🇮🇷 Iran planning to ramp up potency of its powerful civilian space program

Phase one of Chabahar Spaceport’s expansion to accommodate solid fuel launchers will be completed this year, and phase two plans for semi-heavy liquid fueled launches will be inaugurated, Iranian Space Agency chief Hassan Salarieh has announced.

The civilian space launch center “has a special position in Iran and the region and can serve as Iran’s gateway to international markets, since the launch and placement of satellites must be conducted in a way that meets the needs of different countries to reach various orbits,” Salarieh said.

Iran is one of less than a dozen countries with space launch capacity, with its launch vehicles and equipment using domestic technologies, the official boasted, adding that “just as we entrust some of our launches to other countries, other nations can entrust their launches to us.”

A fledgling space power, Iran boasts the most sophisticated space program in the Middle East, creating launch vehicles like the Simorgh SLV and an array of indigenous satellites, from the Mahda research satellite to the Nour-series of surveillance sats.

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Bracing for Trump’s MAELSTROM: How looming US tariffs will turn the HEAT UP on the EU

On April 2, Trump's sanctions are poised to unleash a whirlwind of repercussions for the European Union. Here’s why: 

1️⃣Dependence on key US imports

🔸 Alloy steel rods

🟠The US accounted for 68% of imports of high-quality alloy steel rods ($46.01M), according to Eurostat 2024 data.

🟠These rods are crucial for industries such as aerospace, automotive, and manufacturing.

🟠The EU's defense sector depends on US steel for weapons systems, aircraft, and military hardware.

🔸 Black boxes

🟠In 2024, 88% of black boxes, valued at $34.45M, used to support the aircraft fleet were imported from the US

🟠A shortage of flight data recorders (FDRs) and cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) could lead to delays in aircraft safety investigations and compliance with international standards.

2️⃣Defense industry impact

🟠Between June 2023 and May 2024, EU countries imported approximately $40.8B in civil aircraft, engines, and parts from the US, accounting for about 35% of total EU imports from the US during that period.

3️⃣Rising costs

🟠Tariffs are expected to raise expenses for US defense-related materials and equipment that the EU relies on.

🟠Rising costs from retaliatory duties will affect consumer goods: a YouGov survey revealed that between 60% of respondents in Denmark and 76% in Spain believe the US tariffs will sting the bloc’s economy.

🟠The global cost of a 2025 tariff war could reach $1.4TRLN in welfare losses, a report by economists at Aston Business School estimated.

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👌 Trump’s pick for top general ADMITS US can’t bomb Iran into submission or win a war with China

💬 “Military force alone may not be sufficient to deter Iran, and an approach that includes diplomatic engagement and economic incentives may be necessary,” Air Force Lt. Gen. (ret.) Dan Caine, Trump’s choice for Joint Chiefs Chairman told senators during his confirmation hearing.

🇨🇳 On China, Caine admitted that the US is not ready for a drawn out conflict with the Asian giant, and said US defense industry is too slow in delivering new equipment.

The image is AI-generated

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❗️Putin receives Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik in Moscow - Kremlin

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🇷🇺🇨🇳Heads of Russian and Chinese foreign ministries discussed Iran’s nuclear program, Central Asia, prospects for new security structure in Eurasia — Russian FM

Lavrov and Wang Yi discussed Ukrainian crisis, emphasized need to eliminate root causes of conflict, Russian FM stated, adding that heads of Russian and Chinese foreign ministries discussed new security risks in Asia-Pacific, including Korean Peninsula.

Lavrov and Wang Yi discussed schedule for bilateral high-level contacts, the ministry added.

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📹 Footage shows what remains of US Reaper drone shot down by the Houthis

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Giuffre clarifies Instagram post amid health concerns

Virginia Giuffre, an accuser of Jeffrey Epstein, clarified that her Instagram post claiming she had just four days left to live was made in error.

The 41-year-old issued a statement after the post sparked widespread concern about her health and raised questions regarding a "car crash" she said left her with injuries and kidney failure.

In a statement to Newsweek, the Giuffre family thanked social media users for their outpouring of support.

💬 "Virginia is deeply thankful for the love and care she's receiving," the state read. "She remains in serious condition while undergoing medical treatment."

