WTI Steady After Biggest Cushing Crude Build In 3 Years; Imports From Venezuela Highest Since 2019
Oil prices remain lower this morning, following the US proposal for a ceasefire with Iran, but off the lows following Iran’s rejection.
“From the Iranian perspective, Trump’s actions this week have demonstrated that the US can be pressured when Iran threatens further escalation,” said Arne Lohmann Rasmussen, chief analyst at A/S Global Risk Management.
Futures had already pared losses as Tehran fired a new wave of missiles at Israel, and signaled little willingness to compromise. Iran’s armed forces added to a stream of messaging that ruled out ceasefire talks, according to state-run IRIB News. They added that they wouldn’t allow oil prices to return to their previous levels until all threats against the country were removed.
Overnight saw API report a modest rise in crude and refined product inventories and while oil prices are really more attuned to the geopolitical headlines currently, we’re keeping our eyes on the domestic supply and demand for any signs of an actual impact locally.
API
Crude +2.35mm
Cushing
Gasoline +528k
Distillates +1.39mm
DOE
Crude +6.93mm (-200k exp)
Cushing +3.42mm – biggest weekly build since Jan 2023
Gasoline -2.59mm
Distillates +3.03mm
US crude stocks rose for the 5th straight week with inventories at the Cushing Hub soaring by 3.4mm barrels – the biggest build since Jan 2023. Refined products were mixed with Distillates stocks up bigly while Gasoline stocks fell for the sixth straight week…
Source: Bloomberg
For the 5th week in a row, there was no addition (or drawdown) for the US SPR.
Total Cushing stocks are their highest since July 2024 while total gasoline stocks tumbled to their lowest since the start of the year…
Source: Bloomberg
Crude imports from Venezuela surged to their highest since 2019…
US Crude production remains ‘near’ record highs – but despite a rising rig count, production is not increasing…
Source: Bloomberg
No signs of gasoline demand destruction so far. Finished motor gasoline product supplied came in at 8.9 million barrels per day for the EIA week, a week-on-week increase of 196,000 barrels per day.
WTI was trading around $89 ahead of the official inventory data (at the upper end of the overnight session’s range)…
“In the past 24 hours, the Trump administration has been signaling both to concerned citizens, policymakers, allies, adversaries, and perhaps most importantly markets, that there may be an end in sight sooner than the president himself had let on just about a week ago,” Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran program senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Bloomberg TV.
“A lot of that is hand-holding, particularly for energy markets.”
Perhaps this is why…
Not a great backdrop for the Midterms (admittedly six months away).
Both Sides’ Starting Ceasefire Positions Are: “We Won, You Surrender”
By Michael Every of Rabobank
Don’t screen yourself off from reality
Today starts with markets in a positive mood, stocks up in Asia, bond yields down slightly, and Brent oil down around 7% to $97.5. Yet don’t screen yourself from reality. As underlined before, the price of energy on a screen currently has no relation to its actual availability in different forms in certain geographies. The Philippines just declared a national emergency to conserve fuel; South Korea is curtailing private driving; Slovenia has introduced rationing; and the boss of Shell is quoted saying Europe will face fuel shortages within days (see “Where Demand Destruction Is Greatest “).
Iran, via its parliamentary speaker Ghalibaf, whom the US is now negotiating with, also makes this clear: “We are aware of what is happening in the paper oil market, including the firms hired to influence oil futures. We also see the broader jawboning campaign. But let’s see if they can turn that into “actual fuel” at the pump – or maybe even print gas molecules!”
We are aware of what is happening in the paper oil market, including the firms hired to influence oil futures. We also see the broader jawboning campaign.
But let’s see if they can turn that into “actual fuel” at the pump —or maybe even print gas molecules!
— محمدباقر قالیباف | MB Ghalibaf (@mb_ghalibaf) March 24, 2026
That said, Iran has stated “non-hostile” ships can now transit Hormuz if the vessels co-ordinate with it. That would mean this crisis is essentially already over, albeit with Iran de facto taking control of Hormuz as a toll-way:only the US and Israel are ‘hostiles’, and they don’t use the Strait. But haven’t we seen this on our screens before? Did you notice any change in energy flows?
Indeed, looking at your screens won’t tell you what’s going to happen in this war. For example, the New York Times reports Saudi’s MBS is still pushing Trump to continue fighting due to the “historic opportunity” to remake the region; officially, Saudi rebuts these claims. Israel says it backs any US efforts to start talks with Iran but privately feels otherwise – and Israel is hitting Russian-Iranian weapons smuggling routes in the Caspian Sea, expanding the war to a new geography that links it back to the one in Ukraine.
Positively, and showing official denials don’t mean much, the US is negotiating with some in Tehran – though do they speak for a fracturing regime? It has sent a 15-point plan to end the war, according to Reuters, with Ghalibaf and foreign minister Araghchi reportedly told they won’t be killed while talks are ongoing(!) The first round is pencilled in by Thursday in Pakistan: Iran just said they don’t want to talk to Witkoff and Kushner, preferring anti-neocon VP Vance.
However, both sides’ starting positions are: ‘We won, you surrender.’ The US is offering a one-month ceasefire, with Iran: dismantling its nuclear capabilities; vowing to “never seek” nuclear weapons; stopping the enrichment of nuclear material; delivering its enriched uranium to the IAEA; decommissioning and destroying Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow; granting the IAEA full access; stopping funding and arming its proxies; stepping back from its ballistic missile program, keeping them only for defence; and promising to keep the Strait of Hormuz open. This is in return for US support for the development of a civilian nuclear program in Bushehr and lifting all sanctions. By contrast, Iran is demanding an apology from the US, reparations for wartime losses, guarantees against future US or Israeli military action, the removal of US military bases in the region, no restrictions on its ballistic missile program, no shift in its proxies approach, and formal control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Where is the workable compromise?
Yet, again, is there more going on in reality? What Iran says its positions are may not be what they actually are – and the same could be true for the US, to a lesser extent, given the deal on the table is a more muscular version of the much-derided Obama-era JCPOA.
