Israel currently under attack (Page 1034 of 1034)
Two IDF soldiers were lightly wounded in a clash with a Hezbollah operative near Beaufort Castle in southern Lebanon earlier today, the military announces. Troops of the Golani Brigade's Reconnaissance Unit were carrying out scans in the Beaufort area when a Hezbollah gunman hiding inside a building opened fire on them, according to the army. Two of the soldiers were lightly hurt and were taken to a hospital for treatment. The IDF says their families were notified. The soldiers returned fire and carried out artillery shelling toward the building, killing the Hezbollah gunman, according to the military. The IDF says it struck other Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon in response to the gunfire, including weapon depots and command centers. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
"But now that lifeline is disappearing. Kpler estimates that current deliveries of around a million barrels a day—which mostly go to China—could exhaust the store of Iranian oil on the water by mid-October. Payments for previously delivered cargoes would likely dry up by mid-December." Full WSJ article mentioned in X post DUBAI—Iran’s oil export revenue is drying up as a U.S. naval blockade strangles shipments from the Persian Gulf and offshore stockpiles feeding China dwindle, putting more pressure on Tehran’s battered economy. No Iranian crude has crossed the blockade since it was reinstated by the U.S. Navy in mid-July, according to ship tracker Kpler. Iran is still loading small amounts of oil onto tankers, but those barrels remain trapped inside the Gulf. Meanwhile, the volume of Iranian crude already on vessels outside the blockade—a trove that is still generating revenue for Tehran—has fallen to around 29 million barrels from around 90 million barrels in mid-July and could run out next month, according to Kpler. Gulf oil officials, who run checks to see what their customers are buying before setting the monthly price for their oil, said they have found few Iranian cargoes changing hands. Six months into the war, the oil squeeze is depriving Tehran of its main source of foreign currency as the value of the Iranian rial plunges, inflation soars and the economy slides deeper into crisis. It is also testing Washington’s bet that greater economic pain will force concessions. Gulf officials and analysts warn the tightening vise could instead provoke more Iranian retaliation. On Saturday, the U.S. struck three Iranian oil tankers after Iran launched ballistic missiles toward two Navy warships, including an aircraft carrier. “Now, much will depend on the degree of economic pain that the Iranian regime is willing to bear to achieve its military and geopolitical objectives,” said Hamad Hussain, an economist at Capital Economics. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent touted the squeeze Friday with a post on X accompanied by a “Jaws”-style graphic of a shark tearing into a chart of Iran’s falling oil exports and currency. Roughly a third of Iran’s state budget is typically funded by oil revenue. Oil sales also directly help finance the regime’s military. The U.S. Treasury says the armed forces, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, use dedicated companies and shadow-fleet networks to sell crude and supplement their budgets. Iran loaded 255,000 barrels a day on vessels inside the Gulf in August, 85% below the February-April average, Kpler data shows. Those newly loaded barrels remain trapped behind the blockade line and haven’t made their way toward buyers. The diplomatic effort to end the war that led to a memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran in mid-June, including a weekslong pause in the blockade, allowed Tehran to move substantial volumes of oil overseas for later delivery. The country is still living off the profit from those barrels. “The process of selling oil and delivering it to customers was carried out thousands of kilometers away from the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman,” Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad said Friday. But now that lifeline is disappearing. Kpler estimates that current deliveries of around a million barrels a day—which mostly go to China—could exhaust the store of Iranian oil on the water by mid-October. Payments for previously delivered cargoes would likely dry up by mid-December. Even those payments could become harder to collect. Sanctions under Washington’s new economic pressure campaign are targeting banks and other financial channels that facilitate Iranian transactions. Some Chinese buyers are turning to Saudi, Iraqi and United Arab Emirates crude, Gulf energy officials said. In some cases, Iranian oil now costs refiners more than competing supplies due to its relative scarcity, they said. Iraq has offered discounts of nearly $30 a barrel on some grades. Brent crude was trading at around $97 a barrel Monday. The blockade is also forcing Iran to cut some production. Oil stockpiles haven’t risen much, suggesting Iran has brought its output down closer to what it needs at home, said Homayoun Falakshahi, head of crude-oil analysis at Kpler. That suggests the scenario analysts predicted during the initial blockade this spring—that Iran would have to pare back output to keep its backed-up oil from hitting the “tank tops” of available storage—is playing out. Overland routes offer little relief. It is only possible to move small amounts of oil by truck or rail compared with seaborne exports and Iran mostly lacks wagons designed for crude or refined products. Iran could move no more than 40,000 barrels a day via trucks, a sliver of its prewar exports of close to 2 million barrels a day, Falakshahi said. The pressure extends to petrochemicals. The sector, Iran’s second-largest source of foreign-currency earnings after oil, also depends heavily on seaborne exports. By August, loadings had fallen by about two-thirds from early 2026, Kpler estimates. By contrast, other Gulf producers have kept significant volumes flowing despite the conflict, with the U.S. guiding convoys through the Strait of Hormuz, and Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. routing more crude through pipelines that bypass the waterway. The Iranian export squeeze is deepening the economic crisis in a country where official inflation is running at more than 80% year-over-year. The International Monetary Fund forecasts a 5.4% economic contraction this year, the country’s worst since the 1980s. Falling exports deprive Tehran of the hard currency it needs to support the rial and pay for imports, including raw materials for factories. That makes imports more expensive and fuels inflation. The rial has lost almost 15% of its value against the dollar since President Trump announced his economic squeeze campaign in August, Hussain said. Iran’s overall trade hasn’t stopped entirely. The regime exported nearly $15 billion of non-oil goods between mid-March and mid-August, according to Iranian media, though that value is down from last year. But a major commercial gateway has recently narrowed. Official trade through the U.A.E. has largely stopped after the country said last month it would suspend financial and economic transactions with Iran, officials familiar with the matter said, although some trade continues through shadow companies. Trade is also shifting through Turkey, Iraq, Oman and Pakistan, but that adds time and expense. Gulf officials and analysts see little sign that the mounting economic pressure will force Tehran to relent. Saudi officials say Iran is also providing more weapons, personnel and intelligence support to its Houthi allies in Yemen, increasing the threat to Saudi shipping and infrastructure, and threatening another shipping chokepoint. “The U.S. campaign will have a significant effect on the average Iranian household. But in terms of Iran capitulating at the negotiating table? I have a lot of doubts,” said Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations. “The evidence we have suggests the Iranian regime is likely to resist.”
