saturday, however, Tehran reversed the decision, saying the Strait of Hormuz has “returned to its previous state” and is once again under the “strict management and control” of its military. Iranian officials said the renewed closure was driven by Washington’s refusal to lift the blockade of Iran’s ports, which the US imposed on Monday after the first ...