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he U.S. Navy is sending the supercarrier USS Nimitz and the rest of its strike group to the Middle East amid a new buildup of forces in the region ostensibly for defensive purposes, U.S. officials have told TWZ. Overnight, dozens of U.S. Air Force KC-135R and KC-46A tankers had already been tracked heading east over the Atlantic Ocean. That has prompted speculation about the potential start of a major contingency operation, possibly around a shift in U.S. policy toward the ongoing Israel-Iran war, as you can read about in more detail here.U.S. air, naval, and ground forces have already been...

Around 30 KC-135 and KC-46 tankers departed the U.S. headed to Europe, but their final destination is unknown. In the night between June 15 and 16, 2025, multiple U.S. Air Force KC-135 and KC-46 aerial refueling aircraft departed their bases in the United States headed to Europe. The sudden and unusual movement was quickly noticed on flight tracking websites, when about 30 tankers were first spotted headed towards the Atlantic Ocean and later arriving in Europe. Most of these aircraft landed this morning at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and at Morón Air Base and NAS Rota in Spain, while...

Source: Unleashed.news If China secures the CopiaPort-E project, it would turbocharge Beijing’s trade in South America—not only enabling CHINAMAX megaships, but allowing all shipping to completely bypass U.S.-controlled chokepoints and dominate hemispheric commerce virtually overnight. A geopolitical storm is brewing on the western edge of South America—and the United States cannot afford to look away. At the heart of it all lies a deep-water mega-port project in Chile’s Atacama Desert: CopiaPort-E, a port so naturally engineered by geography itself that it could become either America’s greatest commercial and strategic opportunity, or China’s most dangerous economic beachhead south of our border....

The United States Air Force (USAF) has confirmed it will pull out of three UK airbases. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Americans will leave RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and RAF Alconbury and RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire. The move is part of a programme to save £320m ($500m) a year across Europe. The USAF lease the RAF bases. Mr Hagel said he understood it would mean job losses and thanked those who had supported the US Air Force. "I know that this will result in a reduction of our local host nations workforces at some locations; I value the...

A US destroyer intercepted a hijacked Israeli-managed oil tanker in the Gulf of Aden earlier today, freed the crew, and took the Houthi pirates into custody. My colleague Jeff Charles covered the piracy in this post, High Seas Drama: Another Israeli Tanker Seized by Unidentified Attackers Near Yemen.Shortly after dawn local time, the Central Park, a small Liberian-flagged oil and chemical tanker managed by an Israeli company registered in London, sent a distress call saying it was being boarded by armed men. The USS Mason, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, was operating in the area. According to reports, the Mason directed...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday approved the deployment of the USS Bataan amphibious readiness group and the 26th Marine Expeditional Unit to the Gulf region, according to US officials. The readiness group consists of three ships, including the Bataan, an amphibious assault ship. An expeditional unit usually consists of about 2,500 Marines. In an announcement, US Central Command said the deployment will provide "even greater flexibility and maritime capability in the region.” The announcement did not name the ships, but US officials detailed the units involved in the deployment on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements. Along with...

The U.S. Navy deterred Iranian forces from seizing two commercial tankers on Wednesday in separate incidents. First, at about 1 a.m. local time, an Iranian navy vessel approached the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker TRF Moss in international waters in the Gulf of Oman. It departed when the U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyer USS McFaul arrived at the scene, the U.S. 5th Fleet announced on Wednesday. Approximately three hours later, another Iranian vessel began harassing the Bahamian-flagged oil tanker Richmond Voyager in international waters roughly 20 miles off the coast of Muscat, Oman. It opened fire with both small arms and crew-served...

NEW - Iran seizes second oil tanker in a week — US Navy(Navy Video Of It In Link Below)https://twitter.com/disclosetv/status/1653709518247698437

Shipping companies have snapped up dozens of secondhand oil tankers this year, paying record prices for ice-class ships that can navigate frozen seas around Russia’s Baltic ports in winter. A driving force behind the purchases, say people familiar with the deals: To get Russian oil to market after the harshest sanctions to date strike Russia’s energy industry next week. The frenzy in a quiet corner of the shipping market is splitting the tanker industry in two. One part deals with Western oil companies, banks and insurers. The other, known informally in the industry as the “shadow fleet,” doesn’t, allowing it...