In that regard, Trump says Iran has given the US a gift “worth a tremendous amount of money” which isn’t nuclear, but energy related: what might that be? Trump says it shows he is “dealing with the right people.” That implies the wrong people are there too, so Iranian factions are forming, which implies any deal may not hold for everyone who can shoot a missile or drone.
Iran is singing “Won’t get fooled again” over the negotiations. After all, new US military power allowing for boots on the ground will arrive in Hormuz after markets close on Friday. What position does the US intend to take? Doing nothing? Or seizing Iran’s enriched uranium? Or Kharg island, which wouldn’t reopen Hormuz, but would stop most Iranian oil flows, choking the regime while exacerbating the global energy crisis? Or smaller islands in and parts of the shoreline of Hormuz to ensure the Strait reopens? Inaction is pointless, but all actions risk Iran escalating against Gulf energy facilities. Or could the ‘gift’ Trump referred to be linked in some way, e.g., “Kharg-a-Lago”? Maritime expert John Konrad also floats an addition to his earlier hypothesis that the unstated US aim here may be to not reopen Hormuz and use the leverage it achieves as a result. Pick a US position, then pick a market position, then watch your screen.
Meanwhile, it’s not exactly quiet elsewhere:
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, on its last hurrah, is to be sent to SOUTHCOM (LatAm) not CENTCOM (the Middle East): does that point to geopolitical action in that region – like Cuba?
The EU said it won’t reverse its Russian gas ban or slow down its green transition, despite the current crisis – but a Russian oil import ban has suddenly dropped off of Brussels’ short-term agenda.
The EU’s enlargement chief said the bloc needs to change its rules to enable a new wave of countries to join and called on member states to present their own plans after they rejected proposals by the Commission to streamline the process.
EU lawmakers told the US to give up trying to change EU tech rules as the UK wants to bring back 76 EU laws, according to the Telegraph: new legislation is planned to allow Labour to transfer Brussels powers back onto the UK statute book.
Germany’s VW is in talks with Israel’s Iron Dome maker to shift from making cars to missile defences in one of its factories, which underlines the shift in political economy underway. So does Anduril and Palantir developing the US Golden Dome missile shield’s software.
Denmark’s centre-left PM won her snap election with 38% of the vote and is now trying to put together a new coalition, but notably the far-right Danish People’s Party rose to 16%, continuing a similar trend seen in many European polities.
The US is reportedly looking at trying to reform the WTO along its own lines rather than just ignoring it entirely. But for now, world trade revolves around what happens in Hormuz far more: no bunker fuel, no ships carrying cargo, not much trade at all.
Iran Rejects US Proposed Ceasefire, Counters With 5 Conditions For Ending War, As US Troops En Route
Summary
Iran Does Not Accept Ceasefire, Issues 5 Conditions, Says US Talks Illogical. The statement says that talks are not viable in current conditions, oil rising.
3,000 elite Army Airborne soldiers & Marines still en route after Trump said Monday says Iran has been destroyed “militarily”.
Iran is tightening control of Hormuz, demanding detailed ship data and in some cases large fees for passage.
Iran continues to say it is ready for long war, monitors US troop movements: Parliament Speaker says “Do not test our resolve to defend our land.”
* * *
Iran Issues Its 5 Conditions for Ending the War
Iran lays out five specific conditions under which Iran would agree to end the war, via PressTV. These include:
1. A complete halt to “aggression and assassinations” by the enemy.
2. The establishment of concrete mechanisms to ensure that the war is not reimposed on the Islamic Republic.
3. Guaranteed and clearly defined payment of war damages and reparations.
4. The conclusion of the war across all fronts and for all resistance groups involved throughout the region
5. International recognition and guarantees regarding Iran’s sovereign right to exercise authority over the Strait of Hormuz.
State media says that upon reviewing the 15 points from the US delivered via the Pakistanis, they must be rejected as they are “excessive”. Other Iranian officials have called it a “list of impossible wishes”. CNN is meanwhile reporting Wednesday that Trump admin officials are working to arrange a meeting in Pakistan this weekend to seek out an offramp to the war, according to senior officials, but the timing remains fluid. Which side is actually in the driver’s seat here?
Iran Rejects US Ceasefire Draft Deal: “Illogical”
Confusion reigns over diplomacy as Pakistan reportedly relays Washington’s ceasefire terms to Iran. “A document given to Pakistan by the Trump administration has been presented to the Iranians,” according to Al Jazeera. An alleged early draft can be viewed here.
Iran’s Fars citing informed source on ceasefire Wednesday: Iran Does Not Accept Ceasefire, Says US Talks Illogical: Fars. The statement says that talks are not viable in current conditions. Oil jumps on the headline:
Tehran has consistently been denying any negotiations outright, with Iran’s ambassador insists no direct or indirect talks are happening, even as “friendly countries” conduct consultations. Iran’s military also brushed off claims by President Trump, vowing to press on with the fight, and asserting that Washington is merely negotiating with itself, trying to will something into existence which isn’t yet reality.
Bloomberg has summarized where things stand: “Iran kept up missile and drone attacks on Israel and Arab Gulf states, even after the US floated a plan to end a war that’s wreaked havoc across the Middle East and in global markets.” The below are also key points:
Iranian officials have told the countries trying to mediate peace talks with the U.S. that they have now been tricked twice by President Trump and “we don’t want to be fooled again,” according to a source with direct knowledge of those discussions. They worry Trump is buying time as he brings more military equipment to the Middle East.
Iran has received an American 15-point plan for a ceasefire for the Iran war through intermediaries from Pakistan, officials in Islamabad said Wednesday. The proposal was sent even as Washington began to move paratroopers to the Middle East to back up a contingent of Marines already heading to the region.
Iran military spokesman: “Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you’re negotiating with yourselves?“
🔺NEW: Spokesman for Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters addresses the U.S.:
🔹“Have your internal conflicts reached the point where you’re negotiating with yourselves?”
🔹“Don’t call your defeat an ‘agreement’. You will see neither your investments in the region nor previous… pic.twitter.com/PHackJjyjf
Trump, meanwhile, claims Iran offered a “present…worth a tremendous amount of money,” tied to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz – but provided no details. At the same time, the US is ramping troop deployments even as it touts negotiations to end the conflict. He also claimed “we are… talking to the right people” in Iran, adding to the confusion and ambiguity.
