Fees on safe passage are the heart of the matter.
It’s All About Fees
Trump believes the MOU allows safe passage to all vessels. Iran has disputed that idea all along.
Iran insists it will collect fees and Trump says no.
When Iran struck at ships trying to pass without paying fees, Trump cancelled Iran’s ability for safe passage.
The result is a two-way blockade again, with military escalations on both sides.
U.S. Launches Strikes on Iran
The Wall Street Journal reports U.S. Launches Strikes on Iran in Response to Ship Attacks in Hormuz
The Trump administration pounded sites along Iran’s coast in fresh airstrikes and blocked its ability to sell oil legally on Tuesday in a fierce response to Tehran’s recent attacks on ships near the Strait of Hormuz. The twin moves threatened to unravel an interim peace that took weeks to negotiate and drive up oil prices.
Tehran’s targeting of the vessels in the international waterway through which 20% of the world’s oil used to flow “was unwarranted, dangerous, and a clear violation of the ceasefire,” according to a Centcom statement.
Explosions were reported in Sirik, Qeshm and Bandar Abbas, sites in or near the strait, according to Iranian media. The strikes targeted air defense, coastal surveillance, surface-to-air and antiship cruise-missile sites, as well as drone-launch sites and port facilities, according to a senior U.S. official. Abu Musa island and the Tums islands in the strait were also struck, the person said.
The strikes came shortly after the Trump administration revoked a license allowing Iran to sell oil on the open market, eliminating the primary economic benefit for Tehran as part of an interim peace deal with the U.S. and threatening to unravel the agreement after days of skirmishes in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Treasury Department said the June 21 temporary license granted to Iran after several months of war would no longer apply, a reprimand coming hours after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired missiles and drones at ships near the strategic waterway Tuesday. The Treasury allowed for a grace period until July 17 for transactions already authorized under the license.
The revocation is a clear sign that Washington is willing to push back on Iranian military action and won’t offer new concessions to Tehran as part of the interim deal.
It also underscores how many issues the interim deal left open—or open to different interpretation by the two sides. That includes the critical question of who should control the strait and the passage of vessels through it in the coming months.
Meanwhile, people close to the talks say there has been no substantive progress made yet by the U.S. and Iranian teams on a final nuclear agreement, with technical talks on the issue barely commencing. Negotiations are currently on hold for the funeral of Khamenei.
Michael Singh, a former National Security Council director for the Middle East under President George W. Bush, said that Iran’s military attacks in the strait suggested Tehran was angling to get more early benefits from the interim deal than Washington had agreed to. The Treasury Department move is an effort to push back on that.
“So it seems that this construct where we hoped that Iran might yield control of the strait for a series of upfront concessions has only whetted the Iranian appetite for more,” Singh said.
He said all of this bodes ill for the prospect of a final nuclear deal. “I think the chances of getting that are quite slim.”
MOU Ends
War Begins
Trump Broke the Deal
A Friendly Reminder
What Part of This Does Trump Not Understand?
My question is a much to tankers as to Trump. Do any of these tankers think they wont get hit?
How does our Commander plan to trump a ruinous regional war… with a truly devastating World War, 3rd Edition:
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov publicly acknowledged that the so-called “special military operation” has escalated into a “real war,” pointing to direct Western involvement.
Proverbs 26:11 nom nom nom.
And where is Congress? The BS that the ceasefire ‘stopped the clock’ on the 60 days would seem to indicate that the clock is running again before Congress has to approve war action. We all know that rulers do what they want and look for excuses later, but maybe there are enough disenchanted lame duck Republican senators now to show they have the balls to not authorize continued war.
My (body appendage) is bigger than your (body appendage).
For what it’s worth (not much) Iran seems pretty consistent, while Trump is continuously all over the place.
Left or right?
Brent Crude back over $80 a barrel and rising.
You might want to fill up your gas tanks.
Yeah, those extra pennies you save will allow you to purchase more lottery tickets.
President Donald J Hoover’s comments on the Iran War at the NATO Summit sound like a man insisting he will conquer his Stage 4 cancer, it is only a matter of time, just wait.
