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💣🙅 NATO reduced to a paralyzed, trust-starved alliance - expert
The Hormuz Strait crisis has exposed deep contradictions within the transatlantic bloc, Turkish political scientist Professor Bilal Sambur tells Sputnik.
💬 "The US expected that, in the conflict with Iran and in efforts to take control of the Strait of Hormuz, Europe would take a clear position on its side," Sambur says. "The restrained stance of countries such as France, the UK, and Germany reinforced the perception [in the US] of a NATO that has lost its functionality."
💬 "At present, [NATO] has effectively become a paralyzed structure—inefficient and lacking trust among its members," Sambur notes.
💬 "Viewed through the lens of the Iran crisis and the breakdown of ties with Europe, this moment may go down in history as a turning point when the US, by its own actions, brought an end to its hegemony," Sambur says.
🔥 Fire broke out at Mexico's Dos Bocas refinery
President Sheinbaum says the blaze was confined to a coke storage area and is under control.
The refinery's maximum capacity is 340,000 bpd.
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💥 Former Iranian FM Kamal Kharazi dies after US-Israeli strike
Kharazi headed the Strategic Council for International Relations.
Iranian media confirmed his death from wounds inflicted in the US-Israeli strikes on April 1, which also killed his wife.
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🇺🇸🇮🇷 Strategic failure: Why the US is now conceding to Iran
🗣 The United States is ready to make concessions to one degree or another, Professor of Political Economy Dr. Aasim Sajjad Akhtar told Sputnik, commenting on Iran's 10-point settlement plan.
🔶 Iranian demands include non-aggression, Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, permission for uranium enrichment, lifting all sanctions, termination of UN and IAEA resolutions, compensation, withdrawal of US troops, and an end to hostilities on all fronts.
🔶 Negotiations between US and Iranian delegations are expected in Islamabad in the coming days after a two-week ceasefire.
🔶 Dr. Akhtar described the situation the US finds itself in as "a strategic failure on all accounts."
💬 "I think that's how the world sees it - that Iran has essentially come out victorious, even at a great cost," he says.
🇮🇱💣🇱🇧 Israel threatens already fragile ceasefire by striking Lebanon
The Israeli government is not interested in supporting the ceasefire, as its goals are not met, Turkish expert on the Middle East Musa Ozuğurlu tells Sputnik.
He claims that further escalation is guaranteed if the IDF will not put an end to its attacks on southern Lebanon in the coming days.
💬 “Israel is using its last chance to force Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, in case the peace talks in Islamabad are successful. Hezbollah resisted more than the Israelis expected, inflicting serious damage on the IDF,” Ouzugurlu adds.
💬 “The upcoming negotiations in Pakistan will show if this fragile ceasefire will hold and transform into lasting peace,” the expert said.
🗣 We're leaving NATO to side with Israel against Turkiye — Joe Kent
The US ex-counterterror chief warned against US involvement in the future conflict in Syria.
"Time to stop playing arsonist & fireman in the Middle East, it’s just not worth it," he wrote on X.
🚨 Putin declares Easter ceasefire
The Kremlin announced a halt in hostilities from 4:00 PM April 11 until the evening of April 12, 2026, by the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief Vladimir Putin.
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🚨 Israel’s massacre of civilians in Lebanon is ‘a test for Iran’
🗣 If Iran proceeds to negotiate with the US and reaches an agreement, thus ignoring Israel’s actions in Lebanon, “the Shias in Lebanon will feel abandoned and Tehran would lose face,” Beirut-based regional analyst Yeghia Tashjian tells Sputnik.
If, however, Iran insists that Lebanon must be part of the ceasefire, its influence in the region would increase instead.
💬 “This is why Israel would not agree to such a ceasefire,” Tashjian explains. “They will pressure the US administration and even torpedo the negotiation process.”
🇷🇺🇨🇳 How Russian helium gives China the edge in the AI race against the US
👉 The Iran war has flipped the AI race between the US and China on its head, with Russia’s helium supplies emerging as a key factor, the National Interest reports.