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Reports are emerging from Iranian state media that U.S. forces have struck three Iranian oil tankers, following the earlier U.S. announcement that three Iranian crude carriers were disabled or destroyed on September 5. CENTCOM said the strikes were carried out after Iran launched ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships. Just over 30 minutes ago, Iran’s Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces reportedly warned that U.S. forces had ordered crews aboard Iranian tankers to evacuate ahead of additional attacks. He also warned that any further attacks on Iranian tankers would result in Iranian attacks against U.S. bases across the region. More to come on this situation.
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
WSJ article Truzman references Iran launched a missile attack against a U.S. Navy ship on Monday after firing ballistic missiles at an aircraft carrier and a guided-missile destroyer over the weekend, according to U.S. officials. The Wall Street Journal earlier reported the Monday attack. Iran warned the crews of tankers at ports in Bahrain and Kuwait to abandon their vessels, signaling it planned to attack commercial vessels in those locations, according to Iran’s state media. No American warships were struck in Iran’s missile attacks, but Iran’s recent attempts to hit American naval assets are raising alarm over whether the government is using more sophisticated weapons or receiving assistance from China or Russia, according to the officials. The attacks highlight Iran’s willingness to go on the offensive as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports weighs on the country’s economy. They also risk escalating the conflict, since the U.S. has promised to take action against such attacks. After Iran’s attempt to hit an aircraft carrier over the weekend, the U.S. struck three Iranian oil tankers that it said were funding Iran’s military and proxy groups. The tanker attacks were designed to send a powerful message that the U.S. won’t tolerate attacks on Navy ships, officials said. One day later, Iran took aim at another warship. Iranian officials have claimed they are using new missiles with advanced features to target the American warships, according to Iran’s state media. Such missiles could have electro-optical seekers, which enable them to maneuver toward a moving target using imagery, weapons analysts say. However, Iran would still need to know the approximate location of U.S. warships when its attacks began, raising concerns that China and Russia could be helping Iran track the locations of American warships, officials said. The fact that Iran is able to target warships at all after the U.S. degraded its ability to see the battlefield is a key concern, according to retired Vice Adm. John “Fozzie” Miller, who commanded U.S. naval forces in the Middle East. “They don’t really have the capacity to reach out and find someone out in the Arabian Sea on radar any longer,” he said. In May, the U.S. sanctioned China-based entities for providing satellite imagery to Iran during the war. President Trump has so far played down concerns about China and Russia’s assistance to Iran. Iran unveiled a medium-range ballistic missile known as the Qassem Bassir with the seeker technology last year, according to John Caves, senior research associate at the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control. Other Iranian missiles, like the Khalij Fars, also have the technology, he said. U.S. officials hope that the blockade and crushing sanctions will bring the Iranian regime to its knees, but so far, the regime has refused to back down and is stepping up threats against U.S. Navy vessels. The U.S. has 19 warships supporting operations in the Middle East, according to a Navy official. By striking tankers, the U.S. aims to further punish Tehran and crack down on the regime’s ability to ship oil and fund its weapons programs. While civilian ships aren’t typically lawful targets, they lose their protected status if they contribute to an adversary’s military action and if destroying them offers a definite military advantage, according to Mark Nevitt, associate professor of law at Emory Law School. “Whether this test has been satisfied ultimately depends on the intelligence linking the oil financing to proxies and other factual matters—something that is acknowledged in the DOD’s own law of war manual,” Nevitt said.
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers, Sept. 8, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days. The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and continued to patrol regional waters. No American personnel were harmed. In response to Iran’s most recent failed attacks, CENTCOM destroyed the IRGC crude oil carriers M/T Kaviz, M/T Charminar, M/T Horizon 1, and M/T Riesco in the Gulf of Oman as well as M/T Derya near Kharg Island. American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable. Iran has used the tankers as part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC and its regional proxies. Iran has no means by which to defend these vessels. On Sept. 5, CENTCOM forces destroyed three Iranian crude oil carriers after the IRGC tried to attack a U.S. aircraft carrier and guided-missile destroyer. All IRGC attempts against U.S. Navy warships have failed. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
IRGC statement regarding tonight’s ballistic missile attack: “By the special grace of God Almighty and under the guidance of Imam Mahdi, as retribution for the U.S. regime’s aggressive attack on Iranian oil tankers, the valiant and fearless warriors of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, in a retaliatory operation codenamed “Ya Haydar Karar,” subjected the U.S. Al-Azraq base in Jordan to heavy missile strikes. In this operation, solid-and liquid-fuel ballistic missiles were used to strike the maintenance, preparation, and storage facilities for F-35, F-16, and F-15 fighter jets, as well as fighter jet shelters, inflicting heavy damage on the arrogant enemy.“
UPDATE: Additionally, the IRGC claims its anti-ship ballistic missiles struck two US Navy Arleigh Burke-class destroyers: - USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119) guided-missile destroyer. - USS John Paul Jones (DDG-53) guided-missile destroyer. The attack reportedly “inflicted significant damage on these vessels”. Take these reports with caution. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Attached File
CLAIM: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) forces have claimed they struck two U.S. Navy destroyers operating in the Middle East. This is completely FALSE. FACT: No U.S. Navy warship has been struck; all IRGC attempted attacks failed. Meanwhile, U.S. forces have successfully destroyed 10 Iranian tankers in just the last week. These vessels were part of a multibillion-dollar shadow network that funds the IRGC, and Iran cannot defend them.
