If this isn’t “control” what is it?
US Limits Time Slots For Tankers Sailing Through Hormuz
gCaptain reports US Limits Air Defense Time Slots For Tankers Sailing Through Hormuz
The U.S. has asked tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz to sail only at specific times to guarantee military protection after Iran stepped up attacks on ships traveling at night, the Financial Times reported on Saturday.
Washington has been offering air-based defense since May to ships wanting to sail via a route hugging the Omani coast on the strait’s southern side.
That period during which ships would be protected was cut down to two specific time slots daily around the start of September, the FT reported, citing emails sent by the U.S. naval co-ordination center to maritime advisers.
About That Protection
The Hill reports US destroys 5 Iranian tankers, Iran retaliates targeting 10 ships near Strait of Hormuz
Iran said Wednesday that it targeted 10 ships near the Strait of Hormuz, including two U.S. vessels and eight oil tankers, after the U.S. military attacked and destroyed five Iranian oil tankers Tuesday.
Today’s Trumpian Nonsense
Truth Social: The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage – The concept of which we are open to. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Sep 14, 2026, 9:32 AM
Today’s Trumpian Nonsense Translated
- Trump is again desperate for a deal.
- The oil markets ignored Trump.
- Crude, gasoline and diesel prices are all up today.
- Gasoline and diesel prices will be up again tomorrow.
Trump’s ‘Little War’ With Iran Just Got a Lot Bigger
Bloomberg comments Trump’s ‘Little War’ With Iran Just Got a Lot Bigger
It is an unintended feature of President Donald Trump’s Plan B for defeating Iran — economic strangulation — that the more successful the policy becomes, the more risk the men who run the Islamic Republic are willing to accept to fight it. Judged on that metric, the American blockade and sanctions are working, but they’re also raising the stakes beyond what the US is willing to pay.
This begs the question of how long and disruptive the showdown with Iran is going to be, now that the US president has said he expects it to continue through the November midterms. At that point, Trump believes it will stop quickly, because the Iranians will no longer have the elections as leverage, implying that they’d then be ready to make a deal. That’s optimistic.
According to a Sept. 9 report in the Wall Street Journal, some of Trump’s most senior advisers (the same ones who advised against going to war in February) told him the conflict may outlast his presidency. They’re probably right and I hope they went a step further, warning him that it’s also likely to expand. His “little war” aimed at regime change in Iran is fast becoming a struggle to determine the future of the wider Middle East and the US role in it.
In truth, everybody is guessing at many of the factors that will decide this issue. We don’t know, for example, how many missiles or launchers the Iranians still have, nor what capacity they have to build new ones or how many they might be able to get elsewhere. We can’t be certain what will happen in energy markets, what political pressure will be brought to bear on Trump or what domestic unrest might unfold in Iran.
Nevertheless, it’s clear that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is capable of escalating the conflict in ways it previously avoided.
Another gun that long sat over the conflict’s Chekhovian fireplace was the potential for Tehran to get its Houthi allies in Yemen to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. This waterway controls traffic in and out of the Red Sea, which is where Saudi Arabia has been diverting about 5 million barrels of crude a day — oil that would normally exit the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz. Disrupting this alternate route would amplify the effects of Iran’s blockage in Hormuz and could have a significant impact on the global trade costs and inflation.
The Houthis — reportedly aided by IRGC guidance and Iranian promises of money and arms — have now taken that gun off the wall. Last week, they fired multiple missiles into Saudi Arabia, wounding more than 70 people, while the group’s land forces captured the port city of Mokha and, reportedly, several nearby islands. This could prove a huge win, both for the Houthis and Tehran, providing the potential to place Houthi missile launchers and fast boats less than 50 miles from the narrows that create Bab el-Mandeb.
These territorial gains, if consolidated, could prove enough to give the Houthis the kind of permanent control over the strait that the Iranians are now demanding over Hormuz.
