Unexploded Ordinance Accident Kills 14 IRGC Members: State Media

 Trump's operation Epic Fury saw a combined number of US-Israeli strikes in the many thousands unleashed on Iran. The common high estimates suggest over 13,000 strikes by the American side, and possibly 10,000 by the Israelis - which are staggering figures.

While the severe damage to Iranian cities, bases, missile sites, and infrastructure has been abundantly clear - the hidden reality is the apparently persistent danger of unexploded ordinance still littering the country. On Friday state media reported a mass casualty event involving Iranian military members due to unexploded bombs.

"An explosion of leftover bombs from strikes during the war against Iran killed 14 members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian media reports," AFP reports based on state media.

Example of large unexploded bomb in Gaza, Getty Images

"A report by the Nour news website, believed to be close to Iran’s security, says the explosion happened near the northern city of Zanjan, which is northwest of Tehran," AFP continues.

And notably, "It is the largest number of IRGC members reported to be killed since the ceasefire began on April 7," it continues, describing that cluster bombs and 'air mines' which had been dropped during prior US and Israeli aids caused the deadly blasts.

The major blast could have been the result of an IRGC operation to recover the bombs, given that the last week has seen reports that the IRGC had recovered a fully intact GBU-57 Bunker Buster bomb.

While unconfirmed, one defense source said as follows:

The reported recovery by Iran of more than 15 unexploded American precision-guided munitions, including at least one fully intact GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, may prove to be one of the most strategically consequential intelligence gains in Tehran’s military history.

If confirmed, the transfer of these weapons to Iranian “technical and research units” for reverse engineering would transform a failed deep-strike campaign against hardened nuclear facilities into a long-term technology compromise for both Washington and Tel Aviv.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), through statements linked to the Imam Sajjad Corps in Hormozgan province and state-linked outlets including Press TV, IRNA, and Tasnim News, framed the recovered ordnance not as battlefield debris but as a strategic opportunity capable of accelerating deterrence, bunker survivability, and indigenous precision-strike development.

As for this new mass casualty event, another source adds the following further details: "The IRGC's Ansar al-Mahdi unit in Zanjan said demolition teams had entered a contaminated area to identify and neutralize unexploded munitions left from recent airstrikes when the deadly explosion happened on Friday."

Illustrative via Popular Mechanics 

The Friday incident strongly suggests there are other extreme danger zones, and given that thousands of bombs rained down all over Iran during the height of US-Israeli war, there could be more such deadly accidents to come.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/unexploded-ordinance-accident-kills-14-irgc-members-state-media

Duffy thinks airlines don't need bailout

 United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said on Saturday that he does not believe the government needs to bail out low-cost airlines after they required $2.5 billion in government ‌relief due to surging jet fuel prices.

"I would say that at this point, I don't think it's necessary. They do have access to cash. If they want to ​come to the US government, we would be a lender of ​last resort," Duffy said at a press conference. He added that it is better for the carriers to "find dollars in the private ⁠markets."

Duffy's remarks follow Spirit Airlines' decision to cease operations and pull out of the business after 34 years, as high jet fuel prices made it impossible for the company to settle its financial issues.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Duffy-thinks-airlines-don't-need-bailout/66204445

Corporate America Earnings Beat Back Wall Street’s Wall of Worry

 

First-quarter earnings season is delivering Wall Street better-than-expected results, propelling US equities’ run from one record to the next.

As earnings wind down for two-thirds of the stocks in the S&P 500 Index, the proportion of companies missing analysts’ estimates is hovering at the lowest level since 2021. It’s not just due to blowout earnings from technology giants, which were expected to lead the charge. S&P 500 companies outside of the tech realm have been posting the sharpest positive earnings surprises since the fourth quarter of 2024, according to Seaport Research Partners.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-02/corporate-america-earnings-beat-back-wall-street-s-wall-of-worry

'Dem Moulton: Hegseth Could Be Executed For War Crimes Like Nazi Sub-Captains'

 by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

In a stunning escalation of partisan rhetoric, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA) declared on national television that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is “guilty” of war crimes — and compared U.S. military operations against drug-smuggling boats to the actions of Nazi submarine captains executed after World War II.

The remarks, delivered Wednesday on CNN’s OutFront, come as the Trump administration presses aggressive action to dismantle narco-terrorist networks flooding America with deadly fentanyl and other poisons.

Instead of backing efforts to secure the homeland, Moulton opted to invoke the language of international tribunals.

Host Erin Burnett asked Moulton directly: “Do you believe that the Secretary of Defense is guilty of war crimes?”

Moulton answered without hesitation: “Absolutely. I mean, he’s clearly behind the operation to shoot all these boats in the Caribbean when it’s very unclear that we actually have any confirmation that these so-called narco terrorists, a term the administration invented to justify this action, are even on the boats.”

He continued, “I mean, in fact, there’s a lot of evidence that these are just fishermen, you know, getting jobs, piloting these boats, trying to feed their families. There’s been press reporting on some of these individuals who have been killed, who are clearly not war criminals.”

He added, “And on top of that, we then have the strike where they came back in and hit it again, a double tap, just purely to kill these survivors who were clinging to wreckage. You know, it’s interesting, Erin, another historical analogy back in World War II, the Allies tried Nazi submarine captains for doing this exact same thing. And guess what the conclusion was? They got executed. Listen to THAT, Mr. Secretary!”

The X post capturing the moment quickly went viral, with users reacting in disbelief at a sitting congressman invoking execution rhetoric against a Trump cabinet official.

