WS #6605

The dominant narrative remains the Iran/Strait of Hormuz crisis, but this window shows a significant de-escalation signal: Trump announced a pause of 'Project Freedom' (US operation to escort ships through the Strait) for a short period to finalize a deal with Iran, while maintaining the naval blockade. This is corroborated by multiple sources (Axios, Reuters, multiple Bluesky accounts). However, the situation remains fragile with ongoing attacks: a drone strike on a UAE oil facility in Fujairah, a South Korean vessel hit, and Iran warning it will block US vessels. Oil prices spiked above $114 on the UAE attack but later steadied. Separately, AMD surged past $400 in after-hours trading following strong Q1 earnings (EPS $1.37 vs est $1.28, revenue $10.25B vs est $9.89B), and Alphabet briefly surpassed Nvidia as the world's most valuable company. OPEC+ countries agreed to increase production by 188,000 bpd starting June, which counters the oil supply disruption narrative. The Ukraine-Russia conflict saw competing ceasefire announcements and a Russian warning to evacuate Kyiv, but no material change. Overall, the Iran crisis is de-escalating from offensive operations to a protection/negotiation phase, but the risk of further flare-ups remains high.