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Posted on 03/13/2026 9:08:51 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
President Donald Trump announced "major combat operations" against Iran on Feb. 28, with massive joint U.S.-Israel strikes attack targeting military and government sites, officials said.
Iranian state television confirmed that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was among those killed in Tehran on the first day of strikes. His son Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen on Sunday to succeed him.
Iran is responding to the operation with missile and drone attacks targeting Israel, regional U.S. bases and multiple Gulf nations. Israel is also intensifying its long-running strike campaign against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.com ...
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Is ABC a bit behind?
I’m still trying to figure out why it took FOUR people to write this.
Must be a union shop.
Meanwhile, some news about the Strait of Hormuz...
Bart Earnshaw
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Follow
March 11 at 5:16 PM
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OIL PRICES HAVE DROPPED — AND ONE OF MY FOLLOWERS THINKS THEY KNOW WHY
One of the people following this page sent me something interesting today.
Their argument was simple:
Oil prices are falling because Saudi Arabia has started bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
Instead of shipping oil out of the Persian Gulf, Saudi Aramco is pushing crude through the East-West Pipeline across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
That allows tankers to load oil without passing through Hormuz at all.
Now that’s actually a very good observation.
Because when markets realised oil could still move — even if Hormuz becomes dangerous — a lot of the panic premium in oil prices disappeared.
But here’s the important point.
That isn’t the whole story.
Oil markets move on expectations and fear, not just physical supply.
When traders thought the Strait of Hormuz might close, prices exploded.
Why?
Because roughly 20% of the world’s oil passes through that narrow waterway.
If it shuts, the world panics.
But then a few things happened.
Saudi Arabia showed it could reroute millions of barrels a day through Yanbu.
The UAE began moving more exports through Fujairah.
Naval escorts for tankers started being discussed.
And suddenly the market realised something important.
Hormuz might become dangerous…
but it might not become closed.
And when that fear fades — oil prices drop just as quickly as they rose.
There’s another factor too.
A lot of oil trading is speculation, not physical oil.
When traders pile into panic bets and the worst-case scenario doesn’t happen…
they unwind those positions fast.
Prices fall.
So yes — the Saudi pipeline bypass is part of the reason oil has eased.
But it’s also about psychology, geopolitics, and traders realising the world might not be running out of oil tomorrow morning.
Which raises a bigger question.
If the Strait of Hormuz can be partially bypassed…
does Iran actually have as much leverage over the global oil market as everyone assumes?
We will see……..
I fear the Persians aren’t up to throwing off the yoke of the IRGC.
So, we ought to starve the IRGC.
This means NO OIL REVENUE FOR IRAN.
This is simple to achieve, by interdicting tankers to or from Iran, or bombing the pumps to Kargh Island. Easy to do. Tough consequences.
Is the world willing to live without Iranian oil supply and the resulting higher prices for gas in order not to be nuked? Because with any possible cash, Iran will surely only race for nukes on Tel Aviv and New York.
Tough choice! I favor interdiction until complete surrender.
What say others?
We're not giving them weapons.
So, we ought to starve the IRGC.
The Persians would then starve first. He who has the guns makes the rules.
The Persians ought to rise up. The alternative is to suffer the same fate that is meted out to the IRGC.
I recommend revolution.
But I fear cowardice.
A Marine MEU can take and hold a piece of Iran for 30 days without help.
The LHA is also often the platform of choice for Special Operators.
Most reasonable.
“does Iran actually have as much leverage over the global oil market as everyone assumes?”
China is currently dependent on Iran. No other significant user of oil is dependent. Figure that into geo-politics.
The Iranian regular Army is in no mood to fight.
No food, no water, about 20 rounds each. They’ve been fighting the IRGC.
Massive AWOL issue and a reserve call up was a total failure.
“What say others?”
I say people need to stop expecting everything they want to happen immediately with no price. Not attacking you, just saying in general that patience is what we need. None of us have the information the military does. I trust them to be victorious, despite the media hope that the enemy will win.
We’re at war, and we have to temporarily pay more for gas. That’s our contribution, and I’m glad to make it. It’s nothing compared to combat/being shelled and the least I can do for our men and women in harm’s way!
great, tell our enemies.
Thanks.
They need an Iranian version of “Operation Valkyrie”
The cost just over two bucks apiece. We gave them to the French Resistance in WWII, why not the Zoroastrian Persians? It's in the finest American traditions of armed citizenry and self-government. I think they're smart enough to appreciate it properly.
> I’m still trying to figure out why it took FOUR people to write this. <
Probably to include one LGBTQ person, one person of color, one straight yet radical feminist, and one communist.
As a side note, I recall reading an MSN article that had seven authors. And it wasn’t some deep investigative story. It was about something mundane, like a stock market data report.
To water their lawns?
I’ve often wondered that about articles with even two writers attributed to them.
👍👍
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