Thirteen tankers at heart of new ship-to-ship transhipment hub established mid-Atlantic to consolidate Russia-origin oil cargoes ... Evolving marine transport model seeks tankers to operate outside established markets, yet remain compliant with class, insurance and other regulatory and technical rules ... MYSTERY surrounds the identity of a China-based shipowner who has spent around $376m to acquire 13 tankers for deployment in high-risk, ship-to-ship transfers of Russia-origin crude in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Lloyd’s List has tracked five aframax tankers, seven very large crude carriers and one suezmax vessel to the anonymous buyer, via 20 separate but interconnected single-ship...

At a time when the mere thought of Russian vodka or caviar, let alone oil or gas, prompts uncontrollable shaking and revulsion, Reuters reports that no less than 12 tankers carrying Russia-linked cargoes of crude and refined products were approaching the United States on Wednesday, as suppliers rushed to deliver ahead of the U.S. government’s deadline to wind down Russian energy purchases, data from traders and Refinitiv Eikon showed. While the US recently banned Russian energy product imports due to the invasion of Ukraine, Washington’s ban gives importers a 45-day window until April 22 to discharge cargoes moving under pre-ban...

An unmanned tanker drone successfully refueled a fighter jet in mid-air during a test flight on Friday. The impressive feat, which involved a Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet, demonstrated the significant potential of unmanned tanker drones and could mark the beginning of the end for traditional piloted tanker aircraft. During the test flight, the drone - a Boeing-built device named MQ-25 Stingray - maintained its altitude and speed as the hose extended and the two aircraft briefly linked up to exchange fuel. The test was carried out from the MidAmerica St. Louis Airport in Mascoutah, Illinois. In total, 325lbs of fuel...

It appears both Iran and Venezuela are ready and willing to test the outgoing Trump administration in a major gambit to skirt sanctions in a crude and fuel export scheme. The daily American military newspaper Stars & Stripes alongside Bloomberg reports this weekend that Iran “is sending its biggest fleet yet of tankers to Venezuela in defiance of U.S. sanctions to help the isolated nation weather a crippling fuel shortage,” based on sources familiar with their movements. “Some of the flotilla of about 10 Iranian vessels will also help export Venezuelan crude after discharging fuel, the people said, asking not...

By as early as the evening on Saturday or Sunday morning it's expected that the first among the five Iranian tankers transporting fuel to gasoline-starved Venezuela will enter the Latin American country's coastal waters. Maduro officials have issued an emergency notice to the United Nations of an illegal "threat of imminent use of military force by the United States." And with Washington threatening to block what it deems "sanctions-busting" by two "rogue states" - both under severe sanctions - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has issued his own last minute warning. Today we alerted the UN Security Council and Secretary General...

Here's a pretty dramatic shot of a whooole lotta oil parked off the coast of Southern California.

Iran is slowly taking off its gloves and has dropped its mask in the widening confrontation with Western countries and Israel. After the United Kingdom (UK) seized an Iranian tanker with oil bound for Syria on July 4, the Iranians embarked on a piracy campaign against British and other vessels in the Persian Gulf. The tanker, Grace 1, was carrying 2.1 million barrels of oil when it was detained by British Marines and will stay in Gibraltar for another month, a court in the British colony decided last Friday. Iran called the British action an “act of piracy” and again...

Can our drones take videos? Do we know how our Government got a video of an Iranian ship rescuing the sticky bomb that didn’t blow up on the tanker?

U.S. officials have told Fox News that the crew of one of the two stricken oil tankers damaged outside the Persian Gulf were detained by the Iranians Thursday after first being rescued by another merchant vessel. The crew of the Front Altair was first rescued by the Hyundai Dubai, according to U.S. officials, but Iranian gunboats quickly surrounded the ship and demanded the crew be turned over. The captain ultimately relented and ordered his crew to surrender. The 23 crew members are now being held in Iran. It’s not immediately clear what the next steps are. Pictures and footage from...

U.S. Secretary of STate Mike Pompeo has blamed Iran for the "blatant assault" on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman earlier on Thursday. In a press conference Thursday afternoon, Pompeo said Iran is working to disrupt the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz and are a deliberate part of a campaign to escalate tension. His comments came shortly after a senior U.S. defense official told Fox News that it saw an unexploded mine attached to the hull of the Panama-listed, Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous ship, one of the two ships attacked. It is the same type of mine...