Three weapon depots and a rocket-launching site were destroyed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip yesterday, the IDF announces. The military says the weapon depots, belonging to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, were used to store dozens of weapons, including rockets and assault rifles. Recently, according to the IDF, Hamas operatives were identified arriving at the weapon depots and using the guns stored there for "guarding and establishing control over the Gaza Strip." In addition, the strikes yesterday also destroyed a rocket-launching pit that had been used during the war to fire projectiles at Israel, the military says. The IDF says it will continue "to operate decisively to degrade the capabilities of terror organizations in the Gaza Strip while thwarting any attempt to rebuild capabilities or possess weapons intended to harm our forces." |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
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UKMTO confirmation of Iranian strikes on shipping Attached File |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Full article referenced above Iran has fired electro-optical missiles at American warships for the first time. Tehran said it attacked 10 US ships on Wednesday and fired ballistic missiles at a base in Jordan, after the US destroyed five Iranian oil tankers. US Central Command (Centcom) said its attacks were in response to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeting US navy warships. No Americans were harmed, it said. Iranian officials have claimed they are using new missiles with advanced features to target the warships. However, Centcom said on Wednesday that all attempted attacks had failed. The missiles are likely to include electro-optical seekers, which use cameras and light sensors to see, track, and hit targets with high precision. Tehran unveiled the Qassem Bassir, a new medium-range ballistic missile with this technology, last year. It is unclear whether this was the specific type launched at the US ships. The solid-fuel missile has a roughly half-ton warhead, built for precision and for penetrating layered air defences rather than for sheer explosive weight. Iran’s new national security chief said on Sunday that Tehran had tested a “special anti-destroyer” missile for the first time over a US warship in the region – part of what he described as a sweeping shift in Iran’s approach to the war. Mohsen Rezaei, the newly installed secretary of the supreme national security council, said the test 48 hours earlier had “created a hell for the Americans, and they fled”. He said it showed that the American naval blockade of Iran was “vulnerable”. Mr Rezaei tied it to a broader change in strategy, from “reactive deterrence” to “active deterrence”, after Donald Trump abandoned the Islamabad understanding. The strategy has played out with attacks on US bases in Jordan and Erbil, a strike on an American warship, a planned “prohibited zone” in the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman, and the activation of overland corridors. Analysts say that no missile is built from scratch, and the weapon probably descends from Iran’s existing heavy missiles – the liquid-fuelled Khorramshahr family that forms the backbone of its long-range arsenal – paired with newer solid-fuel motors in the Salman class that allow tighter control and higher efficiency. The new missiles suggest Tehran may still be receiving assistance from Russia or China to track the location of US warships, experts have warned. In April, intelligence reports found that Chinese and Russian satellites were secretly providing the Islamic Republic with critical imagery to target US military bases. Russia has long exchanged weapons with Iran and provided drone expertise during the war. In May, the US sanctioned China-based entities for providing satellite imagery to Iran during the war. Two months later, it was revealed that China was sending 400 rocket launchers to Iran in a new deal, underscoring their increased military ties. Mr Trump has downplayed concerns about Beijing and Moscow’s assistance to Iran. Increased attacks by both sides in recent days have ended a month of relative calm, hitting military, shipping and energy assets, sending oil prices surging and drawing in regional allies. The price of oil rose above $100 (£74) a barrel for the first time since July on Wednesday as the attacks escalated. Explosions were heard on Tuesday near Kharg Island, a key site for Iran’s oil industry, which Mr Trump previously mooted as a possible location for an invasion. “In response to Iran’s most recent failed attacks, Centcom destroyed the IRGC crude oil carriers,” it said. “American forces directed the crews to abandon ship before the vessels were struck and rendered inoperable.” Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, on Tuesday warned that the US would not allow Iran’s attacks to go unanswered. “Iran continues to try to hit US naval ships, and for every time they do that or try to do that, they’re going to lose tankers, and I think you’ll see that again today,” he told reporters while on a trip to Colombia.
The Hamas terror group announces the death of a top member in an Israeli strike in Gaza City today. Farah Hamed is described by Hamas as a "commander and fighter" in the terror group's military wing, and a member of the "Military Council of the al-Qassam Brigades in the West Bank." Hamed was a member of the "Silwad cell," which operated during the Second Intifada and carried out a series of deadly shooting attacks in the West Bank. Originally from the Ramallah area, Hamed was deported to Gaza in 2011 as part of the Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange deal. In May 2024, the head of the cell, who was also released in the Shalit deal, was killed in Rafah. Hamed was targeted in a strike in Gaza City's Sheikh Ijlin neighborhood earlier today, according to Palestinian media. The IDF has not yet issued a statement on the strike. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Attached File
A Saudi-backed Yemeni source tells Kan News the Houthis are acting in full coordination with Iran, which asked them to strengthen their grip on the Bab al-Mandab strait as a complement to Tehran's blocking of the Strait of Hormuz. The same source says the Saudis aren't providing enough support and only launched airstrikes in recent days, while the Americans show little interest in the Houthi threat.
