🚫 Sanctions

Cuba's Council of State issued Decree-Law 128, allowing foreign companies to hire directly and open bank accounts abroad, part of 176 economic reforms to expand the private sector amid the US blockade.

The US Treasury expands Venezuela's mining licenses to include coal and gold, while retaining strict controls over payments, partners, and dispute resolution, deepening imperial tutelage over Venezuelan resources.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's defense files motions to dismiss US charges, invoking head-of-state immunity and challenging narco-terrorism jurisdiction after his abduction by US forces.

The Trump administration is outsourcing immigrant detention to foreign countries, paying governments like El Salvador and Liberia to imprison ICE detainees indefinitely, a policy that shreds US soft power and enriches private prison firms.

A Tehran-based journalist analyzes China-Iran relations, arguing Beijing's support is substantive despite not meeting critics' expectations, and highlights the Bishkek Declaration and defiance of US sanctions as key signals.

Amid US sanctions and the kidnapping of Maduro, Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution makes tactical compromises.

Venezuela signs energy agreements with US and international companies to boost oil production, create jobs, and modernize the electrical grid, aiming for national development and prosperity.

Venezuela and the US sign a 25-year oil deal granting US firms concessions in 17 fields, promising $100 billion in investment and $209 billion in tax revenue.

Trump's boasts of massive foreign investment are fiction, and his deal to seize Venezuela's oil is similarly illusory, as it ignores production realities and the likelihood of reversal by a future Venezuelan government.

Venezuela and the US sign a major energy agreement, promising massive investments, job creation, and economic development, with officials highlighting mutual benefits and the role of companies like NABEP and Chevron.

Grassroots organizations in Havana denounce U.S. militarization and the blockade on Cuba, reaffirming the region as a Zone of Peace and calling for resistance against imperialist aggression.

A Pan-African coalition declares solidarity with Cuba against the US blockade, recalling Cuba's historic support for African liberation movements and its ongoing medical internationalism, and calls on African governments to deepen ties with Cuba.

Venezuela's Simón Bolívar International Airport partially resumed passenger flights on September 1, using temporary terminals built in 35 days after June's devastating earthquakes, restoring key connectivity despite ongoing recovery and the US blockade.

Venezuelan grassroots organizations protest a new US-Venezuela oil agreement, denouncing it as US interference and an attempt to control the country's oil reserves, while calling for government transparency and national sovereignty.

Laith Marouf argues Iran has become an undefeatable superpower, with Western economic warfare and ideological devotion to Israel signaling imperial decline.

Laith Marouf argues that Iran's military and intelligence capabilities now make it undefeatable, and that Western economic warfare against it signals desperation.

A Pentagon leak reveals the US military is stretched thin across Iran, Ukraine, and Latin America, forcing hard choices.

A leaked Pentagon memo reveals US generals competing for scarce military assets, constraining intervention options in Iran, Ukraine, and Latin America, while economic warfare and sanctions face diminishing returns.

Venezuela and the US announced a massive oil deal involving 17 fields and $100 billion in investment, but conflicting statements and lack of transparency raise questions about sovereignty and fiscal terms.

Venezuela's acting president details a 25-year oil agreement with the US, projecting $209 billion in state revenue while asserting resource sovereignty and contrasting terms with the 1990s Oil Opening.

The US Treasury's OFAC amended eight Venezuela sanctions licenses, removing a requirement that contracts with Venezuelan state entities be governed by US law, while retaining sanctions and dispute-resolution venues.

China's imports of Iranian oil remain near record levels despite US sanctions, as private refiners evade pressure.

NED President Damon Wilson bragged to a House committee in February 2026 about sparking unrest in Iran by smuggling Starlink terminals and fashioning anti-Iran media narratives; in the same hearing, he took credit for Bolivia's right-wing election to keep lithium from Moscow.

Washington is negotiating a 100-year lease of Venezuelan oil fields to secure the world's largest crude reserves, while Caracas considers leaving OPEC following Maduro's capture and US control of its oil revenues.

Iran's IRGC Navy asserts complete control over the Strait of Hormuz, rejecting US claims it is open, and ties reopening to lifting sanctions and ending aggression.

The US continues to invoke the 1917 Trading with the Enemy Act against Cuba, a law deemed obsolete for decades, to maintain an economic war that has failed to topple the Revolution while inflicting daily hardships on Cuban families.

The US Treasury sanctioned Palestine Action and allied groups, extending Britain's ban and threatening free speech and association rights in America.

Israeli forces kill Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, including a father executed before his son, while bombing water facilities, mosques, and aid warehouses, and threatening children over kites.

Ynet analyzes whether expanded US secondary sanctions can pressure Iran where military force failed, noting history offers no guarantee of success and that outcomes depend on international cooperation and persistence.

The US Treasury sanctioned UK-based Palestine Action as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, freezing assets and barring Americans from dealings, following Britain's proscription of the group over its campaign against Israel's military industry.

Venezuela's main airport reopens temporary terminals on September 1 after earthquake damage, restoring flights despite US sanctions and infrastructure challenges.

Trump's renewed trade war with Canada, triggered by rejected US demands for control over trade and resources, threatens to backfire as the US depends on Canadian crude oil and faces an energy crisis.

Michael Hudson and Radhika Desai argue that US sanctions on Iran and threats to cut countries off from the dollar system are accelerating de-dollarization, as China's alternative payment infrastructure and global debt imbalances undermine US financial dominance.

Michael Hudson and Radhika Desai argue that US sanctions and dollar weaponization are accelerating the shift to alternative clearing systems, predicting the dollar's decline as a long inflationary process rather than a sudden crash.