This isn’t isolated grandstanding. It fits a clear pattern: Democrats framing routine counter-narcotics operations — strikes on vessels tied to designated terrorist organizations like Tren de Aragua operating on known smuggling routes — as criminal acts worthy of prosecution.

Hegseth’s Pentagon has been blunt about the mission: these are lethal, kinetic strikes against narco-terrorists poisoning American communities. Intelligence confirms the targets’ affiliations and routes. Yet Moulton and his allies prefer to romanticize the boat crews as innocent fishermen and demand accountability for those actually fighting the scourge.

The timing is no coincidence. Less than a week after another high-profile political violence incident, Moulton’s Nazi comparison and talk of executions pour gasoline on an already volatile climate. Democrats have repeatedly shown they view Trump administration officials not as legitimate leaders chosen by voters, but as targets for lawfare, congressional harassment, and public demonization.

This rhetoric reveals the left’s playbook in the post-2024 era. Unable to win at the ballot box on issues like border security and drug interdiction, they reach for the DOJ, the media, and inflammatory accusations to delegitimize and destroy political opponents.

Moulton, a veteran himself, should know better than to equate U.S. forces defending against narco-terrorism with Nazi war criminals. Instead, his comments signal that for some Democrats, no Trump policy — not even one stopping drugs from killing thousands of Americans — escapes the smear of criminality.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dem-rep-suggests-hegseth-could-be-executed-war-crimes-nazi-sub-captains

Bond Traders Hedge for Both Cuts and Hikes After Fed Division

 

A rare opportunity is opening up in rates derivatives underlying the $31 trillion Treasury market: Division at the Federal Reserve has traders placing bets on interest-rate cuts next year while also hedging for a hike.

Wagers cropped up in the wake of this week’s Fed meeting targeting two quarter-point increases in the US by September 2027 and two new positions in protection for rate hikes in the coming months, as well as continuing demand for more than one reduction by March. It reveals that market participants are increasing the variety of bets in their playbooks after some US central bankers made clear this week that they see the potential for the Fed’s next move to be a hike.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-01/bond-traders-hedge-for-both-cuts-and-hikes-after-fed-division

World’s Largest Container Carrier Plans Route Avoiding Hormuz

 

The world’s largest container carrier plans a new service linking Europe with isolated Middle East ports, using trucking across Saudi Arabia and smaller vessels in the Persian Gulf instead of transiting the blocked Strait of Hormuz.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA, in an advisory posted on Saturday, said the first sailing would be May 10 from Antwerp, in a loop that also includes stops in Germany, Italy, Lithuania and Spain. Ships will cross the Suez Canal into the Red Sea and visit two ports on the western coast of Saudi Arabia — Jeddah and King Abdullah.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-02/world-s-largest-container-carrier-plans-route-avoiding-hormuz

Russian Black Sea Town Plunged Into Environmental Catastrophe After 4th Drone Strike On Oil Complex

 Russia's Tuapse on the Black Sea can't catch a break as it has been hit by Ukrainian drones for the fourth time within only a month, after a series of devastating attacks in April which unleashed large fires.

On Friday another fire broke out at a marine terminal in Tuapse after this latest Ukrainian drone strike, regional emergency officials have confirmed. Over 100 fire-fighting personnel are battling the blaze.

Tuapse has already been under a state of emergency for several days, when a Ukrainian drone strike triggered a massive refinery fire, forcing evacuations and spilling oil into coastal waters.

2026 Vantor/NBC via Getty Images

That prior fire was only extinguished Thursday, and only 24 hours later the next drone strike hit. The town there has already been facing environmental disaster, with even black rain reported due to the constant thick black smoke hanging high above.

Russia's consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor warned residents to limit time outdoors, keep windows closed, and wear masks due to elevated benzene levels - a highly toxic carcinogen - following repeated drone attacks.

Local authorities have canceled all public events through at least the first ten days of May, covering Labor Day and Victory Day celebrations.

President Putin said earlier in the week after a briefing from Kondratyev that there did not "seem to be any dangers and people are handling the challenges they face" amid the attacks.

However, frustrated locals are desperately asking: what about Russian defensive measures and why have these failed so spectacularly? First, it should be noted that small drones have become efficient and their size advantage is seen in evading conventional radar and anti-air missiles, by and large. TASS only has this to offer by way of official statement:

"Intensive efforts are underway" to prevent Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory.

All details about targets hit by the Kiev regime are classified: "As for any information regarding targets hit as a result of strikes by the Kiev regime, the details are classified; we will not discuss them publicly at this time."

Measures to deal with the aftermath of the Ukrainian drone strike on the oil refinery in Tuapse are being taken "at an appropriate level."

The complex processes some 12 million metric tons of crude annually and remains a crucial and major export route for naphtha, fuel oil, and diesel.

Local Russian authorities have completely given up censorship efforts at the Tuapse Oil Refinery in Krasnodar Krai, which continues to burn after yesterday's 4th round of Ukrainian drone strikes.

The numbers of videos posted by locals is now in the hundreds. pic.twitter.com/Soj5QMGs3F

— AMK Mapping 🇳🇿 (@AMK_Mapping_) May 2, 2026

The fallout from these several attacks of late have been so serious as to force the closure of nearby regional aviation hubs. Some residents have begun fleeing the area to seek shelter with other family, until the situation stabilizes. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russian-black-sea-town-plunged-environmental-catastrophe-after-4th-drone-strike-oil