On the ground, Iran is tightening control of Hormuz, demanding detailed ship data and in some cases fees for passage – especially for oil and gas tankers. Traffic has thinned, with non-compliant vessels turned away, raising pressure on Asian economies like India and drawing pushback from China.
Hundreds of vessels still remain paralyzed, after Iran adopted an “eye for an eye” policy to re-establish deterrence and impose sever costs on both America’s Gulf partners and the global economy. Here’s the latest on Iran’s statements and policy regarding passage:
Iran has said that “non-hostile” ships may transit the Strait of Hormuz amid a collapse of maritime traffic through the waterway that has prompted the biggest global energy crisis in decades.
In a statement on Tuesday, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said vessels may avail of “safe passage” through the waterway, “provided that they neither participate in nor support acts of aggression against Iran and fully comply with the declared safety and security regulations.”
Tit-for-Tat Hits On Key Infrastructure
US-Israeli strikes on Iran continue, while Iranian missiles trigger alarms across Israel. Gulf states are still feeling the pain, with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain intercepted incoming threats, while Kuwait reported a fire at its main airport after a fuel tank was hit, according to Bloomberg.
Israel says it has crossed the 15,000-munitions mark in strikes on Iran since late February – highlighting the scale of the conflict, now far exceeding prior rounds of fighting. On Wednesday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the air force has carried out multiple new waves of airstrikes over Tehran, targeting what it described as Iranian regime infrastructure.
This has apparently included Iran’s only submarine development facility, as part of a broader wave of attacks on weapons production sites around Isfahan. According to the IDF, the targeted underwater R&D center is the “only site in Iran responsible for the planning and development of submarines and auxiliary systems for the Iranian navy.” It added: “The regime produced various models of unmanned vessels at the site.”
Reports say Iran again targeted Israel’s largest power plant in Hadera (Orot Rabin):
BREAKING: Reports claim Iran again targeted Israel’s largest power plant in Hadera (Orot Rabin), but the missile landed several kilometers away. pic.twitter.com/bLmnQ5HFWy
— The Breaking Minutes (@BreakingMinutes) March 25, 2026
Israel is also escalating in Lebanon, bombing Beirut and pushing deeper into the south as it signals plans for a longer-term occupation zone.
Tehran ‘Closely Monitoring’ US Troop Deployments
Iranian officials are issuing stark warnings, most importantly with parliament speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf having declared: “We are closely monitoring all US movements in the region, especially troop deployments. Do not test our resolve to defend our land.” He added, “What the generals have broke, the soldiers can’t fix; instead, they will fall victim to Netanyahu’s delusions.”
Official casualty latest per Pentagon: 232 U.S. service members have been injured since the start of the conflict, a U.S. Central Command spokesperson has said. Of those, 207 have returned to duty and 10 are seriously wounded. At least 13 have been killed.
As for the US troops, it’s anything but clear at this point what comes next after they finally arrive in the region. There’s talk that Trump could order a Kharg Island takeover, which itself would be ultra high-risk, given how deep inside the narrow strait that the island lies.
Meanwhile WSJ reviews of the above mentioned Ghalibaf: “Iran’s combative Parliament speaker, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, is emerging as an unlikely figure in Washington’s search for a deal to halt a widening Middle East war.”
We went from “no more wars” to Fox News showing where US troops are going to invade Iran. pic.twitter.com/MxftEv5954
“Ghalibaf, a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air-force commander and Tehran mayor, has denied any talks with the U.S. are under way,” the report continues. “He has taunted President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and called the U.S.-Israeli air war with Iran a quagmire. He served in the Revolutionary Guard during Iran’s brutal war with Iraq in the 1980s and is known as a hard-liner’s hard-liner.”
But, the report notes, “At the same time, he is credited with helping to modernize Tehran while he was mayor, becoming famous for riding his motorcycle around town and expanding major highways and the metro system in a traffic-clogged city. In 2008, he traveled to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, portraying himself as a leader with a more business-friendly attitude than other parts of the regime.” Some analysts have said that Washington could eventually work with him.
While headlines are fixated on the Iran war and today’s “feel good” market rally, it is worth noting that beneath the surface, hours ago credit markets just got worse.
The latest example comes from Apollo, which has been forced to put the brakes on investor withdrawals from one of its largest retail focused funds, according to Bloomberg. Its $25 billion Apollo Debt Solutions vehicle is the latest private credit flaming bag of shit that has hit redemption limits after investors tried to pull more than double what the structure allows.
In other words, investors want out and are being treated like the old ladies on line at the South Philly Acme trying to buy liverwurst and chicken salad at the deli counter. That is, to say, they’re being told to take a number.
As I’ve been documenting, BlackRock recently hit similar limits in its own fund, and Morgan Stanley has been dealing with pro rated withdrawals at roughly the same levels. The difference now is scale and urgency. Apollo investors tried to redeem over 11% of the fund in one window. That’s a quintessential “race for the exits”.
The size with these funds is not trivial. These are not obscure niche strategies. These are $25 to $30 billion vehicles seeing real redemption pressure. That is large enough to matter, even if people would prefer to pretend otherwise. Combined, we’re already talking about stress on nearly $100 billion in assets.
It is worth remembering what these funds actually own. They are not sitting on piles of cash waiting to hand it back. They hold loans that are illiquid, often priced off internal models, and extended to companies that depend on continued access to financing. Those loans have counterparties. Those counterparties have their own problems. That is how stress spreads.
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When investors want liquidity and the assets cannot be sold without taking a hit, the system does not magically fix itself. It just stalls. Gating redemptions buys time, but it also quietly concentrates risk in a smaller pool of remaining investors. Not exactly the kind of feature you have McKinsey highlight in the $3,000 per hour, focus group approved marketing deck.
