Canada has expanded sanctions against Iran for providing military support to Russia in its war against Ukraine.

The shift marks a turnaround for Russia, which had been forced to sell oil at steep discounts following Western sanctions over the war in Ukraine.

Russia suspended ammonium nitrate export licenses from March 21 through April 21 earlier this week, citing domestic planting season needs — a move that economist Steve Hanke says is a direct signal to the West: ease sanctions,

Oleksii Riabchyn, chief international officer at Naftogaz, also described Ukraine's efforts to position itself as a major natural gas hub for Europe.

This plot marks Russia's attempts to use the global energy crisis to increase supply of its energy resources to the European Union market. The action plan was prepared earlier amid the escalating situation in the Persian Gulf,

A group of northern European countries vowed Thursday to harden the fight against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of tankers exporting its sanctioned oil, as Turkish officials said that one of those tankers approaching the Black Sea entrance to the Bosporus Strait was hit by a naval drone.

At the G-7 meeting today, Europe and the United States are set to clash with opposing priorities. While Secretary of State Marco Rubio will push Europe to join the war on Iran, European allies will press for continued assistance to Ukraine and tougher sanctions on Russia.

The Iran war has handed Russia’s beleaguered economy a much-needed lifeline.