President Trump: "Our country right now is in the most dangerous position its ever been in from an economic standpoint and a safety standpoint." "We could end up in a depression of the 1929 variety and we're very close to a World War," he went on saying #TRUMP2024

Kyiv prepared Putin’s assassination attempt with Western involvement, funding, reports diplomat The #Kyiv regime was preparing an #assassination attempt against Russian President Vladimir #Putin with direct participation and funding from its Anglo-Saxon masters, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria #Zakharova said during a briefing. "We noted the confessions of the head of Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov [included in the list of terrorists and extremists in Russia]. Speaking in an interview for a Ukrainian newspaper on July 13, he confessed to futile assassination attempts against the President of Russia. There are no doubts that such crimes were planned and funded with direct participation of the Anglo-Saxon masters of the Kiev regime," the diplomat noted. She stated her certainty that, this way, the collective West "becomes complicit in this criminal activity of the Kiev regime." - "No evil deed, no terror act against civilians, against representatives of the authorities, has never been condemned by Western countries during this period, neither in their national quality, nor collectively," Zakharova underscored. Previously, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry #Peskov said that everything necessary is being done to ensure the safety of the president "considering the international escalation of tensions in general."

Iranian ship ignores distress call from ship struck by Houthis "This continued malign and reckless behavior by the #Iranian-backed #Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of mariners across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden," said U.S. Central Command. There are Good Samaritans, and then, as the Iranian warship IRIN Jamaran demonstrated on Saturday, there are Bad Samaritans. The Iranian frigate was some eight nautical miles from the M/V Verbena—a Ukrainian-owned and Polish-operated cargo carrier flagged in Palau—that was struck with two missiles by Iran-backed Houthi terrorists on June 13. On Saturday, the crew issued a distress call and said it was abandoning ship. “M/V Anna Meta responded to render assistance. Anna Meta has recovered the mariners and is transporting them to safety. The crew abandoned ship due to continued fires and an inability to control them,” stated U.S. Central Command. “The Iranian frigate IRIN Jamaran was eight nautical miles from M/V Verbena and did not respond to the distress call,” CENTCOM said. “This continued malign and reckless behavior by the Iranian-backed Houthis threatens regional stability and endangers the lives of mariners across the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.” “CENTCOM will continue to act with partners to hold the Houthis accountable and degrade their military capabilities,” it added. “The Islamic Republic of Iran and its terrorist proxies in Yemen, the Houthis, are literally pirates,” wrote Israel Nitzan, former acting consul general of Israel in New York. “They pose a threat to international commerce, peace and security. They must be stopped.”

Iran detains MSC Aries ship over allegedly 'violation of maritime law' #Iran has decided to detain The MSC Aries ship bound for Israel due to its violation of maritime law, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanani has said. "Iran is constantly working to ensure the safety of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. However, the aforementioned vessel was sent to Iran's territorial waters due to its violation of maritime law and for ignoring the requests of the Iranian authorities," he told a news conference broadcast by Iran's SNN TV channel. As Kanani noted, Iran monitors "all ships in the strategic strait" and prevents violations of the country's sovereignty. Tehran favors "the freedom of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz in accordance with international norms and will always act in this vein," the Foreign Ministry spokesman added.

Beijing announces naval drills in East China Sea on March 12-14 The Chinese People's Liberation Army's #Navy is holding drills in the #East China Sea on March 12-14, according to a statement published on the website of China’s Maritime Safety Administration. The brief statement says that the exercise is taking place along the coast of China’s eastern province of Zhejiang, where a temporary navigation ban has been imposed. The drills are being held from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. local time (from 12:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. GMT) on March 12-14. No information is available about the forces and equipment involved in the drills. However, the statement says that the exercise will include live firing.

#Pentagon registers rising number of #Russian vessels going through #Bering Strait The U.S. Department of Defense registers a serious increase in the number of Russian vessels going through the Bering Strait, which the Pentagon believes is connected with sanctions against Moscow, U.S. Coast Guard Vice Admiral Peter Gautier told a conference. Since the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine the U.S. military "has seen a wholesale change in Russian shipping from counterclockwise usually going West through the northern sea route around Europe and then to other ports, because of the sanctions," he said. "It is now reversed and is going clockwise East then down through the Bering and we're seeing more and increasing traffic that goes through the Bering Strait, which obviously has implications in terms of safety security as we are a border nation with Russia," Gautier noted without specifying details.

CENTCOM intercepts Iranian weapons shipment intended for Houthis A U.S. Coast Guard cutter, forward deployed to the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility, seized advanced conventional weapons and other lethal aid originating in Iran and bound to Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen from a vessel in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 28. The U.S. Coast Guard Sentinel-class fast-response cutter USCGC Clarence Sutphin Jr (WPC 1147), assigned to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, located the vessel and boarded it in the Arabian Sea. The boarding team discovered over 200 packages that contained medium-range ballistic missile components, explosives, unmanned underwater/surface vehicle (UUV/USV) components, military-grade communication and network equipment, anti-tank guided missile launcher assemblies, and other military components. The direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of such aid violates U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216 (as extended and renewed by resolutions 2675 and 2707). “This is yet another example of Iran’s malign activity in the region, ” said Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander. “Their continued supply of advanced conventional weapons to the Houthis is in direct violation of international law and continues to undermine the safety of international shipping and the free flow of commerce.”

France shuts down two nuclear reactors over fire at Chinon NPP — authority Two reactors have been shut down after a fire broke out at the Chinon nuclear power plant (NPP) in western France, the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) said in a statement on its website. A transformer of Reactor 3 caught fire in a non-nuclear sector of the NPP in the early hours of Saturday. "The loss of main external electrical power to Reactor 3, following this fire, resulted in the automatic shutdown of the reactor," the statement said. It was reported that after the fire had been extinguished, Reactor 4, which shares a water collection system with Reactor 3, was also temporarily shut down to avoid water leaks into the environment. The Chinon NPP has four operating reactors, each with a capacity of 900 MWe, and its other three were shut down between 1973 and 1990. The operating water-water reactors were built between 1982 and 1987. In 2023, the Chinon NPP generated 17.24 TWh of electricity, which is equivalent to 5.4% of France’s total nuclear power production.

Crisis in Red Sea to end when war in Gaza ends, claims Qatari diplomat Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea will stop when the conflict in the Gaza Strip is ended, Majed al-Ansari, Qatari foreign ministry spokesman, said. "We support all regional efforts to reduce escalation," he told a news conference in Doha, commenting on the situation around the safety of navigation in the Red Sea. "We say once again that this problem began after the escalation in the occupied [Palestinian] territories, hence, it will be over when this escalation ends, first of all when the war there ends."

Red Sea risk remaining high, Maersk says Risks remain high for shipping in the Red Sea, the Denmark-based Maersk said. "The situation in and around the Red Sea / Gulf of Aden continues to be volatile and all available intelligence at hand confirms that the security risk remains at a significantly high level," Maersk said. "Due to the continuing situation, we are making changes to the Blue Nile Express, as our priority remains the safety of our seafarers, vessels, and your cargo," the logistics operator noted, "Effective immediately, the Blue Nile Express (BNX) will omit the Red Sea. The amended service rotation will now be Jebel Ali - Salalah - Hazira - Nhava Sheva - Jebel Ali. There is no expected impact to carrying capacity," it added. The company decided earlier to suspend traffic of its vessels in the Red Sea after the Maersk Hangzhou was hit by a missile on December 30.