April 7, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this day: in 1939, Benito Mussolini invades Albania, declaring it an Italian protectorate and forces King Zog I into exile.

QOTD: " On the evening of the deadline, [US PRESIDENT TRUMP] said, “the entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.”

US/IRAN/MIL - U.S. strikes Iran’s Kharg Island as Trump warns ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2026/04/07/trump-us-iran-war-threat/

Twelve hours before his deadline for Iran to accept his deal or face destruction, President Donald Trump issued the country a grave warning, saying “a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”

“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?” he said Tuesday morning on social media.

His post came on the heels of overnight U.S. strikes on Kharg Island, the core of Iran’s oil economy.

The strikes, which began about 2 a.m. Eastern time, hit military targets including runways and bunkers but not the island’s oil infrastructure, two officials told The Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public. No ground forces were involved, they said. One of the officials said the targets struck included areas the U.S. had hit earlier in the military operations.

One of the U.S. officials also confirmed that on Sunday the U.S. used several of its bunker-buster bombs to hit Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leadership in a deep underground bunker. The official would not provide an assessment of what IRGC leadership had been hit, saying the information was classified.

The GBU-57 MOP is a 30,000-pound bomb that can strike hundreds of feet underground. It was first used in combat last year against Iranian nuclear targets and is carried by the B-2 stealth bomber. It is one of the largest nonnuclear bombs in the U.S. arsenal.

Trump had issued a deadline of Tuesday at 8 p.m. Eastern time for Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz, pledging destruction by midnight if leaders don’t comply. On the evening of the deadline, he said, “the entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.”

MORE: Trump has repeatedly delayed deadlines for Iran, but suggests Tuesday’s is final
https://apnews.com/article/trump-iran-deadline-final-strait-hormuz-1c0894ef4a2c2feaabc326cc68571c33

President Donald Trump has pushed back a deadline for Iran to cut a deal or open the Strait of Hormuz from Monday to Tuesday, the latest of several deadline delays, and threatened that without a deal “Hell will reign down on them.”

Trump’s previous deadline was for March 23, but that shifted several times over the ensuing weeks as the Republican president oscillated between heated threats, announced delays and proclamations that the negotiations were going well, sometimes in the same statement.

Iran rejected the latest ceasefire proposal, the country’s state-run IRNA news agency reported Monday. Shortly after, Trump gave an ominous warning to Iran if it didn’t capitulate and suggested Tuesday’s 8 p.m. EDT deadline was final.

“They’ll have no bridges. They’ll have no power plants. They’ll have no anything,” he said.

US/EU/POL - Vance Visits Hungary to Boost Orban Before Election
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/world/europe/vance-hungary-orban-fidesz-election.html

After 16 years in power, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary is struggling to maintain his footing as his governing Fidesz party trails badly in most polls. Now, Vice President JD Vance is attempting a last-ditch rescue effort to revive the flagging prospects of Europe’s nationalist standard-bearer.

Declaring that Hungary under the leadership of Mr. Orban and the United States under President Trump are bound by “moral cooperation” in the “defense of Western civilization,” Mr. Vance told a news conference in Budapest, the Hungarian capital: “Viktor Orban is, of course, going to win” in a general election on Sunday.

Mr. Orban, whose Fidesz party lags far behind the opposition Tisza party in most polls, interjected approvingly: “That is a fact.”

Mr. Vance arrived in Budapest on Tuesday morning, just five days before balloting on Sunday widely seen as the most consequential vote in Hungary since its first free election in 1990 after the collapse of Communism.

VIETNAM/POL - Vietnam's top leader To Lam expands power, new PM elected
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/vietnam-parliament-elects-party-leader-lam-new-state-president-2026-04-07/

Vietnam's lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously elected Communist Party Secretary General ​To Lam as the country's state president for the next five years, making him the most powerful Vietnamese leader in decades.

The widely anticipated move marks a break from ‌Vietnam's traditional collective leadership system, consolidating authority in one figure in ways analysts say could tilt the one‑party state toward greater authoritarianism, while also enabling faster decision making, similar to its neighbour China.

The parliament said on its website that all 495 deputies present at Tuesday's National Assembly session endorsed the Communist Party's nomination, while five lawmakers were absent. Officials have said the nominations for top state leadership posts were finalised in a meeting in late March.

The former head of public ​security now has a double mandate to rule the country for the next five years, after he secured a second term as general secretary in January.

In another largely expected move later ​on Tuesday, the parliament also unanimously elected Le Minh Hung as the country's new prime minister.

CHINA/IRAN/ECON - How China Helped Iran Cushion the Blow of Sanctions and Fund Its War Machine
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/how-china-helped-iran-cushion-the-blow-of-sanctions-and-fund-its-war-machine-6fa2847d?mod=world_feat1_middle-east_pos1

In the first Trump administration, the U.S. launched a “maximum pressure” campaign to cut Iranian oil from the global market and eliminate Tehran’s biggest source of revenue. Today, Iran sells billions of dollars’ worth of oil every month.

For that, it can thank one country: China.  

Tehran’s Asian partner has dramatically increased the amount of Iranian oil it buys as sanctions have gotten tighter. It now takes nearly every drop Iran produces, compared with around 30% a decade ago.

To make those purchases possible, Chinese buyers have worked closely with Iran to expand what U.S. officials and researchers say has become one of the world’s largest sanctions-evasion networks.