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🇨🇳 China SHUTS DOWN BlackRock’s Panama Canal ambitions

China has paused a $23 bln deal pushed by the US’s biggest asset manager to put the Panama Canal’s ports back under American control amid concerns about its economic and geopolitical ramifications.

In early March, Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison Holdings reached a deal with a BlackRock-led consortium to sell Hutchison Port Holdings, which operates 43 ports across 23 nations, including two of the Panama Canal’s major ports.

China’s SAMR market watchdog launched a review of the sale last week, with the Foreign Ministry saying that the anti-trust probe was aimed at safeguarding market fairness and public interests.
Earlier, while discussing the deal, Beijing voiced “firm opposition” to attempts to infringe on countries’ rights and interests through “economic coercion, hegemonism and bullying.”

SAMR’s intervention came just in time, with BlackRock expecting to finalize the deal as early as April 2.

📋 Fink’s game plan

On March 5, US business media reported that BlackRock CEO Larry Fink had personally assured the White House that the Panama port facilities Trump has threatened to “reclaim” could be acquired without using force.

A source told Fortune the Hutchison deal “wouldn’t have come together without Trump’s support.”

Panama withdrew from China’s Belt and Road initiative in February, drawing fire from Beijing, which accused Washington of “using pressure and coercion to smear and undermine Belt and Road cooperation.”

🌎 Strategic Trade Artery

Accommodating 14,000+ ships per year, the Panama Canal is one of the world’s foremost strategic maritime arteries, accounting for 5% of global trade.

The US makes up about 70% of traffic, with the canal shortening shipping between the East and West coasts, and facilitating trade with the rest of the world, including US LNG and food exports to Asia.

For China, the canal is the gateway to Latin America – a source of food, raw materials and energy imports, and finished goods exports.

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🔸 Russia fully complies with moratorium on strikes against Ukrainian energy infrastructure – Lavrov

🔸 Which Iranian missiles and drones can wipe US bases in the Middle East off the map?

🔸 Bracing for Trump’s MAELSTROM: How looming US tariffs will turn the HEAT UP on the EU

🔸 Christians vs dark forces of Antichrist: Where Russian and Ukrainian soldiers stand on FAITH?

🔸 Barrier units: Ukrainian soldiers shot by their own comrades

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🔍 What powerful people did top Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre implicate?

Giuffre, whose testimony and legal action against the pedophile’s associates helped set in motion events leading to his arrest and surprise death in a NY jailcell, is battling for her life after a car accident.

Details remain murky, with Giuffre saying she has gone into renal failure after a school bus collided into the car she was riding in at high speed outside Perth. Police dubbed the incident, which left Giuffre visibly battered and bruised, a “minor crash” with “no reported injuries,” with the Giuffre family saying Tuesday that police didn’t even come to the crash site.

Who did Giuffre expose?

Giuffre has testified and said in innumerable interviews that Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell trafficked her from 1999-2002, when she was a minor.

🔸 Her highest profile ‘john’ was Prince Andrew, whom she accused in a 2021 civil suit of sexually assaulting her on three occasions, including on Little St. James, Epstein’s private Caribbean Island. The case was settled out of court in 2022, with the prince making a donation to Giuffre’s anti-abuse charity, but never admitting guilt.

🔸 She’s also alleged abuse by bigshot lawyer Alan Dershowitz, ex-diplomat Bill Richardson, MIT scientist Marvin Minsky, money manager Glenn Dubin, and others.

🔸 Giuffre’s testimony in the Miami Herald’s bombshell 2018 exposé helped reopen the Epstein file. It was her defamation suit against Maxwell that triggered the August 2019 release of damning documents implicating Epstein, Maxwell and their associates, a day before his mysterious death.

🔸 Giuffre’s bravery helped open the floodgates for others to testify, with Sarah Ransome, Jennifer Araoz, Maria Farmer, and over 100 “Jane Does” coming forward to detail Epstein’s grooming network and keeping him and his associates in the spotlight.

Thanks to their work, the Epstein scandal and its damning revelations about the abuse of minors by powerful politicians, influencers and celebrities refuses to die.

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