Despite loss of ground to Yemeni government forces along their northern axis of advance, in a notable move, the Houthis have taken the coastal Yemeni city of Mocha overnight, as reports indicate they are now closing in on key island holdouts that put control of the strategic maritime choke point, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in question.
WSJ article Iran has resumed its production of ballistic missiles using stockpiled components and working in underground facilities, officials from the U.S. and Middle East familiar with the matter said, eroding what the U.S. and Israel have touted as a major achievement of the war. Despite heavy attacks on its missile sites and industrial facilities during the initial phase of the war, Iran has been busy assembling liquid-propellant missiles, which have to be fueled just before launch, as well as solid-propellant missiles, which can be stored ready to fire, some of the officials said. Intelligence points to activity at several underground sites, including the Khojir missile facility in southeastern Iran, those officials said. Iran is also attempting to build new underground assembly points to avoid getting struck again, they said. So far, Iran is mainly assembling the new missiles from existing components in more limited quantities than before the war, the U.S. and regional officials said. The U.S. and Israel damaged a number of industrial facilities needed to produce missile components and missiles themselves, and the naval blockade has complicated imports of parts and ingredients for solid fuel. The renewed production underscores the difficulty of fully dismantling Tehran’s missile program, a goal of the war the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28. It also extends Iran’s ability to hold on in the war of attrition that pits its supplies of the weapons against shrinking U.S. and Gulf stockpiles of missile interceptors. “When there are no bombings of the facilities, you can replace damaged infrastructure, and you can buy new components from other countries and store them in the facilities,” said Tal Inbar, a senior analyst at the U.S.-based Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance. “You have to be extremely naive to think that Iran is not rebuilding its missile-production capabilities.” The office of Israel’s prime minister didn’t reply to a request for comment. A White House official didn’t directly address the question of whether Tehran had resumed production of ballistic missiles but said that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been obliterated and its military forces severely degraded. “Iran is weaker now than ever before, and President Trump will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon,” the official said. Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, said the U.S. had “destroyed up to 90% of Iran’s drone, ballistic missile, and naval industrial base” and “significantly degraded” Iran’s ability to launch missiles and drones. The U.S. and Israel severely diminished Iran’s missile program early in the war with thousands of strikes aimed at production sites, storage facilities, missiles and launchers. But Iran has used the period of calm this summer to rebuild its military capabilities with the belief that the ceasefire is unlikely to hold. A U.S. official said Iran probably resumed low-rate production after signing a preliminary deal with Trump in mid-June to open the Strait of Hormuz and begin talks to wind down the war. Tehran was believed to have the ability to assemble at least a couple of hundred missiles from components it had on hand, the official said. Before the war, Iran stockpiled components including finished warheads, airframes, and guidance and control systems, said Jim Lamson, a visiting research fellow at King’s College London and former CIA analyst who specialized in the Iranian military. He pointed to older photos and videos released by Iran that show many such components lined up against the walls of underground facilities. The number of new missiles that Iran can produce depends on the depth of those stockpiles and how many underground facilities are operative. “We could be talking about hundreds of missiles or possibly thousands of missiles,” Lamson said. Iran ran down its stockpiles of finished missiles during the war, leading it to reduce the volume of its attacks, but it still has a lot of capacity. Inbar assessed that Iran still has thousands of ballistic missiles in its arsenal. Iran continues to fire missiles at U.S. bases across the Middle East, showcasing the diversity of its arsenal. Some missiles used, like the Kheibar Shekan missile, are considered mobile, accurate and relatively cheap to produce. On Wednesday, it launched a heavy salvo at an air base in Jordan that houses U.S. troops. Videos showed that the projectiles had cluster warheads, a type of missile that had been frequently fired at Israel earlier in the war to challenge air-defense systems. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in April that Iran’s missile program had been “functionally destroyed” and that it lacked the means to make new missiles. “You are digging out your remaining launchers and missiles with no ability to replace them,” Hegseth said. “You have no defense industry, no ability to replenish your offensive or defense capabilities.” Arab and Israeli officials are bracing for continued fighting and the possibility Iran will escalate as the U.S. economic chokehold tightens. In recent days, Iran has launched a series of attacks on U.S. warships that resulted in close calls, though none was hit. Satellite imagery shows Iran is rebuilding everything from bridges and roads to production sites at a pace that is worrying Israeli officials, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Iran has restored access to tunnel entrances for missile bases that had been collapsed by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. Weapons stored inside those underground sites are likely to be well-preserved, according to Israeli military assessments. Challenges to returning to full-scale missile manufacturing include damage to chemical facilities needed to make liquid propellants and industrial mixers for producing solid fuel, Arab officials said. Lacking a modern air force, Iran established its missile program in the 1980s during the war with Iraq and has increasingly relied on the weapons to deter its foes. Tehran demonstrated its ability to rebuild its missile program after the 12-day war with Israel in June 2025. Though Israel targeted the missile program with its attacks, Iran was able to rebuild its stockpiles faster than expected, leading Israel to warn before the end of the year that more strikes on Iran might be needed. “You can try to destroy facilities, you can try to destroy the missiles themselves, but it actually has quicker regenerative capacity than the nuclear program, and it’s pretty dispersed,” said Nicole Grajewski, an expert on Iranian strategy at Sciences Po in Paris. “The reason Iran created such elaborate missile infrastructure was because they were worried about this.”
