🇮🇷🇨🇳 - The vessel Iran seized earlier today is HUI CHUAN, the BBC reports.

HUI CHUAN is one of many of China's military ghost vessels that are used by Beijing to prop up armies and militias around the world.

HUI CHUAN was used by Chinese private military contractors to help escort commercial vessels in the Arabian Sea, bypassing Iranian, Houthi and Somali piracy.

🇮🇷🇨🇳 - Reuters has confirmed the report too, citing two maritime security sources.

Iran seized a Chinese military floating armory, flying under a false Honduras flag.

🇸🇩⚡- Heavy Sudanese airstrikes on Nyala, Rapid Support Forces controlled Sudan's capital.

🇺🇲🇨🇺⚡️- CIA Director J. Ratcliffe met with members of the Cuban government in Havana.

☢️ 🇺🇸 🇻🇪 U.S. removes highly enriched uranium from Venezuela in ‘accelerated’ secret mission

📎 Alex Raufoglu

🇾🇪🇸🇦⚡️- The internationally recognised and Saudi backed Yemeni government and the Iran-aligned Houthi group will exchange more than 1,600 prisoners, the office of the U.N. special ​envoy for Yemen said on Thursday, marking the largest release ‌of detainees since the outbreak of the war in Yemen.

Under the agreement, the Houthis will ​release 580 prisoners, including seven Saudis and 20 Sudanese, while the ⁠government will release 1,100 Houthi prisoners.

The two sides agreed to hold further talks on ​additional releases and allow mutual visits to detention facilities. They also agreed on an implementation plan with the International Committee of the Red Cross to move forward with the ​release operation.

🇺🇸⚡️- On this day we remember the beginning of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, when Capt. Meriwether Lewis and Lt. William Clark led the Corps of Discovery into the vast unknown. Two of the Republic’s earliest legendary Army officers, they were defined by duty to country, courage in the face of hardship, and a loyal friendship that became one of the great bonds in American history. Their expedition helped unite a continent and shape a nation from ocean to ocean.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- President Donald Trump defends Chinese President Xi Jinping for referring to the United States as a “declining nation” and also said that the “decimation of Iran” is “to be continued.”

🇭🇹⚡️- A new wave of inter-gang violence has sparked in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, since Saturday. At least 78 deaths were recorded locally.

🇺🇸⚡️- President Trump’s Justice Department is considering settling a $10 billion lawsuit Trump has against the IRS, potentially resulting in a $10 billion payout to Trump from taxpayer funds, per CNN.

🇺🇸🇨🇺⚡- BREAKING: The DOJ plans to pursue an indictment against former Cuban president Raúl Castro, and brother to Fidel Castro, concerning the downing of aircraft operated by a humanitarian group in 1996.

🇺🇲🇨🇺⚡️- "Ratcliffe told Cuban officials they have a limited window to stabilize the island’s economy and engage with the Trump administration.

Ratcliffe warned his Cuban counterparts that President Trump should be taken seriously, the official said. To make the point, he referred to the U.S. military raid that deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro in January." - Wall Street Journal.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️- "One thing I think that we're going to make a deal on, they've agreed they want to buy oil from the United States. They're going to go to Texas. We're going to start sending Chinese ships to Texas, and to Louisiana, and to Alaska... that's a big thing" - President Trump on his meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

🇺🇸⚡️- According to the Wall Street Journal President Trump is having preliminary discussions about a plan to issue 250 pardons to mark the US 250th anniversary.

🇺🇸🇨🇴⚡️- "Today the FBI and our partners extradited the highest ranking member of Tren de Aragua (TdA) ever brought to justice - Jose Enrique Martinez Flores, aka "Chuqui.

Flores just arrived in Houston from Colombia this evening.

This is the first time ever that a TdA member has been charged with terrorism-related crimes and been extradited to the U.S. - history made pursuant to President Trump’s executive order last summer designating Tren de Aragua as an FTO.

Flores is charged with providing material support to TdA, a designated foreign terrorist organization, as well as with international drug distribution conspiracy. He is scheduled to make his federal court appearance Friday morning." - FBI Director Kash Patel

🇺🇸🇨🇳🇹🇼⚡️- "I think China’s preference is probably to have Taiwan willingly, voluntarily join them, in a perfect world what they would want is some vote or referendum in Taiwan that agrees to fold in, I think that's what they would prefer.

Ultimately President Xi’s mandate in the time he's been in office, he's made clear that what they call reunification is something that has to happen at some point, We think it would be a terrible mistake to force that through force or anything of that nature, there would be repercussion for that globally, not just from the United States.

We kind of leave it there, that sort of ambiguity is what i think has defined the way we characterise this issue. The reason being the strategic ambiguity is we don't want to see conflict, we don't want to see something disruptive happen. I think that would be very disruptive for the world and both countries." - Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State.