To put this in context, none of this should come as a surprise. What we are seeing in private credit is part of a broader unwind across lower quality lending that only looked stable when money was free. The buy now pay later space is probably the cleanest example. It scaled by extending tiny, unsecured loans to increasingly questionable borrowers, all funded by investors desperate for yield. I noted that here: The Private Credit Crisis Is Spreading
For a while that got labeled as innovation. In reality it was just credit being pushed further down the spectrum. If someone needs to finance a $40 discretionary purchase in installments, you are dealing with someone who either cannot or does not want to pay upfront, which tends to matter a lot more once rates go up.
That model worked beautifully when capital was abundant and refinancing was easy. It worked during years when liquidity was effectively unlimited. It works a lot less well when rates normalize and credit markets start behaving like actual credit markets again.
What we are seeing now is the same story repeating itself across different areas. First it showed up in names like Carvana, then in private credit, now in BNPL. Subprime lending with better branding is still subprime lending.
Funds like Stone Ridge’s LENDX made that painfully clear. Investors tried to exit and discovered that the structure would not let them.
What has really changed here is psychology. For years private credit worked because investors believed it was stable, illiquid by design, and somehow insulated from the volatility you see in public markets. That belief is starting to crack. Once investors begin to question marks, liquidity, and exit mechanics at the same time, the whole pitch unravels quickly. The genie is out of the bottle now. People have seen gates, they have seen prorated withdrawals, and they have realized that “long term capital” often just means “you are not getting your money back when you want it.” Once that shift happens, it tends to feed on itself. More redemption requests lead to more restrictions, which leads to even more urgency to get out.
And historically, that kind of psychological break does not just stabilize on its own. It keeps going until something forces it to stop.
We are in the early stages of a credit cycle turn where liquidity is no longer hiding asset quality. Valuations across private markets look increasingly questionable, recovery assumptions are likely too optimistic, and investor confidence is starting to crack at the edges.
When multiple large funds start limiting withdrawals at the same time, that is not random. That is a signal.
And just to state the obvious, since it apparently needs to be said:
This is not the time to be buying dips in private credit, in my opinion.
The entire sales pitch for this asset class was built on steady income, low volatility, and the illusion of insulation from public markets. Now that liquidity is tightening, those assumptions are getting tested in real time. Marks start to matter, structure starts to matter, and suddenly that extra yield does not look quite as comforting.
There will be opportunities in credit eventually. There always are once things break enough. But those tend to show up after forced selling, after repricing, and after people stop pretending everything is fine.
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Days After Trump Delays Xi Summit, Chinese Carrier Unveils 101-Jet Airbus Deal
Days after President Donald Trump delayed a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping over the now 26-day-old U.S.-Iran conflict, one of China’s top state-owned airlines unveiled a major narrow-body aircraft deal with Airbus.
China Eastern Airlines announced a $15.8 billion deal for 101 Airbus A320neo aircraft on Wednesday, with deliveries scheduled between 2028 and 2032.
The Shanghai-based carrier, which operates domestic and international passenger and cargo flights, said it negotiated prices well below list value and expects to fund the order through a mix of internal resources and external financing, with installment payments not expected to materially affect cash flow or operations.
The timing of the China Eastern Airlines-Airbus deal comes as a report earlier this month said China was expected to announce a massive deal for 500 Boeing 737 Max jets, with possible orders for 100 widebody aircraft, including 787 Dreamliners and 777Xs.
But the Trump-Xi summit was originally planned for March 31 through April 2. Trump requested that China delay it by “a month or so,” explaining, “We got a war going on. I think it’s important that I be here.”
As seen in past trade war flare-ups between the two superpowers, aircraft orders have often signaled goodwill, while restrictions on jet parts have signaled heightened tensions.
At the same time, surprisingly, Beijing is not angrier at Trump, even though the U.S.-Iran conflict has sparked a fuel crisis across Asia.
The key question now is whether a future Trump-Xi summit will still yield a Boeing jet deal.
A robust market economy unfolds its maximum absorption capacity precisely during external shocks. In such cases, policymakers would essentially only need to sit still, as the storm clouds usually pass on their own—true to the principle that high prices are the cure for high prices. This, of course, only applies to energy markets if governments have not already removed themselves from the equation through grotesque political interventions long before the crisis.
For European economies, however, the opposite holds true. They are overregulated, fiscally overburdened, and structurally fragile systems that can barely deploy effective shock absorbers in the face of the Iran crisis. High energy prices hit relentlessly, and national policy responses now diverge sharply across competing European jurisdictions.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni reacted swiftly to the tightening situation at the country’s gas stations. Following a cabinet decision on March 18, an immediate reduction in fuel excise taxes came into force via decree, applying to both gasoline and diesel. Prices are expected to fall by 25 cents per liter—across the board for households, businesses, and all market participants, according to government sources.
In Italy, policymakers appear to keep a close ear to the ground—attuned to the realities faced by citizens, businesses, and traders alike. In stark contrast to the government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Rome is opting for relief measures aimed at the private sector amid a crisis that is steadily eroding purchasing power. Meanwhile, Merz and his finance minister Lars Klingbeil are entangled in debates over tax increases—detached from the Hormuz disruption and largely disconnected from the realities of workers, commuters, and companies. Berlin’s fiscal apparatus appears self-referential and monotonous, advancing to the next act of its own tragicomedy.
Italy—once more statist in spirit than its northern rival—now acts swiftly, pragmatically, and decisively. The tax cut will initially remain in place for 20 days but is likely to be extended should the situation in the largely blocked Strait of Hormuz fail to improve. The Italian government thus demonstrates a capacity to act that is sorely lacking in Germany. Merz, by contrast, remains hesitant when it comes to rolling back state intervention—a committed statist who, even in a moment of acute crisis, fails to initiate the necessary fiscal steps to shield businesses and consumers from the gathering storm.
In Berlin, policymakers continue to deny both citizens and businesses the long-overdue relief from soaring fuel prices—despite the fact that roughly two-thirds of the price flows to the state through various taxes. Perhaps that is precisely why the issue is being postponed. What prevails in Berlin is a mentality of extraction, even as public coffers run dry. Spending cuts that could create room for relief are being avoided at all costs in the 2026 super-election year.
