Showing posts with label WAR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WAR. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Does anyone remember The Bedford Incident?


 "If they fire one, we'll fire one".

With the United States blockading all supply coming in to Iran and seizing some vessels, there are roughly 100 container ships trapped in the Persian Gulf from which Iran can choose anytime it wishes to go shopping. 

Iran says it has seized two ships in Strait of Hormuz after U.S. extends ceasefire

Iran’s navy on Wednesday said it had seized two container ships in the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz, shortly after the U.S. extended the ceasefire and as diplomats seek to bring the countries together for peace talks.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy said in a statement that it had seized the ships for what it claimed were maritime violations and transferred them to Iranian shores, according to state media. CNBC could not independently verify the claim.

The announcement came after U.K. maritime authorities said two ships had been attacked in the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian media reported a third vessel had also been targeted by the country’s military. ...

 

Monday, April 20, 2026

SPX rallied 10% after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but ended the year down 19%

SPX is up almost 12% since March 30th.

 Investors are misreading news about the Iran war, analysts say as markets whipsaw

... The resumption of uninterrupted energy flows is what underpins any sustained stock market recovery, according to investment manager Orbis.

“It’s pretty clear to us that equity markets are viewing things with a ‘glass half full’ view,” Patrick O’Donnell, chief investment strategist at Orbis, told CNBC’s Europe Early Edition on Monday.

“What we’re focused on is whether the Strait of Hormuz is actually going to reopen again.”

He added that the ramifications of the conflict in the Middle East will have “quite a long-lasting effect” for the global economy and markets. ...

 

Sunday, April 19, 2026

Well of course

 


The U.S. Navy has intercepted, disabled, and taken possession of Iranian cargo ship Touska

 



JMIC update 034 for the Middle East maritime region shows Strait of Hormuz combined cargo and tanker transits averaging 7.5 vessels per day April 12-18 vs. 138 normally

 But tankers exiting the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz average just 2 per day April 12-18.

After the 13th, just 10 tankers have exited over 5 days, also 2 per day. 

Tankers transiting the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait to and from the Red Sea, whether northwest (3.5/day) and possibly through the Suez or southeast (4/day) and headed to East Asia, average 7.5 per day.

Suezmax tankers carrying up to 1 million barrels of oil are the largest which can pass fully laden through the Suez.

Before the war, a dozen or so VLCCs, which have a capacity of 2 million barrels, transited the Strait of Hormuz daily out of 65-70 tankers which did so.

Total SoH tanker exits daily used to average 25-30.

Yanbu on the Red Sea can fill 2-5 tankers daily depending on the size (maybe 4 Suezmax), plus 2 per day out of the Persian Gulf, so we are at the max operating at 23% of normal tanker exits in the last week (7/30).

And again, that's just tankers, not a statement of actual oil volume.

And which of these were stopped by the U.S. Navy after transit only the Navy knows, as do people whose full time job it is to know, which isn't me. 

If Monday pays attention to reality, oil prices will rise. 

 


Fars News Agency: Iranian silence is not golden lol

 Iranian state news outlet questions foreign minister’s ‘unexpected tweet’ on Hormuz Strait 

... The Fars News Agency added that Iranians worry about the “absolute and strange silence” from the country’s Supreme National Security Council and its negotiators.

“They [Iranians] accept it, but it is expected that at least a clear explanation be provided regarding the ‘reason for silence,'” the agency continued. “Public opinion raises this question: if it is in the country’s interest that the details of the negotiations or recent developments not be publicized, why is this very interest and the reason for avoiding transparency not explained to the people?”

The Fars News Agency called on its government to not “allow the enemy’s narrative and hostile media to fill the created narrative vacuum by toying with the spirit and psyche of society.”

“These days, Twitter and short, pithy statements are no longer a suitable medium for persuading domestic public opinion; rather, even this very ‘not explaining’ requires explanation,” the agency wrote in its last post in the thread. ...


 

Welcome to week eight of Trump's four to five week war against Iran

 


Saturday, April 18, 2026

In case you aren't convinced yet, Iran shot at the Sanmar Herald this morning

 Iran says Strait of Hormuz is closed again as vessels attempting to cross come under gunfire

... Shortly after the Iranian statements, the U.K. Maritime Trade Operations said a tanker reported being fired on by two gunboats operated by Iran’s IRGC. The incident happened 20 nautical miles northeast of Oman, the UKMTO said. The tanker and its crew were reported safe, and authorities are investigating, the UKMTO said. ...




 

 

Friday, April 17, 2026

Friday night fright night for Ukraine as Trump keeps Russian oil unsanctioned for a second consecutive month

 Trump is an asshole.

 


 Update from CNBC Saturday:

U.S. renews Russian oil waiver after pressure from countries dealing with Iran war price shocks 

... “As negotiations (with Iran) accelerate, Treasury wants to ensure oil is available to those who need it,” a Treasury Department spokesperson said. Just two days earlier, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would not be renewing the waiver for Russian oil and another for Iranian oil, which is set to expire on Sunday. ...

U.S. lawmakers from both political parties had slammed the administration over the sanctions waivers, saying they stood to help the economy of Iran while it was at war with the U.S. and of Russia as it was at war with Ukraine. ... 

Now do the U.S. Mail

 Mamdani: We're Being Told A City-Run Grocery Store Is Implausible While Spending $500 Million A Day To Kill People In Iran

Thursday, April 16, 2026

Inflation, whether pandemic induced or war induced, has been berry berry good for hiding price increases to boost corporate profits

 


The Nobel Committee needs to create a War Prize, stat

Monday, April 13, 2026

Ann Coulter, born in 1961, is looking pretty good for a 64 year old boomer, but she is a little testy about it lol

 I can see the jowls of 74 forming already. 🤣

My favorite part of this is her concern for the little girls of Iran.

After 911 she didn't care about their little girls at all, when she wanted all these countries invaded, their leaders killed, and everyone converted to Christianity. She didn't want us to be too careful about it either, because we carpet bombed Germany in WWII and killed civilians because it was a war then, and 911 was also a war, even though it wasn't. It too was undeclared just like this one now against Iran, but Ann pretends otherwise.

If Trump had a decent PR machine, he'd be talking about how awful the crackdown in Iran was after the Christmas 2025 university demonstrations. Thousands of Iranians desiring freedom were brutally massacred by the regime. Trump wasn't ready for that, but he did begin the airbridge to Europe and the Middle East in mid-February, beginning the process of shuttling military assets in theatre to confront the Ayatollah. I know because I monitored it myself day after day. This was not a surprise. 

Those military assets weren't as strong or ready as they needed to be in the last week of February when Trump got the call from Bibi about the decapitation opportunity, but he pulled the trigger anyway. That's Trump, always reactive, not proactive. He's not the commander in chief many of us would choose, but you fight with the commander you have. 

If we had taken Ann's advice in 2001, the Persian Gulf would be a Christian paradise today, and we wouldn't be having this stupid conversation about the terror regime in Iran yet one more time a quarter century later and how to solve that problem.

They have missiles to destroy their neighbors and reach Europe, and they have demonstrated their willingness to do so. It doesn't matter now how it started. They must be stopped. 

 



Sunday, April 12, 2026