"That's not all for the ballroom

We're putting up $400M to do the ballroom...We are putting that up privately...but they want to do certain things militarily...or having to do with the safety of the president."

➡️ U.S. attacks in and around the Strait of Hormuz left 10 Iranian sailors wounded and five others missing, a regional official was quoted as saying Friday by Iranian state media.

➡️ U.S. Central Command said Iranian forces launched missiles, drones and small boats at three U.S. warships on Thursday, but that none were hit, and that U.S. forces retaliated with "self-defense strikes" on bases near Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz.

"During the Americans' aggressive actions last night in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz and the Makran Sea [Gulf of Oman], a cargo vessel near the waters of Minab was struck and caught fire," the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Mohammad Radmehr, an official in the southern Hormozgan province, as saying Friday. "Ten injured sailors have been transferred to hospital, and local groups and search teams are trying to learn the fate of the other [five] sailors."

U.S. forces disabled M/T Sea Star III and M/T Sevda, May 8, prior to both vessels entering an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman in violation of the ongoing U.S. blockade.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) enforced blockade measures against two Iranian-flagged unladen oil tankers attempting to pull into an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman. A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) disabled both tankers after firing precision munitions into their smokestacks, preventing the non-compliant ships from entering Iran.

U.S. forces also disabled Iranian-flagged M/T Hasna, May 6, as it attempted to sail to an Iranian port in the Gulf of Oman. An F/A-18 Super Hornet from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) disabled the unladen oil tanker's rudder by firing several rounds from a 20mm cannon gun.

All three vessels are no longer transiting to Iran.

"U.S. forces in the Middle East remain committed to full enforcement of the blockade of vessels entering or leaving Iran," said Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander. "Our highly trained men and women in uniform are doing incredible work."

Multiple commercial vessels have been disabled and more than 50 have been redirected by CENTCOM forces to ensure compliance.

In Memoriam: Ņikita Sļadzevskis

• Ņikita went to Ukraine in 2017 and joined the fight in Donbas at the age of 19. This was years before the full-scale invasion, when much of the West still treated the war as someone else’s problem.

• At the start of the full-scale invasion, he defended Kharkiv as part of Kraken, a unit under Ukraine’s military intelligence directorate, GUR.

• At some point later on, he joined the reconnaissance/sabotage unit “Hatred” of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, a well-known elite formation originally built from Azov veterans.

• His time in Ukraine consisted of eight uninterrupted years on the front line.

• On the 13th of May, 2025, Ņikita Sļadzevskis was Killed in Action while serving in Ukraine. He was 27 years old.

The man, according to his closest friend:

Kārlis Apalups, a Latvian Zemessardze / National Guard reservist, gave a Latvian TV interview after Ņikita's death. A few points stood out:

• Ņikita visited his home country for the last time around Easter 2025:
“He said he was very happy to be back, and very tired after eight years.”

• On Latvian society’s relationship to people like him:
“Here’s Ņikita Sļadzevskis, a Latvian whose first language is also Latvian.”

Apalups’ point was that Latvia often overlooks Russian-speaking Latvians who fight for the right side.

• On the injustice that stayed with him: people like Ņikita, who went and fought out of conviction, were demonized in Latvian discourse for years, while pro-Russian figures often received softer treatment. Ņikita can no longer defend his own name; they can.

His unit:

• Towards the end of his life, he was associated with Nord Storm, an international, Latvian-linked formation.