The Strait of Hormuz crisis is driving nations’ efforts to develop alternative Gulf-to-Europe trade routes, with Iraq’s $24 billion “Development Road” project at the forefront, analyst says.

The route from Iraq’s Grand Faw Port to Turkey and on to Europe, is advancing “with discipline,” Middle East Council on Global Affairs analyst Muhanad Seloom told Fox News Digital, calling it a “permanent” and “transformative” wartime shift.

Seloom’s comments came as President Donald Trump warned Tehran against further escalation in the Gulf and signaled the U.S. is prepared to act to keep the strait open.

Iranian forces have laid mines and threatened commercial traffic in the narrow waterway. As of Sunday, the shipping route remains effectively closed.

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“Iraq’s Development Road means every container moving through Basra instead of Iranian-controlled waters is a reduction in Tehran’s leverage over Iraq,” said Seloom.

“The real scale, independent estimates put the Development Road closer to $24 billion, and the project is now moving with discipline,” he said.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani inaugurated the first 63-kilometer stretch of the Development Road in 2025. Phase 1 is due for completion by 2028.

“What was described by the Iraqi government as a flagship of Iraqi statecraft now has a regional rationale that governments and financiers treat as essential rather than aspirational,” Seloom, an assistant professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, explained.

“Sudani seems to be positioning Iraq exactly where he thinks its geography always suggested, as a connecting state between the Gulf, Turkey and Europe,” he said.

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But other regional infrastructure, Seloom says, is also being pushed forward in parallel.

Saudi Arabia’s East-West Petroline pipeline is operating near its 7 million-barrel-per-day capacity, with expansion plans under review.

The UAE’s ADCOP pipeline to Fujairah is also at maximum use, with a second line under discussion, he said. “Turkey’s Zangezur and Middle Corridors bypass Iran via the Caucasus and are four to five years out.”

He added: “Six Gulf-backed overland fiber projects are also underway through Syria, Iraq and the Horn of Africa.”

Iran reimposed closure measures on the Strait of Hormuz on April 18, reducing traffic to just a handful of vessels per day compared with a pre-war average of roughly 130 to 140.

The restrictions, including on ships, have come under fire in recent days, and interceptions trace back to the start of the war on Feb. 28, when Tehran first moved to block transit following U.S.-Israeli strikes.

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“Hormuz remains indispensable for energy, but it is no longer treated as a default. That shift is permanent given the war,” Seloom said.

For Iraq’s corridor, it is “potentially transformative,” Seloom said, with $4 billion per year in projected transit revenue and a repositioning from an oil rentier state to a logistics state.

“Turkey will be the single largest beneficiary. Combined with the Zangezur and Middle Corridors, Ankara becomes the overland bridge between Asia and Europe,” he said. “Europe will have an additional overland option on a 2028-plus timeline, but nothing for the current crisis. It marginally reduces structural dependence on the unreliable Suez–Red Sea axis.”

President Donald Trump conceded that he may have complicated the Secret Service’s evacuation process after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night.

In a preview for a “60 Minutes” interview airing Sunday night, Trump described to CBS News correspondent Norah O’Donnell what was going on in his head during the quick process of Secret Service agents flanking him and ushering him and other administration officials out of the event after shots were fired.

O’Donnell pointed out that it took 10 seconds for an agent to reach him and another 20 seconds before he was taken out of the building. Trump admitted that some of the hesitation came from his desire to know what was happening.

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“Well, what happened is it was a little bit me,” Trump said. “I wanted to see what was happening, and I wasn’t making it that easy for them. I wanted to see what was going on. And by that time, we started to realize maybe it was a bad problem, different kind of a problem, bad one, and different than what would be normal noise from a ballroom, which you hear all the time. And I was surrounded by great people. And I probably made them act a little bit more slow. They said, ‘Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me see. Wait a minute.'”

Trump said that he and first lady Melania Trump were eventually told to get down and “pretty much” began crawling out of the room.

“I was standing up and then turned around the opposite direction and started pretty much walking out pretty tall, a little bent over because I, you know, I’m not looking to be standing too tall but I was walking out, was pretty about halfway there. And they said, ‘Please go down to the floor. Please go down to the floor.’ So I dropped to the floor. So did the first lady,” Trump said.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the Secret Service for comment.

Trump, his wife and several administration officials were quickly evacuated out of the dinner, abruptly ending the event. In a press conference shortly after the shooting, Trump confirmed that the shooter was in custody and that he has requested the White House Correspondents’ Association to reschedule the dinner some time within the next 30 days.

Cole Allen, a 31-year-old computer scientist from Torrance, California, was identified as the suspect accused of opening fire at the Washington Hilton Hotel.

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During a news conference Saturday night, authorities said Allen was armed with multiple weapons when he rushed a Secret Service checkpoint. He then allegedly opened fire on a Secret Service officer, who was taken to the hospital after being shot in his ballistic vest. The officer was then released from the hospital on Sunday.

Fox News confirmed with law enforcement sources with knowledge of the investigation that the suspect was targeting Trump administration officials.

The most expensive hockey jersey ever sold now belongs to Wayne Gretzky. And that’s probably how it should be.

The jersey Gretzky wore during Game 4 of the 1988 Stanley Cup Final just sold for a staggering $2,806,000, setting a new all-time record for a hockey jersey. 

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That same jersey — worn during his final championship run with the Edmonton Oilers — had previously held the record, selling for $1.452 million back in 2022. 

Not anymore.

This isn’t just any game-worn sweater, either. It was worn during Gretzky’s final Stanley Cup run in 1988. Photo-matching later confirmed he wore it in multiple games, including Games 1 and 4 of the Final. It’s tied to one of the strangest moments in NHL history.

Game 4 against the Boston Bruins was famously canceled mid-game due to a power outage at Boston Garden with the score tied 3-3. 

Two days later, the teams replayed the game, and the Oilers closed it out with a 6-3 win to complete the sweep and secure Gretzky’s fourth and final Stanley Cup.

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He finished that postseason with 43 points in 19 games and took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

But wait, there’s more.

This jersey is also connected to another milestone. Gretzky wore it in a March 1, 1988, game where he recorded his 1,050th career assist, passing Gordie Howe for the NHL record at the time.

By the time he retired in 1999, Gretzky had piled up 1,963 assists — still 700+ more than any player in NHL history.

Shortly after that 1988 Cup run, Gretzky was traded to the Los Angeles Kings. He went on to play 20 seasons in the NHL before retiring in 1999, when he was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame with the waiting period waived. 

And now, nearly three decades later, he’s still setting records.