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.

IRAN IS ‘TRYING TO GIVE THE GLOBAL ECONOMY A HEART ATTACK’ BY CLOSING STRAIT OF HORMUZ, UAE MINISTER SAYS

“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.

WATCH SHIPPING THROUGH THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ GRIND TO A HALT AMID IRAN CONFLICT

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.

IRAN WAR, 11 DAYS IN: US CONTROLS SKIES, OIL SURGES AND THE REGION BRACES FOR WHAT’S NEXT

“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.

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“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.”

Iran’s foreign minister heads to Russia as Trump says Iranian leaders can call on the phone if they want to talk.

The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner was turned upside down Saturday night as a gunman was taken into custody after shots were fired near the ballroom at the Washington Hilton. President Trump, first lady Melania Trump and other administration officials were evacuated by the Secret Service after the shots disrupted the annual gala fundraiser event.

President Trump and first lady and numerous cabinet officials were swiftly evacuated from the event as the shooter was tackled by law enforcement. Law enforcement officials said the suspect charged a security checkpoint with magnetometer screening devices with a rifle, a hand gun and knives in tow. He is reported to have exchanged gunfire with Secret Service officials.

On a night that was to be momentous for marking Trump’s first time at the WHCA dinner as president, the commander-in-chief ended it with an impromptu press briefing at the White House, as dinner attendees scrambled to cover the unexpected turn of events — all while dressed up in evening wear.

President Trump has had a pugnacious relationship with mainstream media and news organizations. At his late-night briefing, he sought to strike a conciliatory tone and even complimented the media for the immediate coverage of the latest shooting incident to disrupt the normal routines of American life. Trump praised the quick work of law enforcement officials that ensured the gun was “taken down by some very brave members” of the Secret Service.

“In light of this evening’s events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts and resolving our difference be soon we have to, we have to resolve our differences peacefully,” Trump said.

CNN reported that a Secret Service agent wearing protective gear had been shot and taken to the hospital. Law enforcement officials confirmed that a man was in custody; reports emerged that he was a 31-year-old man from Torrance, Calif.

After about an hour of confusion within the ballroom, WHCA president Weijia Jiang, of CBS News, came to the podium with tears in her eyes to tell the attendees to leave the ballroom. And she also informed members of the association of the President’s plan to hold a press briefing at the White House within 30 minutes. “That is not a joke,” Jiang deadpanned.

Jiang added that Trump “insists that we will reschedule this event in the next 30 days,” Jiang said. “He wanted to continue despite the news but has to follow security protocol,” she said. Jiang noted that journalism is a profession designed to rise to the occasion in a crisis.

“On a night when are thinking about those freedoms and the First Amendment, we must also think about how fragile they are,” she siad. “I saw all of you reporting and that’s what we do. So thank god, everybody’s safe. Thank you for coming together tonight, and we’ll do this again.”

Trump’s statement issued on his Truth Social platform also laid out his determination to proceed with the event.

“Law Enforcement has requested that we leave the premises, consistent with protocol, which we will do, immediately. I will be giving a press conference in 30 minutes from the White House Press Briefing Room. The First Lady, plus the Vice President, and all Cabinet members, are in perfect condition. We will be speaking to you in a half an hour. I have spoken with all the representatives in charge of the event, and we will be rescheduling within 30 days. President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the statement read.

Earlier in the night, after he’d been removed from the ballroom, Trump issued a message stating his hope to go back to the Hilton to finish the night as planned. In that statement, Trump addressed the extraordinary brush with violence: “Quite an evening in D.C. Secret Service and Law Enforcement did a fantastic job. They acted quickly and bravely. The shooter has been apprehended, and I have recommended that we ‘LET THE SHOW GO ON’ but will entirely be guided by Law Enforcement. They will make a decision shortly. Regardless of that decision, the evening will be much different than planned, and we’ll just, plain, have to do it again,” the President stated.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer reported on-air that he heard the gunshots and was thrown to the ground by police for safety. Blitzer said he saw the gunman “shooting randomly” and saw him being tackled by police. He was ushered into a restroom for safety by police. Blitzer said he heard at least six dozen loud “booms.” Blitzer told CNN that he had just left the ballroom to use the restroom. As he walked back to his table, he suddenly heard “a whole bunch of gunshots and someone firing. The next thing I saw were a lot of police officers and other law enforcement grabbing [the gunman] and getting him to the ground.”

Shortly after 9 p.m. ET, WHCA president Weijia Jiang told the crowd that the program would continue despite the commotion caused by the incident and Trump’s swift departure. However, by 9:20 p.m. ET it was clear that security was clearing out the ballroom, indicating that the event had been formally scrapped.

The situation sparked immediate on-the-ground reporting from journalists across the media spectrum who took to social media platforms to deliver urgent reports.

ABC News’ Rachel Scott called the situation “terrifying” and described the confusion as attendees suddenly looked up to see Secret Service personnel swarming the president. And it all happened “as [WHCA] members here in this ballroom ducked for cover,” Scott reported on Instagram.

CSPAN coverage showed that just as guests were finishing the salad course of the dinner, the dais for the event was abruptly cleared out and many of the several thousand attendees of the event dove under tables amid concerns about a major security breach. Witnesses told CSPAN that they heard yelling from the back of the ballroom before the Secret Service swept into the room. On CSPAN’s coverage around the 8:40 p.m. ET mark, shouts of “USA, USA” can be heard from the back of the ballroom.

The scene outside the Washington Hilton earlier in the night was tense, with protestors chanting about U.S. action in Iran as attendees entered the hotel. Multiple layers of security with Washington, D.C. streets around the hotel closed off and tickets were required to move past several checkpoints in the hotel and facility. Longtime attendees of the WHCA dinner said they’d never seen tighter security at the event.

After shooting, there was initial confusion as to what had happened before journalists were able to reach their news outlets to report the details of what unfolded. CNN, CNBC, CSPAN and other outlets delivered the news of what just happened in the ballroom in telephone interviews with startled and rattled journalists who were on site.

Most of journalism’s top players were in attendance at the annual fundraiser event. Versant CEO Mark Lazarus, ABC News president Almin Karamehmedovic, “Good Morning America” executive producer Simone Swink and Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott are among the notables who were seen at pre-parties on Saturday.

Among the Trump administration officials attending the event were Vice President JD Vance, White House deputy chief of policy Stephen Miller, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence, and Erika Kirk, CEO of Turning Point USA. There were numerous reports that Kirk was seen to be visibly shaken by the incident, which comes seven months after her political activist husband, Charlie Kirk, was shot during an appearance at a Utah university.

The Trump administration’s strong showing at the event is in sharp contrast to his actions in his previous time in the White House. The 2026 dinner marks Trump’s first time attending the event, which traditionally features a comedian who roasts the president and Washington establishment. This time around the WHCA booked mentalist Oz Pearlman as the celebrity performer. Pearlman was seen making the rounds with top journalists prominently in the live coverage of the event before the disruption.

Trump has had a contentious relationship with mainstream journalists since his political ambitions took off in 2015. Since his return to the White House, the Trump administration has been aggressive in challenging journalism conventions, and the President has not let up on his attacks on the integrity and competence of mainstream journalism. Trump has also engaged in litigation with ABC News, CBS News and the Wall Street Journal, among others.