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
AFP: The Houthis have completed their takeover of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most important strategic shipping routes, after seizing control of Perim Island (Miyoun) in the heart of the strait. Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Houthi forces have reached Duba, a coastal city located in the strait.
The Israeli source explains that the Houthis will be able to fire at ships. Unlike their patrons in Iran, they will not need to use radar and sophisticated systems: "They will simply see the ships with their eyes and will be able to send out suicide boats or take control of them. This is a huge drama that gives the terrorist organization enormous power" Attached File
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that the drones that targeted the East-West pipeline were indeed launched from Iraq, confirming Iranian-backed non-state actor (NSA) involvement in the strikes. Notably, while the statement says that Saudi Arabia retains the right to respond to such acts, it also says that they have chosen not to respond at this time, seemingly deferring to the Iraqi government, who has dragged their feet on reigning in Iraqi Iranian-backed NSAs. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Full FT article The US has asked tankers travelling through the Strait of Hormuz to sail only at specific times to guarantee military protection after Iran stepped up attacks on ships travelling at night. Washington has been offering air-based defence since May to ships wanting to sail via a route hugging the Omani coast on the strait’s southern side, in an effort to defy Iranian attacks and keep some oil flowing out of the Gulf. Shipowners had to apply to the US naval co-ordination centre (Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping, or NCAGS), which then gave mariners co-ordinates to follow and permission to sail through during broad time windows overnight, during which they would be protected by US aircraft. That period was cut down to two specific time slots daily around the start of September, according to emails sent by NCAGS to maritime advisers seen by the FT. Vessels have been told to start their journey at specified times, such as 9am. “We are now providing recommended transit times that vary by day. Your vessel is not required to go during these times, but it is encouraged in order to receive the best support,” one email said. “Transiting during a period of darkness has not proven to be the most secure time of day,” given threats to merchant shipping, it said in another. US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees Washington’s military operations in the Middle East, said the NCAGS messages spoke for themselves. Iranian forces have attacked dozens of vessels trying to pass through the contested waterway in an effort to assert control since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February. The adjustment of US support to specified times of the day or night has come just as both sides stepped up their attacks on commercial shipping. Iran said early on Wednesday that it had targeted two US vessels and eight oil tankers in response to American strikes on five Iranian tankers. Those attacks came in response to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeting an American warship with ballistic missiles early in the week, the US military said. Further Iranian attacks on tankers just off the coast of Dubai and Iraq were reported by UK Maritime Trade Operations on Wednesday. Joshua Tallis, naval analyst at the US security research organisation CNA, said the request for ships to transit at specific times was likely “an effective means to manage the costs associated with a persistent and indefinite US defence of the southern Strait of Hormuz route”. Tallis said it can cost anywhere from $25,000 to $75,000 to fly an advanced US military aircraft for one hour. Concentrating resources into smaller time slots rather than a 12-hour period overnight would mean that the US had “more military capability in order to protect better”, said a maritime security adviser working with ships in the Gulf. Transiting the strait takes around seven hours for a commercial ship going at slow to moderate speed. The IRGC has been known to send out small patrol boats to try to detect ships using the Omani route, which usually travel at night with their GPS signals and lights off. More than 70 commercial vessels have been attacked since the conflict began on February 28. Iran on Monday said it planned to introduce a “restricted zone” in the strait. Mohsen Rezaei, head of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, said this zone would “begin from the line of the US naval blockade, extend towards the Strait of Hormuz, and from this side continue into the Persian Gulf”. Any ship sailing into that zone would be subject to “sanctions”, Tehran said, although it has not spelled out what these would involve. It also said a preliminary agreement with Oman over the future management of the strait was close to being finalised. But shipbroker Clarksons said on Monday that it still did not expect the disruption to traffic through the waterway to ease until at least the second half of 2027. Retired vice admiral John Miller, who formerly commanded US naval forces in the Middle East, said of the schedule change: “As we settle in for something that could be a process that we’re doing for a while, it’s going to be important to husband the assets in a way that allows us to be able to sustain the activity.” Providing air cover 24/7 “would be really hard to do over an extended period of time” so the US is “going to have to put some guidelines on it”, he added.
For the first time in two months since the de-facto cessation of the Memorandum of (Mis?)Understanding, the aggregate exports of crude oil out of the US Blockade Line by Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Oman have been averaging north of 10 million barrels per day. Iranian crude oil exports continue to remain at zero.
Even with pipeline transmission now impacted, Saudi crude oil exports have been trending higher over the past couple of weeks after having picked up significantly from the kingdom's heavyweight eastern terminals. Those exports depart via the SoH under US CENTCOM protection. Red Sea shall likely export from storage in the meantime. This is not their first rodeo.