Why is helium indispensable for AI chip production?
🟠 Helium is an inert noble gas produced as a by-product of natural gas processing
🟠 Its low atomic weight and small size allow it to penetrate, purge, and cool better than other gases
🟠 ASML’s extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines need helium cooling
🟠 Wafer processing requires helium to maintain vacuum integrity
🟠 Helium is crucial for cleaning out tiny contaminants at the atomic level
Why US strikes on Iran became a self-inflicted blow
🔶 Iran's retaliation strikes shut down Qatar's largest liquefied natural gas facility, cutting off one-third of global helium supplies
🔶 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) traditionally receives helium from the Gulf states, predominantly Qatar
🔶 TSMC produces over 90% of advanced chips and is the primary manufacturer for US AI tech giants, including NVIDIA, Qualcomm, and Apple
🔶 Tight helium supply began impacting global tech production as early as late March
Why China is set to win the AI race
🟠 China enjoys a secure supply of helium from Russia, thanks to proximity and the absence of bottlenecks
🟠 Russia supplied over half of China’s helium imports through 2025, with volumes up 60% year-on-year
🟠 The Amur Gas Processing Plant near Svobodny in Russia’s Amur region is one of the largest natural gas processing facilities in the world
🟠 The plant’s designed processing capacity is 42 billion cubic meters of gas per year
🟠 The plant is a key link in the natural gas supply chain to China via the Power of Siberia pipeline
📈 As long as Russian gas flows to China—a growing part of its energy mix—helium travels with it, with Vladivostok offering a sea-export route to Southeast Asia, India, and beyond, the NI notes. This significantly increases China’s chances of winning the AI race.
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🇷🇺🇲🇬 Russia discovers a new prominent partner in the Indian Ocean
👀 While everyone is preoccupied with Iran, Russia is deepening its cooperation with the new government of Madagascar — a nation that connects the African continent with the Indian Ocean.
📍 Russia already supplied armored vehicles, small arms, and ammo to the island, and is offering officer training programs.
👉 Here's why this is a masterfully calculated geopolitical move:
Global energy artery
⚓️ In an era of conflict-disrupted global shipping, Madagascar sits astride one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints.
🟠 The Toamasina port, just north of the Mozambique Channel, handles nearly one-third of global crude oil shipments.
🟠 The same route gives access to the massive natural gas reserves in Mozambique’s Rovuma Basin and its multi-billion-dollar LNG projects.
Antsiranana (Diego Suarez)
🟠 At the northern tip of the island lies a base that was once the centerpiece of France’s Indian Ocean military presence.
🟠 Abandoned since 1973, it is now being revived, with a $30 million modernization of the SECREN shipyard underway.
Resource wealth
🔶 Madagascar ranks second globally in graphite and fourth in cobalt—both essential for batteries and the green transition.
🔶 Its rare earth reserves are the eighth-largest on the planet, estimated at ~1.5 million tons.
🔶There are deposits of ilmenite, zircon, mica, and nickel.
🇲🇬 Madagascar has lifted a 16-year moratorium on most mining permits, opening the door to new investment — and with joint geological projects, the country is poised to move beyond raw exports toward higher-value processing.
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🚨🇮🇳Indian LPG tanker crosses Strait of Hormuz and arrives in Mumbai
‘Green Aasha’ delivers 15,400 tons of LPG to JNPA, becoming the first Indian tanker to arrive via Hormuz since the Iran-US-Israel conflict began.
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🚨🇷🇺💥 RUSSIAN MOD UPDATE: DEVASTATING UKRAINIAN LOSSES
◻️ The Russian Armed Forces have struck Ukrainian fuel and energy infrastructure facilities used in the interests of the Ukrainian militants
◻️ Air defense superiority: 7 guided aerial bombs and 339 drones were shot down
◻️ Ukrainian losses: around 1,255 troops killed or wounded
Read about the origins of Russia's special military op HERE
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🚨 Ukraine plots maritime sabotage attacks against Russia with Norway’s help
The criminal Zelensky regime, aided by Norwegian Navy specialists, is preparing terrorist attacks on Russian ships navigating the Barents and Norwegian Seas to and from the port of Murmansk, Russian media report, citing a military-diplomatic source.