He says he will hit Iran very hard, even saying he would go after their infrastructure like electricity and desalination plants, which are war crimes and would result in Iran strikes on Israeli and Saudi desalination plants (which those countries are far more dependent on than Iran). He talks about taking over Kharg Island and its oil, even though Iran undoubtedly has the island rigged and would blow it up if the US took it over.
He calls the Iranians “Liars!” and call them “dishonorable people”, while lying every day about the war and violating every provision of the MoU he himself signed.
He says the US is now the world’s oil superpower, producing more oil than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined, and I’m sure he has profited handsomely from it. Of course, Americans will continue to see nothing but higher and higher gas prices at the pump.
He tried unsuccessfully to get Iran to buy US soy bean products after subsidizing Argentina’s soybean crop which it sold to China for less than American farmers could produce their crop. Soon he will be promising Americans “a Soy Bean in Every Pot”, which would be about the best Americans could hope for under this administration.
This entire war is a war crime on the part of the United States. However, as long as they personally do not suffer, Americans could not care less about humanitarian casualties.
Of course, were some American to stub his precious toe loading bombs to kill children, that would be treated as a tragedy.
”[Trump] talks about taking over Kharg Island and its oil, even though Iran undoubtedly has the island rigged and would blow it up if the US took it over”
This was just now effectively confirmed by Iran in a news report:
And:
Another part of the equation is that the Gulf States had been slowly coming to grips with the idea that they would have to find a modus vivendi with Iran, given that US security was worse than useless. That seemed to be happening with the Saudis and even later the UAE denying the US the use of their airspace. But the Gulf States are not on board with the Iran plan to control Strait of Hormuz traffic, as shown by their statement after a meeting with Marco Rubio. As much as they are furious with the US, they do not want to become captives to Iran.
It was always obvious that the United States never was going to fulfill any of its obligations under the MoU or any other agreement, instrument or treaty.
The MoU was ever always only a ruse to buy time, get oil prices under control, reload, regroup, fine-tune the algos, and then take another swing.
I suspect that Iran was aware of this (they’d have to be mighty stupid not to) but that China was pressuring them into signing anything, as China wants to be able to get back to selling things and making money.
Operation Epstien fury continues. all to change the focus from the epstien files. How many lives to hide the perverted truth
“I called it”
Lol. Didn’t I tell you guys it would be a cruel summer? Time to sell calls on oil stonks again. The money ship is sailing, are you on it?
It was all predicable because my tagline predicts everything Trump will do.
Do worry, Trump, Walrus and the GOP will find a way to make things even worse.™
I guess it’s time to activate the Clowncon alert system.
Clowncon 1 – Full TACO LOCO : Massive lies imminent or have already been told
Clowncon 2 – Lost Face : TACO humiliated by invalidated claims by Iran or other enemies
Clowncon 3 – Dumb House : Clown advisors at White House increase lies and/or stupid strategies
Clowncon 4 – Double Fake : Increased deception from American “allies” goading US into more action
Clowncon 5 – Fake Out : Lowest state of competency
Jeff Snider has been covering the OIL GLUT (Demand Destruction) counter-points for weeks now.
If there is an oil glut, why aren’t we refilling SPRs? Instead we are still drawing the SPR down.
The battle therefore was never about Nuclear Weapons (not even mentioned any more, notice that??)….nope.
It was about FEES and CONTROL.
The goal ever always only was to turn Iran into a failed state at the behest of Israel.
Hmmm, the greatest capitulation ever for the US in the MOU negotiated by the Property Brothers turns toxic when exposed to light
Tuff guy must repudiate MOU and resume lead on destroying the economy
Nothing the Tuff guy likes better than “Trump” in the headlines and profiting off of whipsawing the oil and stock markets
The terms of the MoU are irrelevant, since the United States was never going to abide by any of them.
See, e.g., Minsk and Minsk-2, both of which were shams intended to buy Ukraine time.
Sooooo, the war trump won every day for four months straight has not been won at all?
