ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

With oil surging to a six month high  after a now confirmed  report that  Trump will not reissue Iranian oil export waivers  after they expire on May 2, removing up to 1 million barrels from the market… … Tehran has gone on the offensive and on Monday a senior Iranian military official said  the Islamic Republic will close the Strait of Hormuz if it’s prevented from using it,  the state-run Fars news agency reported. “The Strait of Hormuz based on international law is a waterway and if we are prevented from using it, we will close it, ”  Reuters reported , citing Alireza Tangsiri, head of the revolutionary guards navy force. Separately, the semi-official Tasnim news agency on Monday quoted an unnamed Iranian oil ministry source as saying that “ whether the waivers continue or not, Iran’s oil exports will not be zero under any circumstances unless Iranian authorities decide to stop oil exports  … and this is not relevant now.” The source...

A controversial article in the Russian Defense Minsitry’s journal “Armeysky Sbornik” regarding the usage of “psychic” warfare by the Armed Forces has gained a wide attention in the Russian media and will likely make headlines in English-language mainsream media outlets. Click to see full-size image The Russian Armed Forces are training “psychic” special forces to defeat the enemy without contact, according to an article in  February’s issue of the Russian Ministry of Defense’s journal “Armeysky Sbornik.” The article “Super Soldier for the Future Wars” was written by reserve colonel Nikolai Poroskov and reports on the methods of parapsychology  allegedly   applied by the Russian Military. The author also claims that that Russian special forces used “parapsychology combat techniques” in Chechnya. According to the article, they are training soldiers who can hack a computer with the power of their thought. “The command was interested in how to “remove” informa...