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Posted on 03/14/2026 10:55:39 AM PDT by rlmorel
Thanks to the U.S. president’s keen political acumen, the Islamic Republic has lost a key point of leverage.
What makes this attack so shocking is not just the target; it is who got targeted. Oman is the Gulf state closest to Iran politically, and it has long served as the main mediator between Iran and the West. Yet Tehran still went after its oil infrastructure...
...Iran’s message is clear: No oil infrastructure in the Gulf is off limits. And this is not new behavior. Iran has previously targeted oil production even in countries that are not openly hostile.
Saudi Arabia, for example, signed a Chinese-mediated détente with Iran roughly four years ago. Yet key energy sites have still been hit or targeted. These include the Ras Tanura refinery and export terminal, one of the largest oil export hubs on Earth and a critical gateway for Saudi crude, as well as the Berri oil field. This important producing field feeds the eastern Saudi export infrastructure...
...Iran has also threatened shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow maritime corridor through which roughly one fifth of the world’s oil supply moves every day...
...Iran appears to be trying to undermine Gulf oil production and disrupt global oil shipping, especially through the Strait of Hormuz. The objective is obvious: Push oil prices higher, send economic shockwaves across Europe and global markets, and pressure the United States to back off the war...
...Iran exports much of its oil to China, and Beijing is widely seen as Iran’s main geopolitical backer. The thinking went that China would never let Iran disrupt global oil flows. But China has massive strategic oil reserves — enough to keep its economy running during a crisis like this...
Yet the strategy is not working.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
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This article contains an analysis based on the current functionality of the oil market, one in which the US as an oil exporter, and a market in which there is far more room for variability due to oil reserves in many places in many countries that act as a buffer.
The main weapon Iran possesses is fear, not an actual shortage of oil in the short term.
“Those who keep amplifying fears about imminent oil shortages and runaway prices are therefore objectively aiding the Iranian regime’s strategy.”
The media, democrats, etc.
Importer/exporter.
“The media, democrats, etc.”
And some here.
Every other month there is a "new oil discovery" announcement.
We have only drilled a few miles into the Earth. There are hundreds of years of hydrocarbons beneath our feet. All it takes is the will.
I had to turn off Steve Bannon this morning as he gravely warned again of the war metastasizing, spreading, and leaving the United States with no off ramp — because the Iranians will not give up.
Now that is strange. It seems to me that Iran is the one looking for an off ramp at this particular time. It is like Mike Tyson looking for an off ramp out of a fight just after he has sent his opponent, knocked senseless, to the canvas.
Bannon also was interviewing some guy who had rummaged through the Old Testament and located an obscure prophecy that pulled Iran 2500 years out into the future as worthy of mention.
“Saudi Arabia, for example, signed a Chinese-mediated détente with Iran roughly four years ago. Yet key energy sites have still been hit or targeted.”
This Chinese mediated agreement held until the Saudis participated in the attack on them. This article acts puzzled as to why Iran attacked the Saudi fields and acts like they broke the detente.
If the planes use your bases and airspace to launch a sneak attack under a flag of negotiations, you ought to expect retaliation.
Little mention of Tump reducing sanctions on Russia’s massive oil supplies. Smart guy Trump, reducing Russian sanctions increases world supply,...keeps global gas price down while slightly reducing the $$$ billions Vlad makes on higher oil prices.
Helps out our EU blockheads who blew up their own cheap energy Nordstream pipeline from Russia....whose manufacturing has tanked from high energy...
Win win for all...but the best win is fully opening up Trade and Commerce with Russia which will reduce our commodities sky rocketing prices.Russia has much the West needs.
Events are pointing to easing Sanctions on Russia permanently, as should be.
Baloney.... runaway prices matter more than anything. THAT spike about this time of year was what sparked the 2008 collapse.
And high prices and the resulting economic stagnation WILL lose us the midterms.
Then we will move from a government that doesn’t really care about America, into a government that utterly despises the American people.
NOTHING in the middle east is more critical than these midterms. We lose them and we will soon be looking at Trump’s impeachment. They take him down we get a Democrat pres in 2028 and that’s the end. That is when we get 30 or 40 million illegals made into legal voters. And that will be that.
At that point we will look back in anguish at Trump’s fiddle farting around with Iran for Israel, capturing Maduro, etc and covering up the Epstein scandal. Such a wasted opportunity.
SPR is currently only about 57% full. 415.4 million barrels/ 726 million barrels total capacity. After Trump’s release of 172 million barrels, our SPR will only be 33.5% full.
“At that point we will look back in anguish at Trump’s fiddle farting around with Iran for Israel, capturing Maduro, etc and covering up the Epstein scandal. Such a wasted opportunity.”
Nice anti-Trump rubbish but it indicates you do not grasp what 8s happing.
“THAT spike about this time of year was what sparked the 2008 collapse.”
Nope.
The causes included excessive speculation on property values by both homeowners and financial institutions, leading to the 2000s United States housing bubble. This was exacerbated by predatory lending for subprime mortgages and by deficiencies in regulation. Cash out refinancings had fueled an increase in consumption that could no longer be sustained when home prices declined. The first phase of the crisis was the subprime mortgage crisis, which began in early 2007, as mortgage-backed securities (MBS) tied to U.S. real estate, and a vast web of derivatives linked to those MBS, collapsed in value. A liquidity crisis spread to global institutions by mid-2007 and climaxed with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, which triggered a stock market crash and bank runs in several countries.
Wiki
Thank you. Some people just talk out of their heinies.
i’m a BIG supporter of what President Trump is doing in Iran, but this article reads like some kind of rah-rah cheer-leading article that is very incorrect on some of its major points:
1. First, Venezuelan “oil” is literally sludge that has to be diluted with imported naptha in order to pump it, pipe it and load it on boats, and said “oil” requires specialized refineries to process. Standard refineries can not refine Venezuelan “oil”.
Second, Venezuelan production, piping and loading infrastructure has decayed into sludge itself from decades of neglect and theft. Just a few weeks ago, President Trump was touting billions of investment by private companies into the Venezuelan oil infrastructure, but there were no takers, so it’s not possible for Venezuela to suddenly make up huge Mideast oil deficits on the global markets.
2. No country, including the USA, has sent their navy into the Persian Gulf as tanker “escorts”, and the USA-guaranteed insurance hasn’t yet got off the ground. As it turns out, the USA is subbing out said insurance to Chubb, and that’s not going yet, and even if it does, that doesn’t mean actual tankers crews will be willing the risk their lives for a few bucks.
3. Bottom line, at this time, only Iran-approved boats are transiting the Strait of Hormuz ... period ...
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