Irans military has not been wiped out?
Trump and Fox News were lying?
Gosh, whoda guessed…
July 8th and its back to the killing fields…
I sure wouldn’t want to be a schoolgirl in Iran!
…or MaraLago…
Bro…Iran wiped out like 6 million times already
The MOU was just a facade to buy time to re-arm … if the war with Iran starts up again, Ukraine will never get the weapons it’s been promised yesterday at the NATO Summit …
Playing with FIRE …
Global Recession one step closer …
That recession is already here, so I’ll correct your statement:
“Playing with FIRE …
Global [DEPRESSION is now] one step closer …”
Trump said he didn’t want to be Hoover. Trump doesn’t have Hoover’s compassion or his brain. Another step to a mid-term landslide for the Dems and their socialists.
“Another step to a mid-term landslide for the Dems and their socialists.”
We can hope and we can vote. A pendulum swing is coming.
Imagine how stupid things will get when it swings as far into left wing kookery as it has into right wing kookery.
Anyone thinking the Dems are going to restore order and sanity in November…
… haven’t been watching.
Witness the Plattner implosion. Watch the Mamdani acendency.
We are so cooked.
Yes. With Team D in charge, the bombs will be festooned with Pride flags.
Surely the schoolchildren that die at our hands will be gratified to know that their sufferings were in service of our noble cause.
He does suck mightily, however.
Hoover represents a low bar to clear.
Hoover made the best vaccums for decades.
We got a somewhat confidently through the USA 250th party and July 4, but the world’s most prominent infinitely expanding ego’s internal psycho dynamics dictate that he must allocate in a way that will now make stock markets and USA (high-temp) summer activities and costs visibly less pleasant. All stock index futures are down this morning. The Dems are a mess, but Trump is still going to make fall season a tight contest, with a glaring sign flashing in every gas pump and energy bill. Even an ostensible fresh Iran deal will now be viewed warily by all. Trump doesn’t like markets (that don’t dance to his fantasies), but companies cannot go bankrupt for his whimsical ways and pressure campaigns. How I wish for a third party, but I know that would just throw things into more instability for awhile!
There needs to be 3 parties: MAGA, a Centrist America party, and a socialist party for the hard lefties. Thune and Obama have more in common than either has with MAGA or Bernie.
For the first time I see a non-zero chance of a four-party 2028 Presidential election, with MAGA, conservative/libertarian, DSA/Green, and Democrats competing. There is a huge age divide, and neither Democrats nor Republicans under 50 will support a candidate in 2028 who supports a genocidal nation like Israel. AIPAC money and threats essentially control the Uniparty, which is how we may end up with four significant candidates.
Why won’t they believe in the next deal? They went for the prior 40 hook, line and sinker.
You can bet his portfolio profited handsomely.
Trump and Hegseth cannot stand losing. They have quite clearly already lost so will continue making performative attacks or changes to sanctions so they can feed their egos.
A better way would be to create a serious international negotiation process. Any bilateral negotiation with US is just going to be a load of missed promises.
Whilst the regime is appaling to its own people, when faced with international negotiations (e.g. JCPOA) they have acted relatively reliably. It is the US which is the loose cannon here.
Iran can’t just shoot at commercial ships whenever it wants. This is the lesson they need to learn!
Or girls’ schools.
How is it that the USA can tell Iran or any country when and where they can sell their natural resources like oil? We would not stand for this why should they?
There you go, treating other humans like humans instead of props in a shitshow.
Because we control the banking system and are the de facto world policeman.
Iran stated quite clearly that they are happy to reopen the Strait, but ships must coordinate ingress and egress with the IRGC. They are firing on ship that refuse to do that.
Exactly. It is the Persian Gulf, after all – not the American Gulf.
The IRGC has no control outside their territorial waters. D’oh.
But the US can bomb all the fishing boats it wants to?!
Yes, when those boats are being used as military assets.
Bullshit. None of the fishing boats in the Caribbean were the military assets of anyone. They were just fishing boats run by fishermen trying to make a living.