The situation in Rome is markedly different: In addition to cutting fuel taxes, the Italian government is granting tax credits to transport companies, directly linked to verified diesel consumption.
These credits are intended to relieve the logistics sector—one of the hardest hit by rising energy prices—and to prevent escalating costs and extreme volatility in energy markets from fully passing through to freight rates and consumer prices.
But the measures do not stop there. The Italian government has quickly assembled a broader package aimed at curbing potential price speculation at the pump. To prevent excessive markups, an anti-speculation mechanism is being introduced to detect and limit unjustified price increases.
In practice, this means that retail fuel prices will be tightly linked to actual movements in global crude oil prices, ensuring that unjustified markups are immediately suppressed.
Oil companies and gas station operators are required to regularly report their prices to authorities, which monitor the entire supply and distribution chain. Deviations from price movements justified by changes in crude oil markets may result in sanctions.
In the acute emergency triggered by the Iran crisis, the executive power of the Italian government proves to be a clear advantage. It can enact temporary measures swiftly via decree. The decision to cut fuel taxes is particularly notable given that Italy, like Germany, imposes very high fuel taxes. Up to 62% of gasoline prices and around 58% of diesel prices are collected by the state.
The importance of the tax cut became evident on commodity markets Thursday afternoon, when WTI crude rose to around $114 per barrel. The attack on Iran’s South Pars energy complex delivered another shock to the market overnight.
For Italians, there is hope that this acute crisis will ultimately lead to a broader realization—especially for Transport Minister Matteo Salvini and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni—that relieving citizens of fuel costs is fundamentally the right approach. Mobility and affordable transport costs remain key competitive factors.
The state must learn to exercise restraint. A lean state protects citizens in times of crisis far better, thanks to its flexibility, than the bloated bureaucratic apparatus we know today. Though this is a conclusion Germany’s chancellor and finance minister would strongly dispute.
* * *
About the author: Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.
Russia Launches Largest One-Day Drone Blitz Of Ukraine War
At least seven people were killed in Ukraine on Tuesday after Russia launched a truly massive drone attack that’s said to be the largest of the four-year war. Counting both drones and cruise missiles, 979 warheads poured into Ukrainian airspace as diplomatic efforts at ending the war remain stalled and the world’s attention focused almost entirely on the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Ukrainian officials said it began with an overnight attack comprising almost 400 long-range drones and 23 cruise missiles. Then, in a surprise twist, Russia unleashed even more in broad daylight. Startled Ukrainians were sent rushing to bomb shelters after alarms rang out around noon, as a swarm of 556 drones hammered cities across the western part of the country, including Lviv, Ternopil, Vinnytsia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipro.
Ukraine’s air force claimed it shot most of them down, with only 15 of the daytime drones supposedly hitting anything. Ukraine said the impacted structures included apartment buildings, hospitals and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Video captured the dramatic sound and site of a Shahed drone as it descended and then smashed into a what is said to be a residential building in Lviv:
Beyond the broad-daylight aspect of the attacks, the onslaught was noteworthy for its inclusion of the historic city of Lviv in the targeting package. To this point, Lviv — a city of 700,000 only 40 miles from Poland — had gone relatively unscathed compared to many other Ukrainian cities. The region’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyi struck an alarmed tone, posting, “The threat remains high. Stay in shelters!!!”
“Iranian Shaheds, modernized by Russia, hit a church in Lviv — it’s absolute perversion,” Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly national address. “The scale of today’s attack strongly indicates that Russia has no intention of really ending this war.”
— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) March 25, 2026
Efforts at ending the war have gone into a lull, as the United States and western European governments are fully occupied with the war on Iran, which threatens to plunge the world into an economic catastrophe that surpasses the Great Depression. Via social media, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska noted that global diversion of attention, writing, “Amid the news the world is drowning in every day, we will not let Ukrainian grief get lost, become just another statistic, a headline that will be casually skipped over.”
Though the war on Iran is depriving the Ukraine war of attention, it will likely have a profound effect on the battlefields, as surging energy prices will give a major shot in the arm to Russia’s armed forces, just as the war is set for its latest return to fighting season. Per reporting in Financial Times earlier in March, Russia is generating up to $150 million per day in extra budget revenue amid its increased taxes on oil exports to markets like China and India, with potential total added revenue reaching billions by the end of this month.
...it’s just one more way Trump’s decision to start a regime-change war on Iran is looking like one of the greatest strategic blunders in US history.
Oil Tumbles, Stocks Surge As Israeli TV Reports US Seeks ‘One Month Ceasefire’; Tehran Refuses Talks With ‘Backstabbers’
Summary
US seeks a one-month ceasefire with a framework to end the war, according to Israel Channel 12 reports; Telegraph says Iranians see Witkoff and Kushner as ‘backstabbers’
WSJ, Fox reporting 3,000 elite Army Airborne soldiers to be ordered to Middle East. Axios says US awaits Iran response to proposed Thursday peace talks. Trump says Iran has been destroyed “militarily”.
Backchannel diplomacy vs skepticism: Abbas Araghchi reportedly signaled openness to negotiations with the US via envoy Steve Witkoff, but Israel has appeared cool on deal prospects or offramp.
Heavy exchange of fire and testing red lines: Iran continues missile and drone waves targeting Israel and US bases, amid reports of overnight airstrikes on military and gas infrastructure near Isfahan.
Iran reshuffles its security leadership, appointing Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr: he’s a former IRGC commander and replaces the assassinated Ali Larijani.
Iran haltsnatural gas exports to Turkey: follows last week’s Israeli strike on the massive South Pars gas field; QatarEnergy declares force majeure on some LNG contracts due war.
* * *
Iran Refuses Talks With Trump’s ‘Backstabbing Negotiators’: Telegraph
This is to be expected, given how things went in Geneva just hours before it was bombs away:
Iran has refused to negotiate with Donald Trump’s top envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, accusing them of “backstabbing”.
Gulf sources told The Telegraph that the Iranians would not sit down with Mr Witkoff, the administration’s Middle East envoy, and Mr Kushner, Mr Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, because of the military strikes that hit Tehran hours after they held talks in February.