Payments are routed through smaller Chinese banks that have limited global operations and less to lose if they are sanctioned by the U.S., making it hard to stop them. Front companies established by Iran in Hong Kong and elsewhere help manage the proceeds.

Private Chinese refineries, known as “teapots,” have become the primary buyers of Iranian crude, after China’s state-owned energy giants, wary of upsetting Washington, left the market. Fake invoices and mislabeled crude have further disguised the trade.

All these moves—laid out in U.S. sanctions documents, public indictments and described by Western officials and researchers—have allowed Iran to earn tens of billions of dollars in revenue every year from China, and then launder it so it can be used around the world.

China is Iran’s “chief partner in sanctions evasion,” said Max Meizlish at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington-based think tank. “Iran just wouldn’t be able to fight this war without the years of support that it has received from China.”

TAIWAN/CHINA - Taiwan opposition leader heads to China for 'peace'
https://www.dw.com/en/taiwan-opposition-leader-heads-to-china-for-peace/a-76683490

Taiwan's opposition leader Cheng Li-wun is on a rare visit to China at the invitation of President Xi Jinping which as she says is for promoting cross-strait "peace."

"The purpose of this visit to mainland China is precisely to show the world that it is not just Taiwan that unilaterally hopes for peace," said Cheng, who is the chairperson of the largest opposition party, Kuomintang (KMT).

"I believe that through this journey for peace, everyone is even more eager to see the sincerity and determination of the CPC Central Committee to use peaceful dialogue and exchange to resolve all possible differences between the two sides," she added, referring to the initials of the Communist Party of China.

"To preserve peace is to preserve Taiwan," Cheng told a news conference at KMT headquarters in Taipei, when asked about her priorities for the trip.

"Goodwill must be built up and mutual trust needs to be expanded, step by step, by both sides."

Cheng is visiting China for six days. She is expected to go to Shanghai, Nanjing and Beijing where she hopes to meet Xi. Beijing has not commented on a possible meeting.

IRAN/KSA/ENERGY/MIL - Iran has attacked Saudi Arabia's Jubail petrochemical complex, IRGC says
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-has-attacked-saudi-petrochemical-complex-jubail-fars-news-agency-says-2026-04-07/

Iran on Tuesday attacked Saudi Arabia's Jubail petrochemical complex, ​the heart of the kingdom's downstream sector, its Revolutionary Guards said, the latest evidence of Tehran's ‌ability to strike back in response to U.S.-Israeli attacks ahead of a U.S. deadline to open the Strait of Hormuz or face annihilation.

Iran said the attack was in response to attacks against its Asaluyeh petrochemical plants, which are connected to ​its massive South Pars gas field and were reportedly hit by multiple explosions overnight.

U.S. President Donald ​Trump's ultimatum to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz oil chokepoint by the end ⁠of Tuesday or face bombing of civilian infrastructure would be the biggest escalation yet of the war. ​Iran has warned it would target similar infrastructure in the Gulf. Hormuz's closure has sent global energy prices ​surging.

Iran has shown it retains the ability to strike targets in neighbouring countries and effectively shut transit through the Strait, previously a conduit for a fifth of global oil supply. That has inflicted costs on the U.S. and Israel, which began ​the war by attacking Iran on February 28.

RUSSIA/IRAN/MIL - Exclusive: Russia supplies Iran with cyber support, spy imagery to hone attacks, Ukraine says
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-supplies-iran-with-cyber-support-spy-imagery-hone-attacks-ukraine-says-2026-04-07/

Russian satellites have made dozens of detailed imagery surveys of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East to help Iran strike U.S. forces ​and other targets, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment.

The conclusions, reviewed by Reuters, also found that Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain. They ‌represent the most detailed account yet of how Russia has provided secret support to Iran since Israel and the U.S. launched their assault on February 28.

Russian satellites, the undated assessment said, made at least 24 surveys of areas in 11 Middle Eastern countries from March 21 to 31, covering 46 "objects", including U.S. and other military bases and sites including airports and oil fields.

Within days of being surveyed, military bases and headquarters were targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles and ​drones, the assessment said, in what it described as a clear pattern.

A Western military source and a separate regional security source told Reuters that their intelligence also indicated intense ​Russian satellite activity in the region and said that imagery had been shared with Iran.

RUSSIA/UKRAINE/ENERGY/MIL - Russia's Black Sea's Sheskharis terminal halts loadings after drone attack, sources say
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-black-seas-sheskharis-terminal-halts-loadings-after-drone-attack-sources-2026-04-07/

Crude oil ‌exports from Russia's Sheskharis terminal in the Black Sea port of Novorossiysk were suspended after a massive drone attack and a fire, ​two sources familiar with the matter said on ​Tuesday.

The terminal, which typically loads 700,000 barrels per ⁠day of crude, is Russia's major oil outlet in ​the Black Sea. Its suspension will add to the ​strain on Russian infrastructure, which has been repeatedly attacked.

Russia's major Baltic Ust-Luga port's oil exports have also been suspended since last week after heavy ​drone strikes and fires, industry sources said.

Sources have told ​Reuters that Russia will be forced to cut its output as ‌supplies ⁠build up and storage fills, when international demand for alternatives to Middle Eastern crude is high and it could be maximising the benefit to its economy of a ​surge in ​oil prices caused ⁠by the Iran war.

The two sources familiar with the situation could not be named because ​of the sensitivity of the issue. They ​said ⁠the port had yet to estimate the extent of the damage.