You are a &^*ing @$$#()le!
“Trump and Hegseth cannot stand losing”
LOL That’s like the Pope saying he cannot stand Catholics!
The terms of the MoU were never relevant. The United States never was going to abide by any of them.
I keep hearing this from leftists and USA haters but don’t see HOW Iran can do this. Ships can just sail near Oman. The Regime can’t just raise a drawbridge.
IF their idea of “closing the Strait” is to threaten to take shots at ships, CentCom will protect the ships, target Iranian assets and kill even more IRGC soldiers. Too bad for their families!
Meanwhile, the US military suffers no losses.
Have you tried swimming out there to get a better look at what they’ve been doing for the last three months?
Must be really hard to be you. Daily life must be an endless puzzle.
This reply was meant for Jojo, not Creamer.
Being stupid hurts, as it should.
If CentCom could protect those ships, there would be no need for negotiations with Iran. Iran has thousands of times more missiles than CentCom has ships.
All those ships are just sitting there because they enjoy the climate in the region.
The crews are doubtless basking on the decks, sunning themselves and working out in their mankinis.
Baywatch: Hormuz
Jojo, just in case you’re wondering for real, the Iranians can fly a drone right into any ship in the Strait.
It’s illegal, yes. They didn’t start doing it until the US and Israel had bombed their country.
Now, all the other countries have to work out how this looks going forward. Apparently, other similar straits require “voluntary” payments for “services” in order to transit.
The UAE is accelerating buildout of a new pipeline to bypass the Strait. Others are buying from other sources.
Pre-war, 20% of the world’s oil supply went through the Strait. Countries are looking for other sources now and so the Starit is going to be marginalized and of less importance going forward.
The Iranian Regime, if it survives, is not going to have anyone to collect tolls from! 🤣
You (and we) have no idea the scale of US losses. The official death toll (is it still 13?) is ridiculous and illogical given the previously released number of wounded. By late March the number of wounded treated at Ramstein was ~ 400. Some of those were undoubtedly non-life-threatening injuries, but still … 13 regional US bases were rendered inoperable by drone and missile strikes, but almost no Americans died? Doesn’t pass the smell test. They just die in “training accidents”.
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/minnesota-marine-canseco-declared-dead-missing/
For reasons I am not privy to, these bases were not as well protected as they should have been. Knowing this, the large majority of staff on these bases were moved offsite, which is one reason that US casualties were low.
Here are the killed/injured numbers in the Iranian war. Who are the clear losers? Looks like Lebanon (Hezbollah) and Iran, by large margins.
And the more Hezbollah and the Iranian Regime keep kicking the US in the shins, the more casualties they are going to suffer!
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/3/1/us-israel-attacks-on-iran-death-toll-and-injuries-live-tracker
Iran is now promising a “crushing response” to the US attack and the war is back on. The US just put sanctions back on Iranian oil, in addition to refusing to pay Iran frozen assets promised upon signing, which means the MOU is dead and there is no longer any reason for Iran to show any restraint in closing not just the Persian Gulf, but (with the help of their Houthi friends) the Bab-al-Mandeb strait as well. Seems likely we will see drone strikes on the Saudi East-West pipeline.
Following the Iran public anger and outrage on display during the Khameini funeral, the Trump administration has put Iran in a situation where it has no incentive anymore to allow ships to transit the strait without paying, so they won’t.
DOW +5K
Monday!
[ROTFLOL] Good one!
They shot some drones and missiles at a US base in Bahrain. OOOHHH! 🤣
To refresh your memory:
Iran attacks wipe out 17% of Qatar’s LNG capacity for up to five years, QatarEnergy CEO says
And according to Iran that was just a warning, after the US attacked their oil-gas infrastructure.
Air raid sirens blare for a second time in Bahrain after Iran said it launched retaliatory attacks over the US bombardment of its Hormozgan province.
Kuwait has also announced that it is confronting hostile drone and missile attacks.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it “destroyed 85 US military installations” in Bahrain and Kuwait.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) says it hit more than 80 targets inside Iran, and that the strikes were in response to attacks on three ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday.
