News

Foresight News reported that a Dragonfly partner, referring to the recent announcement by Nova Markets about completing a new funding round, reposted and commented that the Nova Markets team are "big scammers" and that the investment institutions participating in their latest round "didn’t even do the most basic due diligence." The partner later added that some investor names were old companies pulled in without any actual new capital invested, which is also a typical malicious operation by the team. Previously, Nova Markets had posted that it completed a new funding round with participation from Wintermute, Robot Ventures, Big Brain Holdings, Cumberland, GSR, Greenfield Capital, hash3xyz, Bodhi Ventures, and Kairos Research, among others.

Several European Union officials and diplomats have stated that the EU has not yet reached a unified position on implementing a comprehensive maritime services ban on Russian crude oil transport. Although the European Commission, Baltic states, and Nordic countries continue to publicly support initiating the maritime services ban, Greece and Malta, both important European shipping hubs, have adopted a cautious stance toward the ban. Meanwhile, an increasing number of EU officials admit that the current realities of the international energy market have become a crucial factor influencing the implementation of the ban. Against the backdrop of the Middle East situation continuing to push up international oil prices, the United States has granted sanctions waivers involving Russian oil three consecutive times to ease energy supply pressures arising from tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. Although the EU has publicly stated it will not ease sanctions against Russia, the originally planned proposal for a gradual halt to Russian oil imports has also been postponed.

Golden Ten Data reported on June 5 that UK-based maritime analytics firm Windward released a report on June 4. According to the report, satellite images captured on June 2 showed a Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) berthed near the western offshore terminal quay of Khark Island. This was the first confirmed docking of a vessel at the facility since it was shut down in early May due to a suspected oil leak. On June 3, both the VLCC at the western berth and a Panamax tanker at the eastern T-shaped quay were undertaking loading operations simultaneously. By June 4, the VLCC had completed loading and departed the port, while the Panamax tanker remained docked. Windward stated that the activity comes as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) speedboats remain highly active throughout the Strait of Hormuz. The sustained high-intensity operations indicate that the IRGC is maintaining a high state of readiness to support Iran-affiliated vessels transiting the strait.