The headline is the reality of the thing.

Oil and gas sales from Iran are under international sanction and not supposed to be taking place.  However, oil and gas sales from Iran -violating the sanctions- have been taking place.

CENTCOM is announcing that the U.S. military will now ensure the oil and gas from Iran doesn’t move.

The U.S. will physically enforce the pre-existing global sanctions. A blockade begins tomorrow morning.

TAMPA, Fla. — U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET, in accordance with the President’s proclamation.

The blockade will be enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. CENTCOM forces will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.

Additional information will be provided to commercial mariners through a formal notice prior to the start of the blockade.

All mariners are advised to monitor Notice to Mariners broadcasts and contact U.S. naval forces on bridge-to-bridge channel 16 when operating in the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz approaches. (SOURCE)

Oil and gas from Kuwait will be allowed transit and passage.  Oil and gas from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar will also transit without issue.  However, oil or gas from Iran will be blocked.  China takes the biggest hit, again.

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A significant data-point to keep an eye on is whether there will be an extension to the suspension of sanctions against Russian energy products (oil and LNG) for the global market.

The current sanctions relief measures are scheduled to expire on April 11th, tomorrow.

April 9 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy Kirill Dmitriev ​is currently in the U.S. and ‌is meeting members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration for discussions on a peace ​deal for Ukraine and U.S.-Russia economic ​cooperation, sources with knowledge of the visit ⁠told Reuters.

The visit comes before the ​U.S. decision on whether to extend ​sanctions relief on Russian oil, which expires on April 11 and could also be on the agenda.

The United ​States issued a 30-day waiver for countries ​to buy sanctioned Russian oil and petroleum products currently ‌stranded ⁠at sea, in what Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as a step to stabilize global energy markets roiled by ​Iran war.

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Susan Kokinda from Promethean Action gives her perspective on the negotiated ceasefire with Iran.  Kokinda notes the key players were Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey (she missed China).

In a lesser reported part of the background, Chairman Xi Jinping summoned the Pakistani negotiators to Beijing prior to the terms of agreement with Trump.  The summoning happened right after Trump said he was going to target the full force of the U.S. military against Iranian infrastructure.

Why does that matter to China?  Belt and Road.  Beijing has built a railway from China into Iran for the transport of goods and raw materials (including energy products) out of Iran (sanctions avoidance) in exchange for shipments of weapons. If President Trump targeted the railway infrastructure, in combination with the oil shipments being hampered, ¹China would be in a very bad place.  Hence the summoning to get a ceasefire.

Focusing too narrowly on the British Empire as the source of all problems and you miss things.  Mrs Kokinda missed this:

[SOURCE]

¹China in a bad place due to the middle east in crisis, means China becomes more dependent on Russia for oil, gas and ultimately fuel.  Internally, Russia isn’t a big fan of their Chinese dependencies.

If FUBAR in Iran remained the statis, the two countries not in any crisis would be the USA and Russia, both with oil/gas and extra refining capacity.  The countries/regions in biggest crisis would be China, Europe and Southeast Asia.

The U.S. and Russia less affected.  China and the EU more affected.  A significant geopolitical paradigm shift, all things considered…. and it appears that Beijing saw it coming.

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This is good news from the standpoint of us wanting to see President Trump continue to make MAGAnomic progress on trade as well as geopolitical alliances.

It will be a very interesting summit against the backdrop of Venezuela, Iran, oil/gas energy shifts, the previous Alaska summit with Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin, the renegotiation of the USMCA and the Chinese auto deal in Canada…

There are a lot of important topics within a Trump-Xi summit.

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “My meeting with the Highly Respected President of China, President Xi Jinping, which was originally postponed due to our Military operation in Iran, has been rescheduled, and will take place in Beijing on May 14th and 15th.”

“First Lady Melania and I will also host President Xi and Madame Peng for a reciprocal visit in Washington, D.C., at a later date, this year. Our Representatives are finalizing preparations for these Historic Visits. I look very much forward to spending time with President Xi in what will be, I am sure, a Monumental Event. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”  ~ President DONALD J. TRUMP

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Put this in the USMCA (CUSMA) elimination/negotiation file.  Europe has already been the visible example of what happens when you open your market to low price Chinese EVs.

With the recent agreement by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Chinese auto manufacturers are now rushing to establish the dealerships, before the Beijing-Canada deal becomes an issue in the USMCA negotiation.

China is NOT going into Canada because they foresee a great market of Snow Mexicans purchasing their low price EVs.  They are going into Canada as a proactive measure to establish a North American footprint with an eye toward the USA.

(VIA MSM) – BYD and Chery are accelerating plans to establish a dealership network in Canada after the country introduced a quota allowing tens of thousands of Chinese-made EVs to enter at reduced tariffs. The rollout will begin in Toronto before expanding to other major cities, with BYD targeting about 20 dealerships in its first year. This marks a significant new front in North American EV competition, as Chinese automakers seek growth outside the U.S., where prohibitive tariffs keep them out.