Full WSJ article Before Iran carried out its attack that killed three U.S. troops in July, Tehran acquired high-resolution satellite images of the base in Jordan from Chinese entities, according to U.S. officials familiar with details of the incident. It is the clearest evidence so far that Chinese support for Iran during the war has had lethal consequences for U.S. forces, according to the officials, who say the U.S. has connected the imagery to the attack. The U.S. officials declined to identify the Chinese entities that supplied the imagery to Iran and didn’t allege direct involvement by Beijing. Tehran procured the images both before and after the attack. But the finding could deepen U.S.-China tensions ahead of the planned summit between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Sept. 24, after months of frustration with Beijing’s rejection of U.S. warnings about Chinese companies providing imagery to Iran. Senior U.S. officials raised the imagery linked to the July 17 attack with their Chinese counterparts, who pushed back and demanded proof, the U.S. officials said. China has repeatedly dismissed Washington’s concerns, refusing to acknowledge that any Chinese companies are engaged in such activity, the officials said. The Chinese Embassy in Washington didn’t address the specific U.S. allegations. Spokesperson Liu Chang said unnamed critics were “maliciously linking and smearing other countries” by exploiting the conflict, and said China’s cooperation with Iran complied with international law. In the July 17 attack, Iranian ballistic missiles struck a housing area at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in northeastern Jordan where American troops had been sleeping. Three soldiers were killed and four others were wounded and medically evacuated. Iran also targeted manned and unmanned aircraft at the base, other U.S. officials said. The attack was one of three separate missile strikes on the base in 24 hours and marked a significant escalation in the war. The strike resulted in the first U.S. deaths since an April ceasefire, and exposed the difficulty of protecting U.S. forces even at a heavily defended installation. It also raised alarms about Iran’s improved ability to hit American targets. The strikes on the base came after senior Trump officials spent months warning their Chinese counterparts that Chinese companies were providing satellite imagery Iran could use to target U.S. personnel and assets in the region, officials say. The Trump administration sanctioned several Chinese companies in May, saying that supplying satellite imagery to Iran “threatens American and partner personnel.” Within three days of the July attack, Iran released high-resolution images showing damage to three separate areas of the base. Publicly available lower-resolution satellite imagery analyzed by The Wall Street Journal showed damage to more than 20 structures across the three areas of the base. Trump has told his team that it is a priority for him to maintain good relations with China and Xi in particular. Senior U.S. officials have responded by trying to avoid public confrontations with Beijing that could overshadow or derail plans for the summit. A White House official said no assistance Iran was receiving from outside actors had enhanced its ability to attack the U.S., without addressing the finding. Publicly, senior Trump administration officials have played down the impact of any Chinese assistance to Iran. Days after the July 17 attack, Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. Asked afterward if the Chinese were providing Iran with targeting information, he declined to answer directly, saying “nothing that China has done has in any way changed the trajectory of the conflict.” Earlier in the war, U.S. attacks on Iranian radar, satellites and other equipment degraded the regime’s ability to see the battlefield. Iran often hit locations of lesser military significance where nothing significant was located—an indication that Iran didn’t have a clear picture of U.S. bases. However, the targeting appeared to improve over the summer, officials say. Fresh, high-resolution images from Chinese sources could reveal recent changes at a base and help Iran “select the most impactful targets in a timely manner,” said Jim Lamson, a former CIA analyst who specialized in Iran’s military and weapons. Post-strike imagery could help Iran assess the effectiveness of the strikes and decide whether and where to attack again. The imagery likely would have been one of several intelligence streams used by Iran, analysts and former officials say. Iran’s military also draws from its own satellites and human sources, as well as intelligence and imagery from Russia, according to U.S. officials. The imagery is part of a broader flow of Chinese technology and data used by Iran, including navigation services, and components used in drones and missiles. Taken together, it “starts to look pretty substantial” in improving Iran’s long-range strike capabilities, says Lamson. Unlike some of the other intelligence available to Iran, Chinese technology and imagery are areas Washington can try to disrupt through sanctions and pressure Beijing, officials say. U.S. officials are also concerned that China could be helping Iran stalk American naval assets as well, according to people familiar with the matter. In recent days, Iran has fired ballistic missiles at a U.S. aircraft carrier and other warships. While Central Command said all the attacks failed, officials described some as close calls and said Iran’s ability to target moving ships appeared to be improving. China’s satellite industry often blurs the line between commercial and state companies, U.S. officials and analysts say, because even ostensibly private companies operate under extensive government oversight, and many have links to the government or the Chinese Communist Party. In May, the Trump administration sanctioned three Chinese companies—MizarVision, Earth Eye and Chang Guang—that it said were providing, collecting or publishing imagery that Iran could use to target U.S. forces. State Department officials last year accused Chang Guang of providing satellite imagery that directly supported attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, calling the support “unacceptable.” The administration has briefed lawmakers on the intelligence committees in recent weeks on the support both Russia and China are providing to Iran, according to congressional officials. U.S.