CNN: How Trump’s Iran exposure could hand Putin a lottery win

It would be an extraordinary twist if Putin emerged as the first winner of the deepening Middle East crisis because Trump rocked global energy markets by launching his own war, CNN notes.

Putin gloated over the oil shock at a Kremlin meeting two days ago, according to Pulitzer Prize-winning oil expert Daniel Yergin. “Vladimir Putin has won the lottery here. He’s the biggest winner so far because the price of oil is way up to fund his war. And the sanctions are being taken off,” Yergin, vice chair of S&P Global, told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Russian official holds talks in Florida

In the latest US-Russia melodrama of the Trump era, a top Russian official huddled with Trump’s team in Florida on Wednesday. Special envoy Kirill Dmitriev met special envoy Steve Witkoff; the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner; and White House senior adviser Josh Gruenbaum. “The teams discussed a variety of topics and agreed to stay in touch,” Witkoff said in a readout that touched on none of the suddenly burning US-Russia issues.

But before the meeting, Witkoff downplayed reports that the Russians were providing Iran with intelligence about the movements of US troops, ships and aircraft.

On CBS’ “60 Minutes” Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth downplayed risks to US troops from Russian activity, insisting, “No one is putting us in danger.”

Putin’s strategic game

Trump hopes the Iran war will soon end as a fearsome US and Israeli barrage against the Islamic Republic is complicated by a crisis of the locked-down Strait of Hormuz, a vital oil transportation corridor.

A consequent spike in oil prices is threatening Trump’s already-fragile position, and has prompted his administration to look for ways to respond.

Washington had been successfully coercing India to lessen its dependence on Russian oil to help pressure Moscow into ending the war in Ukraine. But last week it granted a 30-day waiver to allow New Delhi’s refiners to buy oil from Russia’s ghost fleet. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business, “We may unsanction further Russian oil.”

An unexpected oil bonanza is only one of the ways Putin can benefit from the war in Iran. The United States and its European allies may divert resources and arms away from supporting Kyiv’s war effort. And while Trump’s team met Putin’s envoy, European allies are still reeling from the president’s fury over their reluctance to join the assault on Iran. This is all grist for Putin’s long-term strategy of fracturing cohesion among NATO states.

And if US and allied forces become overstretched in the Middle East, new strategic openings may appear for Russia elsewhere.

Kansas Sen. Roger Marshall told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins that the global energy situation amid the Iran war was “very delicate.” He added: “I think the lifting (of) the oil sanctions on India, buying Russian oil, I think that’s doing something good for America right now.”

But he went on: “Of course, I have no use for Russia either … I think just as quickly as we took those sanctions away, we can put them back on.”

That may take a while, especially given expectations that turbulence in energy markets could endure for weeks even if the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon. Stunning imagery Wednesday of two tankers burning in the Gulf following suspected Iranian attacks raise the possibility meanwhile of a deepening crisis.

read more in our Telegram-channel https://t.me/The_International_Affairs