Iranian media say most sites hit were civilian, including fishing piers and a telecommunications tower, and that several people were taken to the hospital after a strike on Sirik.
All their shots were intercepted. Tell that to your IRGC handlers.
Yikes!
It is amazing that anyone bought the notion that the MOU was anything more than a stalling tactic to get past the 4th of July holiday consumer spending spree.
Add a big cat 5 hurricane in the gulf and you have some explosive oil prices indeed.
It’s not “IF” baby, it’s “WHEN”
The faith and credit of the US is worth 💩. Nay, at least 💩 can be a fertilizer, unlike the word of the US.
So now Trump is bombing Kharg Island? Lindsey Graham must have a full-on boner with his butt plug inserted. We’ll see how Iran responds.
A attack on Saudi desalination plants will render Saudi unlivable.
Same with Israel. Fully 70% of their drinking water is from de-salinization plants.
However, if Iran attacked one or both of those nations water plants? You can pretty much bet on Iran receiving several well targeted nuclear strikes.
Depopulating the Arab peninsula by destroying Saudi water would suit Israel just fine. Refugees would flood into Europe and expanding “greater Israel” would become easier. Better for Iran to attack only Israel. The possibility exists that even after an Israeli nuclear attack on Iran, Iran could fire back several atomic bombs onto Israel. They would be “small” – on the scale of Hiroshima.
The US and Israel will not need that excuse to go nuclear.
And likewise in return on Iran’s water plants. And their electric plants. And their bridges. And IRGC buildings across the land. And maybe the new Ayatollah and the latest leadership.
Want to keep playing Suzie?
Unlike the other Gulf countries, Iran does not depend on water desalinization plants and their electrical grid is highly decentralized.
But yes, the US can absolutely bomb the living shit out of Iran. That was never in dispute.
The issue the US faces is how to bomb the shit out of Iran while preventing Iran from wrecking the global economy by turning all the Gulf nations into unhabitable wasteland. So far the US has not done a good job preventing Iran from targeting the Gulf’s infrastructure.
A military can have 100% tactical victories in the field and yet suffer a total strategic loss at the end. But for some people this concept is too “woke” to be understood.
Sleepers gonna sleep, like their sleepy idol does in meetings.
Iran doesn’t have many weapons left. They failed yesterday in targeting Bahrain and Kuwait. NO HITS!
You Iranian Regime supporters are despicable!
Yes, but the Saudi tyrants could not care less. They’ll just bugger off for London or Paris and wait it out.
MAGA idiots really put their foot in it this time! There’s no stick big enough to scrape this one off.
Well the headline was inverted, not that it really matters as the MOU was a non-starter in a million ways…the tankers were hit then the strikers by the U.S. were launched. Even ABC News got the chronology correct. But this was always gonna be the case. Hitting 5 alleged friends in the region demonstrates that Iran is not a country you want to have a nuclear weapon ever and not one you want controlling the strait. The tankers were taking an Omani route…Iran is not in control of the entire strait as it is 21 miles wide…Guess having them acting as such is also no desired globally. But, when you hate Trump that supercedes asking questions such as these.
And I’m on record as calling action on Iran as an own-goal, in the spirit of the World Cup, but the order of today’s actions is sorta important when you said who put their foot in it.
My only question is, if the MOU and alleged deal was so damn advantageous for Iran–and in my estimation it totally was/is–then why the latest preemptive tanker strikes? Do they really think the “safe passage fee” and Iranian-approved-routes only is globally acceptable and accepted. Obviously the ME neighbors whose ships were hit were thinking they could pass safely were wrong and though Arabic/Islamic, they are apparently no friends of Iran.
The F U is and always was riding right under the surface–the same place the ships are headed I guess.