JD Vance, the vice-president who has remained largely quiet during the conflict, is now being touted as chief negotiator should fresh discussions go ahead in Islamabad, Pakistan, later this week.
“Vance is preferred,” a Gulf source said of the Iranians. “They don’t want to work with Jared and Witkoff because they stabbed them in the back.”
US Seeks One-Month Ceasefire, Sent Iran Plan To End War; Israeli TV
Israel’s Channel 12 TV is reporting that the US is seeking a ceasefire period of one month, to be announced shortly, to work on a framework that Witkoff and Kushner are working on.
Despite many skeptics’ claims, President Trump had earlier confirmed that talks were taking place “right now”, claiming that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner held talks Sunday with an Iranian leader.
He did not say who that was.
Trump earlier signaled that Iran had offered a “present” as a show of good faith in negotiations the US leader has claimed are ongoing to end a 25-day conflict that’s upended global markets, even as he deploys more troops to the Middle East.
Trump wouldn’t detail the gift, “worth a tremendous amount of money,” but confirmed it was related to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
The New York Times reports that the plan was delivered via Pakistan, whose army chief has emerged as the key interlocutor between the United States and Iran, officials say.
Pakistan’s army chief, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, has emerged as the key interlocutor between the United States and Iran, with Egypt and Turkey encouraging the Iranians to engage constructively, the officials added. Field Marshal Munir is believed to maintain close ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, putting him in a position to pass messages between the warring sides, they said.
He recently reached out to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s Parliament and a former Revolutionary Guards commander, proposing that Pakistan host talks between Iran and the United States, said an Iranian official and a Pakistani official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive communications.
Field Marshal Munir met twice in 2025 with President Trump, who has showered praise on him, saying he was his “favorite field marshal.”
It was unclear how widely the plan had been shared among Iranian officials and whether Iran was likely to accept it as a basis for negotiations.
Nor was it clear whether Israel was on board with the proposal.
Nevertheless, the delivery of the plan showed that the administration was ramping up efforts to conclude a war, now in its fourth week, that has drawn in several other countries.
The ceasefire period will be used to negotiate an agreement based on the following points: (emphasis ours):
What does the US want from Iran?
Dismantling existing nuclear capabilities that have already been accumulated
A commitment that Iran will never pursue nuclear weapons
No material will be enriched on Iranian soil.
All enriched material will be delivered to Saba on a schedule to be determined by the parties.
Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow will be decommissioned – destroyed
The Atomic Energy Agency will be exposed to all information within Iran’s borders.
Iran will abandon the proxy paradigm
Stop actually funding and arming the proxies in the region.
The Strait of Hormuz will remain open, will be a free maritime zone – and no one will block it
Postponement of decision on ballistic missile program
Ballistic missiles are only used for defense
What will Iran get in return?
Lifting all sanctions
Will assist them in promoting and developing a civil nuclear project in Bushehr (electricity generation)
The snapback threat of sanctions will be removed
According to Channel 12’s report, Israel is concerned about proposal and thinks it is unlikely Iran will accept the terms.
The immediate reaction was a drop in crude oil prices…
…and the mirror image rise in US equity futures…
The Hill reports that President Trump said Tuesday that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine were “disappointed” by the idea of a U.S.-negotiated ceasefire with Iran.
Hegseth and Caine were “the only two people that were quite disappointed” the U.S.-Israeli war against Tehran may soon come to an end, Trump said in the Oval Office following the swearing in of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
“I think this thing’s going to be settled very soon and they go, ‘Oh, that’s too bad.’ Pete didn’t want it to be settled,” Trump said.
“They were not interested in settlement. They were interested in just winning this thing,” he added.
How long before we get a denial (or a rejection from Iran)? And let’s just all forget about the imminent ‘boots on the ground’?
No Change in Trump Iran Rhetoric in latest from WH
Trump in the oval once again addressed the Iran conflict, saying “this is a change in the Iranian regime,” and went further, stating, “I think we can say this is regime change.”
Trump expressed confidence that negotiations would conclude successfully, saying, “they are going to make a deal; they gave us a significant prize worth tremendous amount of money,” later reiterating that Iran had “gave us a very big present” worth “a very big amount of money” – supposedly the Strait of Hormuz. He asserted “we’ll have control of anything we want.”
He also hailed that Iran has been completely destroyed “militarily” – but without addressing the fact that Iranian forces continue to fire rockets on targets across the region. He at one point proclaimed once again: “we won” – but blamed the “fake news media” for not acknowledging that.
Trump on Iran:
They gave us a big present worth a tremendous amount of money; it arrived today.
Axios reports another ‘maybe’ planned peace talks: “The U.S. and a group of regional mediators are discussing the possibility of holding high-level peace talks with Iran as soon as Thursday, but are still waiting for a response from Tehran, two sources with knowledge of the discussions” were cited as saying.
As has been the case for days, Tehran is denying that it is in dialogue with Washington, also as the White House has talked about “escalating to de-escalate” – and now amid reports of elite 82nd Airborne troops about to deploy to the region. Trump is reportedly interested in “winding down” the war, but is there an actual plan to do this? More from Axios:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is concerned Trump might strike a deal that falls well short of Israel’s objectives, includes significant concessions, and limits Israel’s ability to conduct strikes against Iran, two Israeli sources say.
A third source said Israeli leaders were skeptical Iran had actually offered the concessions the U.S. claimed.
Trump confirms efforts, which may still be unreciprocated:
TRUMP: WE’RE IN NEGOTIATIONS WITH IRAN RIGHT NOW
TRUMP: RUBIO, VANCE, OTHER PEOPLE ARE NEGOTIATING WITH IRAN
TRUMP SAYS IRAN IS ‘TALKING SENSE’
TRUMP: IRAN AGREED THEY’LL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON
82nd Airborne Division Deploying to Middle East
Amid speculation that President Trump could seek to force open the Strait of Hormuz by some kind of ultra high risk Kharg Island takeover operation, Fox chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin has posted the following:
Fox News has learned that the Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division Maj Gen Brandon Tegtmeier and his “command element,” members of his headquarters staff, have been ordered to deploy to the Middle East as the Pentagon and White House weigh whether to send the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East for possible land operations.
