Iran's currency is collapsing. Its economy is under crushing sanctions. Yet Tehran is still paying for machinery, fuel and military components abroad using a financial rail Donald Trump cannot control.

The workaround is simple: mine Bitcoin, then spend it.

"Iran can mine a single Bitcoin for roughly $1,300," says Jake Percy, a U.S.-based bitcoin strategist. With Bitcoin trading near $73,000, that creates a $71,700 margin per coin. That value can be deployed outside the global banking system.

The strategy quietly punches a hole through the sanctions architecture the United States spent two decades building.

India will purchase crude oil from Russia, government sources told NDTV, providing much-needed assurances on energy supply volatility amid the US-Israel-Iran war.

Sources also said efforts to stabilise petrol prices had 'paid off' thanks to 'continuous negotiation on multiple fronts' and stressed 'the crude oil situation is under control'.

Price of petroleum products in domestic markets will not be allowed to rise, sources said.

The government, NDTV was further told, has sufficient reserves in case of supply disruptions arising not only from the war in Iran but military pressure on oil tankers passing through Tehran-controlled Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.

When Tehran legalised Bitcoin mining in 2019, officials framed it as an economic experiment. Analysts now say it evolved into something far more strategic: a sanctions resistant payment network.

The Iran women's soccer team sang and saluted as its national anthem played ahead of the Women's Asian Cup contest against Australia on Thursday, a contrast to the silence before its opening game.

The outcome was similar, though, with World Cup semifinalist Australia winning 4-0. The silence during the anthem before Monday's 3-0 loss to South Korea was variously reported as an act of resistance or a show of mourning. The team didn't clarify.

But in a news conference on the eve of the game against Australia, Iran striker Sara Didar choked back tears as she shared the concerns of players and management for their families and loved ones amid the war in the Middle East.

President Donald Trump has suggested that he would turn to an unspecified project for Cuba, the Caribbean island already facing a US energy blockade, after the war against Iran.

"We want to fix, finish this one first -- but that will be just a question of time before you and a lot of unbelievable people are going to be going back to Cuba," Trump said at a White House reception.

India's access to crucial energy supplies received a temporary boost on Friday after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a 30-day waiver allowing Indian refiners to purchase Russian oil. 

The move comes as the administration seeks to stabilise global energy markets amid rising tensions in the Middle East.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said that three Australian defence personnel were on board a United States submarine that sank an Iranian warship, IRIS Dena, with a torpedo in the Indian Ocean. He stressed they did not take part in the attack.

The strike, which occurred off the southern coast of Sri Lanka this week, marked the first time since World War Two that the US has sunk an enemy vessel with a torpedo. Sri Lankan authorities recovered the bodies of 87 sailors.

The IRIS Dena was returning home after visiting India for naval exercises.

Bahrain has said that Iran had struck a hotel and two residential buildings in the capital Manama.

The attack came a day after an Iranian missile strike sparked a fire at Bahrain's main state-owned oil refinery as Tehran pressed attacks across the Gulf countries.

"Iranian aggression targeted a hotel & 2 residential buildings in Manama," Bahrain's interior ministry posted on X while correcting a previous announcement that two hotels and one residential building had been hit.

It reported "no loss of life".

It said the attack sparked a fire in one of the residential buildings, which had been extinguished.

The Israeli military announced a "next phase" in the war and bombed Lebanon's Beirut.

It said it killed Hezbollah's commander Zaid Ali Jumaa in Beirut.

"Jumaa served as Hezbollah’s head of artillery in southern Lebanon and was responsible for launching thousands of rockets, missiles and UAVs from Lebanon toward Israel. He also led the 2015 anti-tank missile attack in Mount Dov that killed an IDF officer and soldier," the Israel Defense Forces posted on X.

Lebanon was dragged into the widening conflict on Monday, when Iran-backed Hezbollah attacked Israel to avenge the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The raging war in the Middle East entered its seventh day on Friday. The war broke out when Israel and the US attacked Iran last Saturday, killing 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. 

Iran then fired a missile barrage at Israel and at multiple American military bases in Gulf countries. The war spread to Asia as the US sank an Iranian warship off the coast of Sri Lanka on Wednesday, killing about 80 people.