-China Tensions As U.S. officials tracked Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they found an alarming connection to China: a company, closely linked to the Chinese military and backed by government funding, was providing high-resolution battlefield images to Russian fighters. That may just scratch the surface of Chang Guang Satellite Technology’s capabilities. As the firm builds out a network of hundreds of satellites, it is spurring alarm in Washington for its vast reach and, American officials say, its support of U.S. adversaries. Chang Guang’s satellites can peer into every corner of the U.S., with some users in China claiming to have tapped the network’s capabilities to capture images of the U.S.’s latest stealth bomber, parked at an air base in California’s Mojave Desert. Chang Guang’s growth and the increased scrutiny it is attracting from the U.S. reflect Beijing’s efforts to tap its vibrant civilian technology sector to enhance its defense industry. It also highlights how China uses commercial firms to advance its strategic interests. The U.S. State Department last week said Chang Guang was “directly supporting” attacks by the Houthis against U.S. interests. The Biden administration imposed sanctions on Chang Guang in 2023 after its satellites were suspected of helping the Wagner paramilitary group in Russia’s war in Ukraine. “Their actions and Beijing’s support of the company, even after our private engagements with them, is yet another example of China’s empty claims to support peace,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said last week. She didn’t say what specific support the U.S. suspects it provided to the Houthis or how the U.S. has raised the issue with Beijing. Chang Guang didn’t respond to a request for comment. Responding to the latest U.S. accusation, the company told Chinese media it doesn’t have any business dealings with the Houthis or their backers in Iran, calling the State Department’s accusation a fabrication. The company was founded in 2014 in the northeastern rust-belt province of Jilin with backing from the state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences. Even in its early days, the firm’s chairman, Xuan Ming, had ambitious goals. “My customers are even more than Ma Yun’s—the entire world’s seven billion people,” he said, referring to the Chinese technology billionaire Jack Ma, who launched e-commerce giant Alibaba, according to a 2015 article in China’s state-run Science and Technology Daily. By the end of last year, Chang Guang had launched 117 satellites as part of a network dubbed Jilin-1. Today, the company says the satellites can observe any point on Earth as often as 40 times a day. It plans to have 300 satellites in the network in the coming years, which industry experts say would make it the biggest commercial system of its kind. By comparison, San Francisco-based Planet Labs has about 200 satellites in orbit. Chang Guang’s growth is part of a strategy in China known as “military-civil fusion.” Beijing has increasingly blurred the lines between academic research, civilian technology companies and R&D for defense purposes. As part of that, officials want to break down barriers between state-owned defense contracting firms and innovative civilian technology startups, an effort that in some ways would make China’s defense industry look more like the U.S.’s. While a significant portion of Chang Guang’s business is benign—such as using its satellites to monitor crops or the effects of natural disasters—its financial filings have also disclosed close ties to China’s military over the last decade. In 2021, military-related customers made up nearly three-quarters of its operating revenues, the equivalent of more than $31 million. “Remote sensing satellites can provide defense users with a series of decision-support services, from routine situational monitoring to early warning of potential crises and crisis management, through precise and timely Earth observation,” Chang Guang said in a 2022 filing. On its website, customers can buy satellite images from around the world and trade insights through what Chang Guang calls a “knowledge sharing” platform. One post on the platform from last year said the Jilin-1 captured images of a U.S. B-21 Raider stealth bomber—still under development—parked in front of a hangar at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The Wall Street Journal couldn’t verify some of the claims in the post and the Pentagon declined to comment. Chang Guang’s capabilities aren’t dissimilar to the services offered by U.S. satellite companies. But without the Chinese government’s help, it could be tough for the U.S. to exert influence over Chang Guang. Beijing has been reticent to stop domestic firms from doing deals with customers the U.S. dislikes, such as permitting drone sales to Russian customers. “The concern is that these will not be isolated incidents and that more countries or actors will draw upon” Chinese satellite firms, according to a report last year prepared for the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressional advisory panel. The report described the Jilin-1 satellite network’s capabilities as “impressive.” Asked about the State Department’s accusation that Chang Guang is aiding the Houthis, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry last week said he wasn’t familiar with the specifics of the case, but said Beijing had been helping ease tensions in the Red Sea, where the Houthis have aimed missiles and drones at U.S. warships. The U.S. began a campaign of airstrikes against the Houthis last month. Chang Guang has grown quickly in recent years, with revenues reaching the equivalent of about $80 million in 2023, nearly double the level of two years earlier. To support its growth, the company planned a share listing in Shanghai, but it has struggled to turn a profit and racked up more than $100 million in cumulative losses from 2019 to 2021 as it invested in expanding the Jilin-1 network. The company ultimately scrapped its planned IPO last year after the U.S. imposed sanctions on Chang Guang over its suspected ties to Wagner. The progress of building the Jilin-1 network also appears to have been delayed. The company had said 300 satellites would be in operation by the end of 2025, but state-run broadcaster CCTV said in August that Chang Guang expected that number by the end of 2026. In April, Chang Guang’s chairman acknowledged the problems caused by the sanctions, but pledged to “sail forward ambitiously” through its current challenges, according to a statement on the company’s website. Write to Brian Spegele at [email protected] |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Yemen's Houthis: Saudi enemy air force carried out 129 airstrikes over the past 48 hours across the provinces of Taiz, Marib, Hodeidah, Al-Jawf, Saada, Amran, and Hajjah. These strikes were carried out by F-15 and Typhoon aircraft launched from the Saudi enemy's military bases in Khamis Mushait and Taif. These aggressions against our people will not go without response and punishment, God willing.