It was only on Monday that the NYT began reporting Pentagon was seriously weighing whether to send the elite 82nd Airborne. This would be a sure sign of escalation into potential ‘ground operations’.
The Pentagon is planning to deploy about 3,000 soldiers from the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East to support operations against Iran, according to two U.S. officials, with a written order expected in the coming hours.
Officials cautioned that a decision to put boots on the ground in Iran hasn’t been made. But deploying the 82nd opens the door to President Trump for several strategic options.
Iran & Israel Trade Blows Despite US Promoting Backchannel Talks
Despite the White House touting backchannel interactions with the Iranians as basis for some kind of peaceful offramp, Israel and Iran intensified direct and regional strikes, in continued escalation of the war. The Israeli military said it had “completed a wave of extensive strikes targeting production sites” across Iran, including in Isfahan, following overnight reports that gas facilities were hit, triggering fears of potential Iranian retaliation on Gulf energy and infrastructure sites – which doesn’t appear to have happened yet.
Iran has kept up its attacks on Israel, launching at least eight overnight missile waves, including reports of cluster munitions as well as new cutting-edge warheads and projectiles. Impacts were reported across Tel Aviv, causing heavy building damage and multiple casualties, as well as with sirens sounding from the Judean Foothills to Eilat. One strike marked a shift in capability, per the NY Times: “One of the Iranian missiles that hit Tel Aviv carried a warhead of around 100 kilograms… This missile was ‘something we have not yet encountered in the war,'” said Col. Miki David.
A 100-kg warhead was used on the Iranian missile that slammed into Tel Aviv early this morning. Significant damage was caused to a residential area. pic.twitter.com/ujkuJpxUVO
More energy flows impact and blowback as Iran has halted natural gas exports to Turkey following last week’s Israeli strike on the massive South Pars gas field, according to regional sources and Bloomberg. Turkey sourced roughly 14% of its gas from Iran last year, per industry data, but continues to rely on Russia and Azerbaijan as primary suppliers while drawing on existing reserves. Ankara has not initially confirmed or commented.
The South Pars field, part of the world’s largest natural gas reserve, sits at the core of Iran’s energy system, underpinning both domestic supply and export flows. Per Middle East Eye: “Data from Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority suggests that the country imports around 13 percent of its gas needs annually, roughly 7 billion cubic metres (bcm), from Iran.”
The report concludes that “A sharp drop in Iranian gas flows to Turkey following Israel’s strike on the South Pars gas field and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks across the Gulf has raised energy security concerns. But analysts say Ankara will likely be able to cushion the blow.
New National Security Chief (former IRGC), Ongoing Retaliation on Gulf
Iran has continued to signal resilience, downplaying threats to its grid and stating damaged infrastructure could be quickly rebuilt, even as a gas pipeline at Khorramshahr was hit apparently without disruption. Saudi Arabia said it “intercepted and destroyed” more than a dozen drones in its east, while the UAE reported intercepting five ballistic missiles and 17 drones in a single day, bringing totals since the war began to hundreds of missiles and more than 1,800 drones. Bahrain said another facility was set ablaze “as a result of Iranian aggression.”
Tehran has reportedly simultaneously struck US bases, and Gulf states including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, while warning any attack on its energy network will trigger region-wide blackouts. Northern Iraq has continued to see drone threats. “The entire region will go dark” – Iranian leadership has threatened. Meanwhile, Iran has reshuffled its security leadership, appointing Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr to replace the assassinated Ali Larijani, underscoring wartime consolidation at the top. Zolghadr is a former Revolutionary Guards commander.
Lebanon has declared the Iranian ambassador persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country by Sunday, after an Iranian ballistic missile fell on Lebanese territory. This appears also a way to pressure Hezbollah, given the Lebanese state has long wanted the Tehran-linked group to lay down is arms so war doesn’t engulf the whole country.
Both Pakistan and Qatar have stepped up mediation efforts, with chatter that Islamabad could play host to future Iranian and US talks. Despite the rumors of ongoing backchannel communications, and President Trump himself insisting Sunday into Monday this is happening, there’s as yet no clear evidence that Tehran and Washington are actually dialoguing. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry has told Al Jazeera that Islamabad is ready to host talks between the US and Iran: “If the parties desire, Islamabad is always willing to host talks,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi said. Andrabi’s comment came a day after Trump put on hold, for a period five days, his threat to bomb Iranian power plants.
WSJ meanwhile writes, “Foreign ministers from Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan gathered before dawn Thursday in Riyadh for talks aimed at finding a diplomatic off-ramp to the war in Iran.” The report continues, “But there was one big problem, according to Arab officials involved in the discussions: finding a counterpart in Iran to negotiate with. Earlier that week, Israel killed Iran’s national security chief, Ali Larijani, who had been considered a viable partner who could engage with the West.”
USAF B-52s began to carry out Iran strike missions yesterday using 2,000 pound JDAM guided bombs.
And Bloomberg’s assessment: “Fighting between the US-Israeli alliance and Iran raged unabated, even as President Donald Trump claimed talks are under way to end the conflict.” The report then notes no observable cooling or offramp in the tit-for-tat exchanges of fire:
Iran carried out overnight missile and drone attacks on the Israeli cities of Tel Aviv, Eilat and Dimona, as well as on US bases in the Middle East. Israel launched a wave of strikes in western and central Iran, including Tehran, with Defense Minister Israel Katz saying the campaign would continue “at full intensity.”
Israel is Cool on Prospect of a Deal
Reports out of regional and Israeli media claim Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi quietly signaled to US envoy Steve Witkoff that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has agreed to negotiations, while Iranian officials said they have received US proposals via intermediaries and are reviewing them. However, Tehran keeps threatening and delivering more ‘retaliatory’ action, perceiving that it has the long-term strategic leverage given the Strait of Hormuz crisis and Trump seeming to issue forth dictates on a back foot.
Israeli officials have by and large dismissed the prospects of a deal, warning the chances of agreement are “very small” and stressing that US force deployments and joint operational planning remain unchanged.
