From Iran to Asia - THE ASIA PIVOT - 22-May-2026

Brian Berletic: US Blockade on Iran (& China) Continues: As Does March to War with China in the Asia-Pacific - YouTube

The US continues implementing its blockade on Iran, not to "topple Iran" or "open the Strait of Hormuz," but to perpetuate the conflict and the incremental, managed damage it is doing to energy markets and specifically Asia who is dependent on Middle Eastern energy exports;

The US is performing a controlled demolition of part of the global economy in the same manner it imploded Europe's economy and its dependence on Russian energy, a process that has taken years to implement and is still ongoing;

All while the US feigns seeking peace with Iran and Russia, it continues preparing its proxies in the Asia-Pacific for war with China;

Looks Like CIA Analysts Are Doing a Pretty Good Job Regarding Iran

Until recently I had serious concerns that my old outfit, i.e., the CIA, was failing to do its job in providing accurate analysis to the President. Looks like my concerns were misplaced. While there have been a few occasions in the history of the CIA that the analysts told the then active administration what they believed the President wanted to hear, the more common problem is that the CIA analysts rain on the President's parade and their analysis is ignored. That appears to be the case now with Iran.

Before delving into what the CIA has been saying about the war in Iran, I want to direct your attention to the recent statement of the Chief of Naval Operations - Daryl Caudle - on the Strait of Hormuz:

If we go try to do escorts - we have looked into that. That's a very challenging mission in that narrow strait when it's contested.

We're gonna have to get to a place where that strait is open with a generally accepted ceasefire before that can be turned on en masse.

Providing escort services through a contested strait will, in my military opinion, exceed the capacity of the Navy to do that effectively.

The good Admiral confirms what I have been saying for several weeks, i.e., the US does not have a viable military option to eliminate Iran's ability to stop ships from transiting the the Strait without permission from Iranian authorities.

Iran Ceasefire Nears Its End

The ceasefire between the United States and Iran appears to be nearing its end, with both sides exchanging attacks in the Persian Gulf despite efforts to broker a peace deal.

On May 13, an Indian ship carrying livestock sank after getting hit by a projectile off the northern coast of Oman. All 14 Indian crew members were rescued from the vessel by Omani authorities. The very next day, May 14, a vessel was seized off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and was redirected toward Iranian territorial waters.

A more serious incident came on May 17, with the UAE reporting a drone attack on the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant.

Barakah false flag: How Israeli drones targeted UAE nuclear plant to frame Iran, unleash nuclear catastrophe

A drone strike on an electrical generator just outside the inner perimeter of the Barakah Nuclear Power Plant in the United Arab Emirates on May 17, 2026, suddenly brought the Persian Gulf to the brink of an environmental and nuclear catastrophe.

Iranian military sources have confirmed what the evidence overwhelmingly suggests: the attack was carried out by the Israeli military in a calculated provocation designed to push the UAE toward greater hostility against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The UAE now finds itself at the epicenter of a dangerously escalating crisis following the attack on its only nuclear power facility, which, if breached, could irradiate the entire region.

While Emirati officials have made veiled accusations pointing toward Iran, couched in ambiguous statements about the drones' origin, a sober examination of the technical evidence tells a different story. The flight path impossibilities, the operational sophistication required, and the consistent, decades-long pattern of US-Israeli false-flag operations across the Persian Gulf region all converge on a single point.

Iranian military sources have explicitly identified the Zionist regime as the perpetrator. The attack serves Israeli interests with surgical precision: driving a wedge between Iran and its Persian Gulf Arab neighbors, sowing regional discord, and creating a pretext for further escalation, all while the regime in Tel Aviv celebrates the chaos and destabilization.

IRGC Navy coordinates safe passage of 31 commercial vessels through Strait of Hormuz

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says 31 commercial vessels, including oil tankers and container ships, have safely passed through the Strait of Hormuz over the past 24 hours under the coordination and protection of its Navy despite unprecedented insecurity caused by the "terrorist US military" in the Persian Gulf region.

IRGC Navy coordinates safe passage of another 35 ships through Strait of Hormuz

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has announced that it coordinated the transit of another 35 ships through the Strait of Hormuz in the past 24 hours.

"Over the past 24 hours, 35 ships, including oil tankers, container ships, and other commercial vessels, passed through the Strait of Hormuz, after obtaining permission, [and] with the coordination and security protection of the IRGC Navy," the Public Relations Office of the IRGC's Navy said in a statement on Friday.

The passage came on top of 31 vessels-including oil tankers, container ships, and other commercial ships-that passed through the strait in the previous 24 hours, the IRGC Navy announced on Thursday.

Satellite images reveal extent of damage to Israeli military bases in Irans strikes

Newly analyzed satellite imagery has exposed damage to multiple Israeli military installations from Iran and Hezbollah's defensive operations, raising questions about the extent of destruction that Tel Aviv may be concealing from public view.

Trump Attempts To Ruin European Auto Industry With 25% Tariffs

If United States President Donald Trump imposes a 25% tariff on European cars, production will decline, and the question is whether European automotive companies would survive, especially given the pressure from more competitive Chinese cars. Even if the US president does not impose the tariffs he is threatening, it will not be easy for the European auto industry.

USS NIMITZ ENTERS CARIBBEAN AS U.S. ESCALATES REGIME CHANGE EFFORTS IN CUBA | Chris Helali

The Trump Admin has made no secret about the fact that it wants "regime change" in Cuba, which the U.S. Establishment has been trying to achieve for decades.

In addition to federal prosecutors announcing criminal charges against former Cuban President Raúl Castro for the 1996 downing of two planes flown by Miami-based, CIA-linked exiles, the USS Nimitz and its escort warships just arrived in the Caribbean.

Chris Helali, a journalist, geopolitical analyst and co-host of DD Geopolitics, noted that while the U.S. using illegal means to try to strangle the Cuban people and their economy is nothing new, Cuba has spent decades resisting U.S. Hegemony. They are now facing one of their toughest test yet, against a Trump Admin that is getting increasingly desperate amid the failed war against Iran.

New Documents Blow Up the Miami Myth About Cuba's 'Murder in the Skies' - 21st Century Wire

Washington has revived one of the most combustible episodes in U.S.-Cuba relations just as Cuba buckles under blackouts, fuel shortages and intensified economic strangulation. On May 20, 2026, the Justice Department unsealed murder-related charges against 95-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro and five other Cuban officials over the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shootdown, then chose to announce them at Miami's Freedom Tower, before a room of hardline exile activists who greeted the case as political vindication rather than legal procedure.