🇺🇸🇮🇷⚡️ — U.S. intelligence assessments do not back President Trump’s claim that Iran is close to fielding missiles capable of reaching the United States, according to Reuters.

➡️ A 2025 Defense Intelligence Agency report concludes Iran is unlikely to produce a viable intercontinental ballistic missile before 2035, even with potential foreign assistance.

➡️ One source said that even with help from China or North Korea, it would likely take Iran up to eight years to develop an operational ICBM.

➡️ While Marco Rubio said Iran is “on a pathway” toward eventually acquiring such capabilities, intelligence officials see no sign of an imminent threat.

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚡️ — The U.S. State Department has approved the departure of non-essential government personnel and their family members from Israel over security concerns.

➡️ The U.S. Embassy warns that it may also impose sudden travel restrictions on staff in certain areas of Israel, including Jerusalem’s Old City and the occupied West Bank.

🇺🇸🇨🇳⚡️ — The Pentagon is building AI-driven cyber capabilities designed to identify and potentially exploit weaknesses in Chinese infrastructure, including power grids and critical networks, as part of preparations for a possible conflict, FT reports.

➡️ Officials say artificial intelligence would automate reconnaissance and accelerate targeting. A former CIA official likened the approach to “a thief in the night” testing doors until finding one left unlocked.

➡️ The U.S. has already awarded roughly $200 million in AI-related contracts to firms such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and xAI. However, tensions are emerging as some AI companies push back against unrestricted military applications, like Anthropic.

🇭🇺⚡️ — Multiple Hungarian opposition parties have pulled out of the April elections in an effort to prevent vote-splitting and strengthen support for Péter Magyar’s Tisza Party, which is currently polling ahead of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz, FT reports.

➡️ Magyar is calling on the remaining opposition groups to also withdraw, saying that only a unified challenge can bring an end to Orbán’s 16-year rule.

🇨🇦🇮🇷⚡️ — Canada has called on its citizens to leave Iran if possible, warning that "hostilities in the region could resume with little or no warning."

🇺🇸🇻🇪⚡️ — Venezuela’s oil ministry has halted 19 production-sharing agreements with private firms that were signed during President Nicolás Maduro’s administration, according to Reuters.

➡️ The move has not yet affected national oil and gas production, as state energy company PDVSA continues to market the crude generated under the suspended deals.

➡️ The United States and Venezuela are now reviewing the contracts, and Washington could ultimately advise canceling some of them altogether.

➡️ The agreements involve Chinese, U.S., South American, and Venezuelan companies and cover operations in difficult areas such as Lake Maracaibo, as well as efforts to boost output in the Orinoco Belt. In some cases, participating firms had subcontracted the oilfield operations to third parties.

🇺🇸🇨🇺⚡️ — The Trump administration’s decision to ease fuel shipments to Cuba’s private sector is part of a broader strategy to deepen the island’s reliance on U.S. supplies, thereby expanding Washington’s leverage to push for political and economic reforms, Bloomberg reports.

➡️ The plan involves assuring energy companies they are permitted to sell oil and fuel to Cuban small and medium-sized private businesses, as well as allowing the resale of Venezuelan oil to Cuba under specific conditions.