Iran wants tolls and thinks Trump will back down
simple as that
Iran wants tolls, but I’m not sure they really care whether Trump backs down or doesn’t. They think they can withstand any American conventional attacks and they have plenty of targets to attack in the region. I think a significant opinion among the IRGC is that it’s better to continue the war against the ZioAmericans and drive the US out of the region than to have some faux agreement with the Americans (is there any other kind?) that only holds until the next time they’re attacked by The Empire. In other words, “finish the job” isn’t just a slogan battered around DC. Some in Iran say the same thing, especially during the funeral of Khamenei.
The Regime doesn’t have much weapons or ammunition left and with sanctions reimposed, can’t sell their oil, no money to buy more supplies. Ooops..
You’ve been saying that for months, and it has never been true.
Like everything else you say.
Prove its not true instead of just posting blanket BS.
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain hate Iran. They’re not friends, they’re long-term enemies. The reason is religious. The fundamental split is Islam is between Sunnisim and Shiaism. Iran represents Shia faction. The rest are Sunni. They both want to impose their version of Islam on each other. They’re kind of like Europe in the 16th century with the wars between the Catholics and Protestants.
The problem is Iran is a much bigger, more capable country than any of the Sunni countries. Which is why they want protection from the US in the first place.
You are correct as regards the religious dimension, and that the United States has been doing its level best to exacerbate the Shia-Sunni animosity.
There’s another factor at play here – while the ruling families of the gulfie tyrannies are all (by design) Sunni, much of the Arab populations of these countries are Shia.
This keeps these countries weak and dependent upon American protection, as you noted.
The world has seen the kind of protection the US provided its Arab “allies”. The US couldn’t even protect them from Iran. How is the US going to protect its Asian vassals from China? Wise Asian rulers will try to get along with China. US lackeys like Bongbong will continue their current path of confrontation.
Simple. If push comes to shove, the Asian rulers will split for London, Vancouver or California, which is where their vacation homes are and where they can access their assets, safely squirreled away in Swiss banks.
As for the masses, who cares?
Let’s take a view of the foundation of the MOU
Does anyone expect USA to:
-facilitate $300B reparations?
-release $100B cash?
-drop all primary and secondary sanctions?
-stop exterminating Arabs in Lebanon?
This war never ended. Trump may just as well have signed a roll of Palace of Versailles toilet paper. (+1 cambleu)
It’s really up to Netanyahu as to when the war ends.
He does have the files
That will happen when the charges against him are dropped.
No surprise that Iran attacked more ships. Iran is determined to control the strait. And they are particularly emboldened after the funeral of their leader, whom Trump killed. It’s leverage they intend to maintain.
The MOU is on life support. And even if negotiations somehow continue, they are highly unlikely to achieve anything, other than more US concessions.
Oil inventories continue to drop. As do inventories of gasoline and distillates. Refinery crack spreads are at record levels for this time of year. As several oil executives stated, inventories will become critically low sometime in July. They expect a price spike when that happens.
The question is how long will Trump keep trying to achieve something that will allow him to claim success; and at what point will he eventually just walk away in frustration.
Would love to know your take on the role China is playing here. It seems to be a mystery why they lowered their imports and if they will continue to do so. Did the oil execs take this into account?
China is fascinating. They are a big consumer of oil (over 10 mbpd till recently) but they are becoming a bigger factor in the marketplace than OPEC, the major producer. They have built massive oil reserves of well over a billion barrels, as well as large reserves of refined products. They have a lot of refining capacity.
They built their inventories at low prices over the last few years, and then reduced buying when prices spiked due to the war. This cut imports in half, or over 5 mbpd. Which helped offset the initial price spike by reducing demand. 1-2 mbpd of those imports were going into their inventories.
They banned refined product exports so all the teapots had to shut down. This also helped reduce Chinese demand for crude by 3-4 mbpd.
So they did not have to draw down their inventories very much during this crisis.
Interestingly, they have just allowed the teapots to resume refining and export refined products again.
They also have a LOT of solar capacity.
Yes. Though that is a long term,
slow to happen measure to reduce oil consumption; not something that has a large effect on oil imports in the last few months.
Thanks!