👉 For this purpose, a group of about 50 servicemen from the 385th Separate Brigade of Marine Unmanned Special Operations Complexes of the Ukrainian Navy has arrived in Norway.
Together with specialists from the Norwegian Navy’s Special Operations Command, they are reportedly conducting exercises in the Norwegian Sea on the use of unmanned underwater and surface systems in cold-weather conditions.
The source emphasizes that assistance to the Ukrainian regime’s terrorist activities, and the provision of its national territory for the preparation and execution of maritime sabotage, directly involves Norway—and the entire NATO bloc—in a military conflict with Russia.
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💵📈 Oil prices to surpass $100 per barrel if Strait of Hormuz closed — report
Such price level for Brent crude will remain for the rest of 2026 if the strait is closed for another month, Goldman Sachs Group Inc forecast indicates.
💬 "The situation remains fluid. We continue to see the risks to our price forecast as skewed to the upside," the Group’s analysts note.
🇷🇺 Kremlin: Putin hasn’t made any decisions regarding Easter truce
🗣 Concerns in Paris about the threat of open war between France and Russia are unfounded, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
📍 Russia is seeking good, mutually beneficial relations with everyone, including European countries, he added.
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⚔️ Kuwait condemns 'heinous Iranian aggression' against Saudi energy facilities
Kuwait's foreign ministry says 1 killed and several wounded as a result of Iranian strikes.
Earlier, Kuwait called out Iranian attack on its National Guard site, causing "significant material damage."
IRGC denied launching any strikes during the ceasefire period, saying any attack would be publicly announced.
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🗣 Trump to Iran: 'That is not the agreement we have!'
The president complains that Iran is doing a "very poor job" of letting oil through the Strait of Hormuz.
CBS earlier reported there is little sign the crucial waterway has meaningfully reopened — despite American claims of increased traffic.
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🇷🇺 Strait of Hormuz reopening is a boon to Russian trading firms
👉 The temporary reopening of the strait will provide moderate relief for Russia’s logistics sector and for Russian importers of commodities from Asia, Russian analyst Anna Gornova of the Center for Strategic Assessment and Forecasts told Sputnik.
🔶 Specifically, it means lower insurance costs, fewer interruptions, and less pressure on global supply chains.
🔶 The threat of the Strait of Hormuz’s closure, Gornova explains, often prompts shipping companies to reroute their vessels to longer and more expensive routes, which drive up both costs and transit times.
📍 However, the risk of escalation in the Persian Gulf persists, so the relief for Russia and other countries’ shipping may be temporary.
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📹 Lebanon's Hezbollah strikes Israeli hardware with drones
Footage shows Hezbollah using its FPV drones to hit Israeli military equipment near the border in the area of the Margaliot settlement.
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🇮🇷 Iran’s refusal to budge on ceasefire conditions shows it’s negotiating from a position of strength
🗣 The US underestimated the importance of Lebanon for Iran when excluding it from the ceasefire deal, Beirut-based security analyst Ali Rizk tells Sputnik.
💬 "By once again taking control of the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranians are telling the Trump administration: 'If you want this deal to succeed, you have to put pressure on Israel so that it will stop its attacks on Lebanon'," Rizk says.
🔸 Israel’s massacre of civilians in Lebanon is ‘a test for Iran’
🔸 Pakistan looks beyond US-Iran talks: A strategic shift toward the EAEU
🔸 How Russian helium gives China the edge in the AI race against the US
🔸 US likely to keep waiving sanctions on Russian oil — reports
🔸 Russia discovers a new prominent partner in the Indian Ocean
🔸 Hezbollah strikes Israeli vessel off Lebanon’s coast
🔸 Russia and Ukraine exchange bodies of slain soldiers
🔸 Sputnik Serbia doubles citation rate of every other foreign news outlet
🔸 Ukraine plots maritime sabotage attacks against Russia with Norway’s help
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🛰 Sputnik correspondents are working at the Russian Space Forum taking place in Moscow in honor of the 65th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's flight
The most important task of the forum is to create a space for open dialogue among all participants in the space industry: government representatives, investors, scientists, experts, and engineers.