More Regional Spillover: Caspian & Lebanon
The Kremlin has newly warned that any expansion into the Caspian Sea would be viewed “extremely negatively” after Israeli strikes reportedly targeted Iranian naval assets there. Meanwhile, a parallel ground war in Lebanon is accelerating. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz signaled a long-term buffer zone and mass displacement, stating, “Hundreds of thousands… will not return south of the Litani River until security is guaranteed.”
Video purports to show large Israeli strike on Southern Lebanon overnight – an apparent hit on a gas station:
Israel has already destroyed key infrastructure, with Katz confirming, “All five bridges over the Litani… have been blown up,” as forces move to control the area. There are over 1,000 dead and more than a million displaced in Lebanon, with much of Israel’s north also still under emergency evacuation orders, given Hezbollah rocket fire there. At least two Lebanese died in the last day due to Israeli strikes Bshamoun.
The National Trust’s director-general has declared that Britain’s countryside remains unwelcoming to ethnic minorities, blaming everything from clothing choices to ignorance of basic rural etiquette.
This isn’t some fringe activist rant — it’s official policy from the charity tasked with protecting the nation’s heritage, straight out of the same DEI playbook that’s already consumed government agencies.
In a video clip shared on X, National Trust Director-General Hilary McGrady stated: “The research clearly shows that ethnic minorities don’t feel comfortable in the countryside — there are lots of reasons for this, they don’t know what to wear, don’t know the countryside code.”
🚨DIRECTOR FOR NATIONAL TRUST SAYS COUNTRYSIDE IS RACIST
“The research clearly shows that ethnic minorities don’t feel comfortable in the countryside – there are lots of reasons for this, they don’t know what to wear, don’t know the countryside code”
Speaking on LBC, she expanded: “Everything from: it’s not culturally something that they necessarily feel as if it’s part of what they do when they go there. They don’t necessarily know ‘what am I meant to wear, how do I behave? What’s a countryside code? I’ve never heard of it’. So there’s loads of different reasons why they don’t feel confident all the time.”
McGrady insisted the charity must act because “the research comes back really clearly to say they don’t [feel it’s a place for them]. So we accept that and we have to respond in a way that tries to help because the National Trust is here for everyone. That’s part of our charitable purpose.”
As we’ve previously detailed, the government is obsessed with making Britain’s countryside less white.
Under Defra guidance, National Landscapes and local councils across the Chilterns, Cotswolds, Malvern Hills, Nidderdale, Surrey Hills and beyond are rolling out diversity targets, outreach to Muslim communities in Luton, staff recruitment drives, and marketing in “community languages” — all to address supposed barriers like “concerns about how they will be received” or fear of dogs.
The push traces directly to a 2019 Defra-commissioned report by Julian Glover, which warned the countryside was an “exclusive, mainly white, mainly middle-class club” and risked becoming “irrelevant” as society changes.
A follow-up 2022 Defra report, which cost taxpayers £108,000, claimed protected landscapes are seen as “a white space, to which they did not belong,” with ethnic minorities citing “white culture” issues like traditional pubs and drinking.
It gets worse. In 2024, the Wildlife and Countryside Link — an umbrella group whose members include the RSPCA, WWF and the National Trust itself — told Parliament the countryside is a “racist colonial” white space “governed by white British cultural values.”
They demanded legally binding targets to force more non-white access, claiming cultural barriers mean ethnic minorities can’t “enjoy the outdoors” because of “white British cultural values” embedded in green spaces.
The Muslim Hikers group has echoed the same line, insisting rural areas feel unwelcoming.
Meanwhile, as these organisations lecture the public about “inclusion,” our countryside is being buried under mountains of fly-tipped rubbish from urban areas — 20 tonnes dumped in Dorset’s Holt Heath nature reserve, entire streams of waste visible for miles on Welsh mountains, and protected sites turned into third-world dumps.
The contrast couldn’t be starker: instead of tackling real problems created by unchecked mass migration, officials fixate on making the English landscape feel less English.
McGrady’s comments are the latest chapter in this relentless campaign. The National Trust, once a guardian of Britain’s history and beauty, now treats the countryside like a failing diversity quota that must be fixed.
Forget centuries of British culture, literature, and tradition that shaped these landscapes — the new priority is ensuring everyone knows the right boots to wear and the right code to follow, or else it’s racism.
The real story here is cultural incompatibility being reframed as systemic bigotry, with taxpayer-funded charities and government departments working overtime to guilt-trip the majority population into surrendering their heritage.
Britain’s countryside doesn’t need more lectures on whiteness. It needs protection from the very policies that erode the unique character millions of Brits cherish.
As mass immigration reshapes the nation, preserving these green spaces as they are — for the people who actually value and respect them — is the only way to keep them relevant for generations to come.
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“Changed My Entire Life”: Top OnlyFans Creators Mourn Death Of Billionaire Founder
Top OnlyFans creator pornstar Sophie Rain, who has earned tens of millions of dollars on the adult content platform over the last several years, mourned the death of OnlyFans owner and billionaire Leonid Radvinsky on Monday.
Rain, one of the platform’s highest earners who has reportedly grossed over $100 million since 2023, thanked Radvinsky for changing her life.
“I don’t even know how to put this into words. That man built something that changed my entire life. Like, I grew up on food stamps and now I can take care of my whole family because of a platform he created. I will never forget that,” Rain told the New York Post in an exclusive interview.
Rain said, “Before OnlyFans, I was waitressing and barely making rent. That platform gave me everything. And that doesn’t happen without someone building it in the first place.”
She told the NY Post that she never met the billionaire, “but everything I have right now is because he built something that gave people like me a chance,” adding, “Sending so much love to his family. This is really, really sad.”
Piper Rockelle, another OnlyFans adult star, told the outlet, “I’ve only been on the platform since January, but it already changed everything for me. Like, I owe a lot to what that man built … I don’t really know what to say other than thank you for building something that gave people like me a shot. I wouldn’t be where I am right now without it.”
Radvinsky died of cancer at the early age of 43 on Monday, according to a statement from the company. His death raises new questions about the platform’s future ownership, especially since he reportedly placed his majority stake in a trust in 2024.