Papa dave couple questions
1. since trump is giving such a big gift to the oil companies. Killing clean energy and such. Do you think they are shifting refining to max gas to help keep prices lower for the driver at the expense of diesel fuel who price will get somewhat hidden in the cost of food and such.
2 do you think trumps pump and dump schemes with his announcements scare other traders away and are helping keep the price down due to less middle me so to speak.
3. Also ca is losing its refineries. Since oil is priced globally do you think its a big deal or maybe the refiners in ca are running a big fear scam.
Always enjoy your insight.
“When Iran struck at ships trying to pass without paying fees”
That’s not the reason. Iran was shutting down the U.S.-orchestrated transit of vessels on Oman’s side of the Strait which was an attempt to circumvent Iranian protocol/control.
Aside from practical realities who controls the Strait, this control was implied in the MOU itself:
“Upon the signing of this MoU, the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days only from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman and vice versa.” No other country is granted rights/responsibility for Strait coordination during the 60 day window (afterwards, expect fees and Iran/Oman coordination, protocol to be determined).
Iran was shutting down the U.S.-orchestrated transit of vessels on Oman’s side of the Strait which was an attempt to circumvent Iranian protocol/control. Of course Iran is going to act upon that ! duh!
The MoU just went the way of the JCPOA: Toilet paper.
Iran will now demand even more concessions and guarantees to re-open the Strait.
Iran to the USA and all Gulf countries.
You don’t expect the United States to live up to any agreement they’ve made, do you?
It’s like watching “The Guns of August – WW3 Edition.”
Just stupidity on top of stupidity squared.
As far as Trump is concerned, as long as he personally does not suffer and the files are safe from the light of day, everything is working swimmingly.
I keep thinking we will be at a whole new level when one of these tanker’s CARGO catches fire. Particularily compressed LNG cargos. I can not fathom how massive that explosion would be.
Therefore, I think their insurance carriers will scream “STOP!!”. As the claim and risks are expoential.
What is Trump planning on doing when he can no longer draw down the SPR come about mid-August?
Blame the godless communists?
The Israelis?
The market always steps in and saves the day.
</s>
Oil prices jump 5 percent after U.S. revokes Iran oil sanctions waiver
https://thehill.com/business/5957965-oil-prices-jump-5-percent-after-u-s-revokes-iran-oil-sanctions-waiver/
On this Blog, people determined that Fees were not Tolls. To continue the silly semantics game the US is not dropping bombs, but instead let’s call them “Dice”.
And the 168 murdered 12 year old girls in Minab were an “accident”.
and the 40000 protesters that were killed aren’t “people” but instead “Puppets”.
“40,000”. 100% pure Zio-American bullshit. There were about 3,100 people killed in the January melee. About 300 of them were police. Mike Pompeo admitted that Mossad assets were among the instigators, and both Pompeo and Trump admitted that the instigators had been armed by the US and Israel. The Zio-Americans also snuck in thousands of Starlink terminals to help the coup plotters coordinate after the government shut down the internet. Unfortunately for the instigators, the Iranian government broke the Starlink encryption and found most of the terminals. It was yet another typical American attempt at “regime change” or “color revolution” – which they’ve been doing for decades in many countries. Then they feed their propaganda (like “40,000”) to the NYT, CNN and WaPo and people like you lap it up.
So the Islamic propaganda machine is calling the 40000 dead “puppets” — got it.
What are you, Sean Hannity?
Once we recognize the troll behavior, the best move is to not feed them.
Blue Oyster Cult was saying 40,000 everyday a half century ago.
You KNOW so much! What are your sources? IRGC radio? 🤣
I watched the American media laughably and shamelessly inflate the death toll. What started as 5,000 turned to 10,000, then 50,000 within a couple days. Surprised they didn’t say 50 million. The narrative builders do like their round numbers. 1,200 or 6,000,000, for example.
40000? More like 40 billion! The press lies!