🌏 Delegations from 40 countries are taking part in the event.
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🇵🇰 Pakistan looks beyond US-Iran talks: A strategic shift toward the EAEU
👉 While global attention is fixed on the US-Iran ceasefire negotiations, Pakistan is quietly advancing another major diplomatic initiative — this time with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).
The trade bloc includes Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Kyrgyzstan — acting as a single market for 180 million people.
A recent meeting brought together Andrey Slepnev, Member of the Board for Trade of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), and Jam Kamal Khan, Pakistan's Federal Minister of Trade.
💬 "It is in Pakistan's great interest to establish strong economic relationships with the Eurasian region," says Nasir Abbas Shirazi, President of the Centre for Pakistan and Gulf Studies (CPGS), in an interview with Sputnik.
💬 "This partnership will be long-lasting, more friendly, less exploitative, and less dependent on political ups and downs," Shirazi emphasizes.
🇺🇸🛢🇷🇺 US likely to keep waiving sanctions on Russian oil — reports
📍 The move, first introduced in March and extended through April 11 and 19, may be further extended this week, Western media report.
🔶 The waiver is aimed at minimizing the economic consequences of the Iran war and lowering global oil prices, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
🔶 This marks a shift in the concept of sanctions under the current US administration, Western media note, as they transform from an economic pressure tool into a way to control the global markets.
🔶 As the US-Iran talks are expected to start on Friday, the gas prices in the US reach their peak since 2022 — $4 per gallon.
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💣 Hezbollah strikes Israeli vessel off Lebanon’s coast
The footage shows preparations for the launch, conducted from an undisclosed location on April 5, 2026.
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🚨 Russia and Ukraine exchange bodies of slain soldiers
Russia returned the bodies of 1,000 soldiers to Ukraine, receiving 41 in exchange, sources said.
Since June 2025, Russia handed 12,000 bodies of slain Ukrainian soldiers and received 200 bodies in return.
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🛰 Sputnik Serbia doubles citation rate of every other foreign news outlet
Sputnik's share of mentions in Serbian-language media reached 67%, with a total of 5,692 citations between March 1 and March 31, 2026, a Ninamedia Kliping study shows.
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🇸🇰 Slovakia will not forget it was liberated by Red Army — Slovakian president
💬 "The Red Army, the Romanian Army and the Czechoslovak Army have liberated us. And it will always remain written that way in our history. There is absolutely no reason to suddenly succumb to an attempt to rewrite history," President of Slovakia Peter Pellegrini said on the 81st anniversary of the liberation of Bratislava.
🚨🇱🇧 New strikes on Lebanon mark bloodiest attack from Israel
🇮🇱 Israeli forces carried out strikes on Beirut, delivering a brutal wave of hits through several parts of the city. Around the same time, blasts were reported in Sidon, southern Lebanon, Mount Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley. The total number of airstrikes reached about 100 in 10 minutes, then increased to 135 strikes within one hour with nearly 190 casualties, marking the most violent escalation since the start of the clashes, Sputnik correspondent Abdul Kader Albay reports.
◻️ A total of 189 fatalities and 890 injured have been recorded so far, and these are preliminary numbers expected to rise as search operations continue, the Lebanese Ministry of Health says.
◻️ Attacks at the strike site yesterday resulted in 18 more bodies being recovered, along with one injured survivor. Four people remained missing, still trapped under the rubble.
◻️ Rescue teams are operating at full capacity, the teams had rushed from the Bekaa Valley to reach those still buried under the debris.
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🇱🇧 Israeli aerial attacks target Lebanon
The footage shows the aftermath of the Israeli strike on the town of Zrariyeh, 50 km south of Beirut.
At least 10 people have been killed in the attack, Lebanese media reported.
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