Posted on 09/16/2026 7:58:56 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
As Iran and its allies tightened their grip on shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf, Saudi Arabia scrambled this week to reroute millions of barrels of oil after being forced to close a critical pipeline damaged in an attack.
The shutdown of the East-West pipeline risks keeping 4 percent of the world’s oil supply from reaching international markets and driving energy prices even higher.
Saudi Arabia on Friday said it had temporarily shut the pipeline after it was struck by an Iran-backed militia. The pipeline, a 750-mile network that transports crude across Saudi Arabia to ports on the Red Sea, had been the kingdom’s primary way of exporting oil since the war in Iran began in February.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia and the Houthi militia in Yemen exchanged fresh claims of attacks on one another. In what would be a sharp escalation in their fighting, the Houthis said they had downed a Saudi fighter jet, as Saudi Arabia said the Houthis fired a drone near the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
The Houthis last week gained control of a strategic Red Sea port and hit energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, exacerbating the squeeze on Saudi oil exports.
Now, Saudi Arabia, running out of options and under pressure to rapidly restore supply lines, is facing the prospect of a severe energy crisis with global implications, analysts said.
“It is unprecedented,” said Amena Bakr, head of Middle East & OPEC+ Insights at Kpler, a maritime data firm.
“We have two major waterways obstructed, active attacks, Iran escalating attacks, proxies being active and no signs of diplomatic talks,” Ms. Bakr said. “It’s a disastrous situation when you’re looking at it from an energy security...”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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The New York Times cheering for Iran, as usual.
Lots of chicken little stuff...
The Saudis will have the pipeline patched and back up within a week...
And the war will be over in a few weeks eight months ago.
And the Iranian proxies can hit it again and again.
Saudi oil refinery in Yanbu is on the verge of a collapse by Ansarallah missiles
Nevertheless underscores two critical realities: 1) The 9/11 Saudis despite enormous wealth and a huge arsenal of the latest weaponery cannot defeat or control the Houthis in adjacent Yemen. 2) Despite the US military and intelligence services observing for four years in Ukraine the evolution and devastation of modern drone warfare, America went to war without having or deploying an effective anti drone technology. It is clear that Chinese engineers have developed very sophisticated drones and they have been very effectively deployed by the mullah regime. The Iranians have been able to stop free passage through the Strait of Hormuz, attack American bases throughout the Mideast, and with their surrogates have successfuly interfered with the world’s energy supplies. The result has been rising prices, inflation and political disaster for the Trump Administration. It will be bitterly ironic if the battered but defiant mullah regime survives, but thanks to the political realities, the Trump administration is superceded by lunatic, America hating Democrats.
Asymmetric wars are a biotch.
The lunatics are in cahoots with Iran and the CCP.
A couple even went to the Ayatoilet’s funeral.
I have been told by my betters in this thread that it is no big deal at all and the Saudis are a great country and will have it as good as new in no time.
Probably won’t be as pretty as it was before but they can probably make it work. Too bad we don’t have the Antonov 224 but there is still the 124 to tote heavy and large loads. Finding pumps on short notice is the challenge of course. Parts will come from all over the world. It is amazing what can be found when you are willing to compromise and know the right people to ask and places to look.
Funny. The report I heard today is that it was nearly repaired. Of course, the NYT wouldn’t want to give a positive report that might help Trump.
On the other hand, Trump has now said the Iran war was over at least 47 times, but it's not.
The Saudi pipeline is about 700 miles with about a dozen pumping stations. Look how easy it was for the Houtis to shut down just one!…..and it will likely be shutdown for weeks.
It would be so much easier for a terrorist to attack any of the 12 pumping stations than to attack a moving ship—which might even have escort protection.
All this stuff was wargamed by the Pentagon and they predicted it all.
Islam was all but conquered. The science of the West had beaten it so badly it went from being a force in the World to a backwater religion of savages.
So what happened? Why has it made a come back? Oil. All that oil under their sacred ground and the West happily paid them for it.
Now they could buy their terrorists weapons and send them all over the World!
The joke's on them now . Iran , eager to spread its evil mind virus over all the Earth, is destroying the one thing that brought Islam back, oil money. In the meanwhile the World still needs oil and now it is buying it from America. Iran is making its worst enemy richer! Like I say. The Joke's on them.
Time for the Saudis to put some of the weaponry they bought from us to use - and time for the TDS Trolls here to STFU.
“And the Iranian proxies can hit it again and again.”
A certainty. The problem with depending on pipelines is how hard they are to defend.
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