According to Axios, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Mohammed Bin Salman called Trump twice last week, asking him to order US air strikes on Houthi positions. The answer was no — Trump is understandably reluctant to open a second front in the war. But it’s too late for that. Houthi control of Bab el-Mandeb would join the two fronts into one, and the capture of Mokha has put that within reach. At the weekend, drones fired from Iraq — likely by an Iran-backed militia — struck the East-West pipeline that transports Saudi oil to the Red Sea, forcing its closure and prompting a further spike in crude prices.
Trump may not recognize what a turning point this could be. Saudi Arabia will have a choice: Either fight the Houthis — which would require the involvement of the US or some other military power — or cut a deal with them. The latter would likely also require detente with Iran and mean significant changes to the balance of power in the gulf and on the Arabian Peninsula.
The Balance of Power
The balance of power in the Mideast has already shifted, away from the US.
And it’s shifted on trade as well.
The tighter the grip Trump tries to maintain with threats, the more nations are willing to stand up to him.
The US is now proven incapable of protecting allies, many of whom are now wondering if Trump is a reliable ally.
Hint: He’s not, with huge ongoing implications.
Iran’s rope-a-dope strategy working perfectly
EIA’s declining diesel-crack path assumes a return-to-normal tanker traffic in the near term, and its model inputs were finalized Sept 3, before the current escalation. $90 Brent versus $108 spot is that assumption failing in real time.
Controlling the straits? No, a con is trolling the straits!
This is slowly evolving into a land conflict, the beginning of WW3.
If I had a buck every time a geriatric predicted a completely played bog standard conflict would somehow become WW3 I’d be loaded. I think it says a lot about the self-importance of Americans that they think any time they get kicked in the shin is the end of the world for everyone everywhere.
Not WW3, but the end of the US as a relevant and decisive ally
The orange menace just keeps digging the hole deeper…
He also looks awful, he can’t be physically healthy-his body is following his mind
He knows it won’t be long till he’s screaming in hell with his daddy.
Ansarallah is over there making radar jamming equipment with Claude. Banu Hashish is pledging their support as well. Ya Haya Mujadeen I guess with many more on the way.
a masterful gambit sirs!!!
Oedipus Rex was told by the Oracle at Delphi that he would kill his father and marry his mother, which he unwittingly ended up doing.
Oedipus Trump was told by Benjamin Netanyahu that he would attack Iran and marry the US with Israel, which he is doing, along with causing immense damage to the American and possibly world economies. Not to mention child molestation on Epstein Island.
The Greek tragedy has now become the American tragedy.
Ah, that must be why the market is rallying off its lows today?
Winter is coming….
Winter: escalatory for price, ambiguous for the conflict. It squeezes the consuming bloc through prices and the Iranian regime through hardship, so “winter forces a deal” and “winter forces escalation” are both defensible and neither is a safe bet. A warm winter for North America and/or (especially) Europe reduces tail risk.
Lies like a toddler…. An embarrassment to humanity.
From article…The US is now proven incapable of protecting allies, many of whom are now wondering if Trump is a reliable ally. But Mish there is one Country that keeps Trump protecting it and seems to heavily influence American military policy. What has Israel decided for Trump to order the American Military to do next with Iran?
The “air support” must be costing the US a huge amount.
Will Trump give us an estimate of how long we will offer this service?
If traffic through the Suez starts to slow it won’t be long before Egypt gets involved.
Egypt wants to get blown to bits too?
Safe passage? More like a suicide run with this outfit. Lol. And I thought we won this war for the 45th time already and Iran was totally decimated and broke yet somehow time slots are needed. What’s going on?
Who’s going to fill the belly of all those poor thirsty F150’s in America.
Got EV? Lol. If not, China is opening up BYD dealerships all over the place except America. Sorry suckers and losers, you pay to fill up those F150s and SUVs.
Do worry, Trump, Walrus, GOP, and democrats will find a way to make things even worse.™
How will they be able to drive to Steak & Shake for the MAHA Bullsh*t Meal?
Looking forward to America finally having to let BYD in and having it take over from the 100k a pop domestic monster truck trash they’ve been hawking for boomers and brainlets.