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This is very interesting because Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer went to Paris last weekend to meet with their Chinese counterparts and organize the deliverables for the upcoming summit between Chairman Xi Jinping and President Trump.

At roughly the same moment that Bessent and Greer were meeting with China, President Trump sent out the Truth Social message requesting Chinese ships to come to the Strait of Hormuz and escort their oil.  I said at the time of Trump’s message that Chairman Xi was going to have to negotiate through this issue carefully because it was very obvious that President Trump was not going to maintain any diplomatic pretenses when he met with Chairman Xi.

Yesterday, during the St Patrick’s Day celebration President Trump said the summit was cancelled. “We’re resetting the meeting and it looks like it’ll take place in about five weeks,” President Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in an event with Micheál Martin, the Irish prime minister.

Today, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed there is no scheduled replacement date for the cancelled summit.

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Keep watching.  Bessent and Greer didn’t go to Paris for nothing.

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Some additional contexts not included in the British-centric financial review below.

(1) Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae will be at the White House next week.  This meeting was scheduled several weeks before Operation Epic Fury began.  The timeline continues to indicate that President Trump’s primary geopolitical focus is on China, not necessarily the U.K-EU angle, although that is a materially significant overlay.

(2) “A major U.S. weapons package for Taiwan worth about 14 billion dollars is awaiting approval from Donald Trump and could be announced after his planned visit to China later this month, according to sources familiar with the discussions. The proposed deal would be the largest U.S. arms sale ever to Taiwan and comes as military tensions between China and the self-ruled island continue to rise.” {SOURCE}

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President Trump’s latest two messages via Truth Social present an interesting geopolitical approach with multiple enmeshed aspects.

First, some background context is needed.  Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and USTR Jamieson Greer are in Paris to meet with Chinese government officials ahead of a scheduled meeting between Chairman Xi Jinping and President Trump.

The main objective of the pre-summit assembly before President Trump goes to Beijing, is to hammer out the actionable agreement details that can be signed off by Xi and Trump.  Bessent and Greer are looking to put a deal together with their Chinese counterparts so that Trump and Xi can announce mutually beneficial outcomes during their summit.

Second, President Trump has already indicated the March 31/April 1 meeting with Xi will be all business. The traditional pomp and splendor will not be present, and Trump will only be visiting Beijing – no sidelines.

Third, Secretary Rubio will be accompanying Trump on this trip to Beijing, which might seem ordinary were it not for the fact that in 2020 China sanctioned and banned Rubio from entering China for criticizing Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Fourth, there are rumors that President Trump is going to announce a significant weapons deal with Taiwan at some point immediately following the trip.  If those rumors are true, it would be a top priority for the Chinese advance team in Paris to stop that from happening.

Regardless of what happens in the next few weeks, President Trump will be meeting with Chairman Xi with full Eagle eye confrontation toward the returning dragon stare.  There will be no panda mask on this trip whatsoever; this face to face is an apex predator showdown, while the world watches intently.

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U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are traveling to Paris this weekend to meet with the Chinese trade officials.  This meeting is in advance of President Trump’s visit to China for direct face-to-face discussions with Chairman Xi Jinping.

Given the recent events in Venezuela and Iran a lot of groundwork must be taking place for the Trump-Xi meeting.  Multiple Chinese interests have been impacted directly.  USTR Jamieson Greer discusses those preparatory issues as well as the recent announcement for Section 301 investigations and tariffs.  WATCH:

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‘Trump, you magnificent bastard, I read your book!’

President Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent are facing mounting criticism for creating a window for Russia to sell oil and gas to the global market via “narrowly tailored, short-term” sanction relief.  However, few people are putting the issue into context, and the background here is exceptionally interesting.

According to the terms announced by Secretary Bessent, the license to sell applies solely to Russian crude or petroleum products loaded onto vessels as of March 12 and is valid through midnight Washington time on April 11. [Treasury Notice Here – OFAC Technical Details Here]

[source]

The sanction relief license to sell will be done in globally recognized petrodollars and applies only to preexisting oil and petroleum products that are already in transit at sea.  However, here’s where it gets very interesting and the ramifications are significant.

Immediately following the Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Trump, Russia restarted Arctic-2 LNG terminals and began increasing oil production for storage on ‘floating platforms.’  President Trump met with Putin on August 15, 2025, and the curious increase in Russian production began on August 18, 2025.

In the past six months Russia has been pumping sanctioned oil and gas and storing it on ships and mobile sea platforms, seemingly (at the time) with no customers.  Suddenly, against the background of the Iran conflict, all of that previously stored ‘on the water‘ production, now worth double, is authorized for global sale (in petrodollars).

Either Russian President Putin is the luckiest guy in the world, or Russia knew something.

In 2025 what Russia did following the Alaska summit did not make sense; now it does and the ramifications are stunning.

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