The months ahead are shaping up to be a time of war, economic problems, food shortages and global chaos. There is no end in sight for the war in the Middle East or the war with Russia.
Meanwhile, global energy supplies and global food supplies both continue to get even tighter. We desperately need some sort of a diplomatic miracle, but talks with the Iranians have totally broken down and tensions between the Russians and our allies in Europe are higher than ever.
Our deteriorating economy is the number one political issue in the U.S. during this election season, but the economic pain that we have experienced so far will be absolutely dwarfed by what is ahead.
On Thursday, it was being reported that the U.S. has decided to deploy a third aircraft carrier and a second Marine division to the Middle East…
The Trump administration has decided to deploy a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East, along with a second Marine division, a US official told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt and an additional division of US Marines will deploy to US Central Command’s area of operations.
The move means that, until the US midterm elections, US President Donald Trump will have significantly greater military capabilities and a wider range of options for potential action against Iran.
Many were hoping that an end to the war was near.
These moves are an indication that a major escalation could be coming.
The Iranians have not backed down and they are not going to back down.
On Tuesday, they attacked three more commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz…
Three vessels reported being struck on Tuesday, September 29, in the area around the Strait of Hormuz as Iran appears to be lashing out to demonstrate that it is still threatening vessels. While it brings the total number of vessels struck to four so far this week, observers point to increasing oil flows and vessel traffic in the region.
UK Maritime Trade Operations reported the incidents, although few details were provided. It said that the information had come from verified sources but was delayed in being transmitted. It was unclear when the strikes took place. It identified all three incidents as involving tankers without details on the extent of the damage, while an unconfirmed report said one of the vessels was an LNG carrier.
Two of the vessels were identified in the tracking by the International Maritime Organization, with both being crude oil tankers flying the Liberian flag and sustaining damage. One VLCC, the Mersin Prosperity (299,319 dwt), is operated by ADNOC. The other tanker appeared to be a smaller vessel, possibly involved in the shuttle operations that have arisen to get oil from the Gulf states to tankers waiting south of the Strait in the Arabian Sea. This tanker was identified as Sinbad (115,949 dwt), and it was last reported at Fujairah. Both tankers appeared to be making the transit dark.
We have been able to get some oil through the Strait of Hormuz in recent weeks.
But not nearly enough.
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It would be wonderful if the Iranians were willing to make a reasonable deal, but they just aren’t budging.
In fact, talks with the Iranians went so poorly when Iranian officials came to New York that Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered them to leave early…
After little progress was made in weekend meetings between Iranian and Qatari mediators, Rubio lost patience and told the Iranians on Monday that Araghchi and his delegation had to leave New York immediately, according to the two officials, who were familiar with the decision and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an internal administration process.
Rubio, according to one official, determined that the Iranians had “overstayed their welcome” and that since the high-level meetings at the U.N. were over, they should leave.
Ararghchi and his team departed New York very early Tuesday.
What this means is that the global energy crisis is going to continue to get worse.
Earlier today, we learned that the Chinese “have suspended exports of oil products to regions beyond Hong Kong and Macau until further notice”…
Chinese refiners have suspended exports of oil products to regions beyond Hong Kong and Macau until further notice from Beijing, four people briefed on the matter said on Thursday.
As China looks to safeguard domestic supplies, state oil major PetroChina cancelled on Wednesday a handful of its gasoline and jet fuel shipments that were planned for October, three of the sources said.
This pushed the price of Brent crude above 101 dollars a barrel and the price of U.S. crude above 92 dollars a barrel.