A statistic even. Definitely not a tragedy. (Sarc)
“You’ll never grow up to be a big rock star/Celebrated victim of your fame/They’ll just cut our wrists like cheap coupons/And say that death was on sale today
And when we were good you just closed your eyes/So when we are bad we’ll scar your minds/But I’m not a slave to a God that doesn’t exist/And I’m not a slave to a world that doesn’t give a shit
The death of one is a tragedy/The death of one is a tragedy/The death of one is a tragedy/The death of millions’ just a statistic…
Fight, fight, fight, fight…”
https://youtu.be/Ru9tmuVN1ns
I’m still hung up on the idea that wookies live on Endor…
Anywhere there’s an unsupervised green space near town, you get wooks.
“ On this Blog, people determined that Fees were not Tolls.”
Nope. It’s Iran that is talking about fees (which would be legal) vs tolls (not legal). The folks here merely discuss what Iran is saying. No one here gave Iran the idea.
“ To continue the silly semantics game the US is not dropping bombs, but instead let’s call them “Dice”.”
Actually, it’s Trump who called bombs “love taps”. Yes, that is silly.
No one here gave him that idea either.
You should read the OP and the comments. Yes, people here did say fees were not tolls.
Of course people here said that. AFTER Iran decided to use “fees” instead of “tolls”.
Now ask yourself. Why is Iran using the word “fee” instead of “toll”?
Because fee is legal and toll is illegal. There is a difference.
I said a game of semantics.
Has taco gone off script? Whatever happened to taco Tuesday? Is he doing what he can to drive stocks down so his buddies can buy cheaper and make another quick $billion or so?
Well the world economy will suffer dearly now (oil inventories anyone), but that was always the plan (destroy the other economically) – from both sides.
Agreed, the inflation risks – and range bound 10-yr – are about to breakout.
I’ve been a PM of plenty of money. (>$1.2 Bil.). If you were running a bond fund woul yu increase duration &/or take down more long bonds? Hell no! Your first objective is “live to fight another day” and screw that undefinable/volatile inflation risk. Which is how these things become “reflexive” (as Soros calls it), or self-fullfiling. When your – and others – choices of allocating capital change so to does the market-clearing price. For bonds that’d be the interest rate.
Trump is finding out the hard way that short of a massive ground invasion requiring a minimum of several hundred thousand troops to fight in an environment that would make Afghanistan look a picnic, there is no military solution to this conflict. He will have to make serious and genuine concessions to Iran of the Strait will remain closed. The fact that he murdered the entire old guard “moderate” leadership make things even more difficult for him.
The JCPOA came to be in the first place because the US leadership at the time concluded that there was no viable military solution to the Iran issue, so they opted for the least terrible alternative possible. Today the military reality of the Gulf situation has not changed, but thanks to the current administration, the JCPOA is but toilet paper now and Iran will not agree to return to the status quo. The only realistic solution is a political settlement a lot less favorable to the US than the JCPOA was, which includes Iran’s ownership of the Strait.
It did not have to be this way, but the US electorate, US Supreme court and US congress through apathy, ineptitude and sheer negligence, allowed this shit show to happen, so now they will have to deal with the consequences.
This is America’s “Suez Canal” moment.
Maybe that’s why Leavitt was saying that Gen z and younger are lazy shiftless bums and should go to Iran or Cuba. Draft is probably going to be the suggestion for all the unemployed youths.
yep traverse any American city and one can see numerous ‘fodder’ roaming the streets
She’s probably running down the youth to make herself feel better about marrying a dinosaur.
Oh wow. Dude is 60 and she is 28. Daddy issues much? “Oh Nicholas, you really know how to fill out those Depends”. Seriously, how in the f do.you even relate to someone that much younger than you as your wife and not your daughter. Ew.
Gotta stick with the 1/2 + 7 formula.
It’s easy, so long as you don’t regard women as human beings.
The politician’s and their kids should get drafted first. And lead from the front.
“…there is no military solution to this conflict.”
There is the solution of bringing the thousands troops and hundred billion worth of equipment back home to the hemisphere we actually live in. And mind our own business. Nothing would bring peace to the Middle East quicker.
That is a political solution.
Yes, but how would Lockheed-Martin shareholders look themselves in the eye every morning, no sweet dividend checks?