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Full article mentioned in X post CAIRO — An Iranian cargo vessel was struck early Sunday off Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz , with one person killed and four wounded, Iranian state media said, a day before Tehran seeks to brief regional countries on its contested efforts to manage shipping traffic there. The events were a deadly reminder of the underlying challenge to global shipping even as attention turns to a new threat, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen now perched on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in the Red Sea. State-run IRNA news agency quoted the Qeshm governor as blaming a “terrorist enemy.” There was no immediate comment by the U.S. military, which has struck Iranian-flagged vessels during its blockade of Iranian ports — while facing a new threat from Iranian ballistic missiles launched at its warships . Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations monitor said a vessel was hit by a projectile while transiting the strait, later adding that a fire had broken out and local authorities were evacuating those on board. Qeshm Island, about 14 miles (22 kilometers) from the port city of Bandar Abbas , is key to Iran asserting control over the Strait of Hormuz. Hours before the attack, Iran’s government remained defiant. “Our people can’t be bullied into submission. Iran won’t surrender,” President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a U.S.-aimed social media post. Monday's meeting aims to brief regional countries on the strait Monday’s meeting returns regional attention to the Strait of Hormuz days after the Houthis swept down Yemen's Red Sea coast to apply new pressure to a growing alternative for global shipping. While the Houthis say they are targeting only neighboring Saudi Arabia , which backs Yemen’s internationally recognized government fighting the rebels, markets are wary. Global prices of oil, natural gas and related products have been sent even higher. Commercial ship traffic remains low in the Strait of Hormuz as attacks continue on what was seen as an international waterway before the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28. The U.S. has asserted that plenty of oil is getting out as its military helps to guide ships along Oman’s coast, at the risk of attack. Iran has said foreign ministers from regional countries will meet Monday to discuss efforts by Iran and Oman, located on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz, to manage shipping on it. However, Bahrain has already said it will not attend, citing a lack of diplomatic relations with Tehran. It was not clear what other nations would be there, and there was no new statement from Iran on Sunday. Since early in the war, Iran has expressed interest in having ships pay fees for transit. It has said traffic into the Persian Gulf would pass through Iranian waters, while the outbound route would pass partly through Iranian waters and partly through Oman’s. But Iran has said reaching an agreement with Oman on the strait doesn’t mean it will open for shipping. “The waterway would be opened up on the condition that the U.S. will terminate its blockade,” Iran’s president told broadcaster India Today TV on Saturday. There was some measure of optimism in the region about the planned meeting, with hope that Gulf nations might use it to assert a collective response to a war they had no part in starting. For months, they have faced Iranian attacks that Tehran has claimed target U.S. military assets on their lands. “Oman is hoping that by presenting this agreement with a reasonable level of regional buy-in, the Trump administration will be forced to recognize that the future of the strait will be decided by regional countries,” Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, who heads the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, a think tank focused on Iran’s economy, said on social media. Anna reported from Jerusalem.
In recent weeks, the SoH has in fact seen more outbound volume of barrels. The bottleneck however is the GoO, where we then see those laden tankers waiting for an STS dance partner. That adds delays to delivery, thus keeping oil prices higher. We covered the challenges here in our interview by @mercoglianos
If this is true, this piece shows how #Iran's regime is not as cohesive as many commentators like to portray. But a word of caution: this narrative absolving Pezeshkian and others sounds very familiar. Just like how Hassan Rouhani was allegedly in the dark over the IRGC's downing of the Ukrainian jetliner in 2020, Pezeshkian and others too are portrayed by #Iran regime sourcing as being out of the loop. The deniability helps protect them. Article mentioned in X post Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran, was riding high in early July, fresh off the successful negotiation of a peace agreement with the United States, and had traveled to neighboring Iraq for part of a weeklong funeral spectacle for Iran’s slain supreme leader. Suddenly he got stunning news. Iranian forces had opened fire on three commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz, setting ablaze a Qatari L.N.G. tanker and damaging other vessels. Iran was under siege in world opinion. Outraged, Mr. Pezeshkian phoned Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, the commander in chief of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and in a raised voice called the actions reckless and demanded answers, according to five Iranian officials and two Guards members familiar with the events. General Vahidi told the president that he had neither authorized nor had advance knowledge of the strike, the five officials said. The nation’s Supreme National Security Council, which plays a critical role in both the war and negotiations, had also been in the dark, he said. In fact, much of the country’s leadership was unaware that a fringe hard-line faction had decided to act on its own. Ultimately, those clandestine efforts derailed a push by more moderate pragmatists in Iran to reach an end to hostilities with the United States and repair their nation’s ailing economy. The hard-liners succeeded in part because the only figure with the authority to resolve such disputes — the new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei — has been a phantom since taking office in March. He has not been seen, and his voice has not been heard. And the authenticity of written statements and messages attributed to Ayatollah Khamenei has been questioned, including by Mr. Pezeshkian, according to three Iranian officials. Mr. Pezeshkian immediately returned to Tehran. By the next morning, even as the funeral ceremonies were still underway, the United States had retaliated with airstrikes on Iran. The two countries were back at war. Senior Iranian officials and a Guards member said in interviews that what followed were some of the most volatile political confrontations within Iran’s leadership in memory. Officials engaged in shouting matches. Two senior generals threatened to resign. Accusations of treason and betrayal flew. The reverberations, officials said, contributed to a shake-up at the National Security Council and the supreme leader’s appointment of Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, a seasoned politician and former commander in chief of the Guards, to lead the council, as he was thought to have the skill to mediate among political factions. But divisions persist, and the hard-liners who have committed Iran to escalation are in an even stronger position. This past week, Iran and the United States traded attacks, with Iran repeatedly targeting American naval vessels for the first time, and the United States blowing up at least eight Iranian oil tankers. This account of the inner deliberations of Iran’s leadership is based on interviews with eight Iranian officials, three members of the Revolutionary Guards, four former officials and a review of dozens of speeches and comments by government officials and military generals from June to September published in the Iranian press and social media. The officials interviewed for this article spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss delicate issues of national security. Influential Spymaster Three Iranian officials said inquiries by the government and security forces traced the decision to strike the three commercial ships in July to the cleric Hossein Taeb, an influential spymaster who had opposed the peace deal with the United States from the outset. Mr. Taeb had been telling the new supreme leader that Iran had made a mistake in ending the war and agreeing to the deal, they said. Mr. Taeb, in a recent speech to military families, said that he was not opposed to talks but that “negotiations that ignore the rights of our people and concede to the excessive demands of the enemy have no place in Iran’s politics.” Ayatollah Khamenei recently appointed Mr. Taeb as the head of the Basij militia, which is responsible for quelling domestic dissent. He had previously served for more than 20 years as chief for the Revolutionary Guards’ intelligence agency before the previous supreme leader ousted him in 2022 over failures such as Israeli infiltration of his rank and file, and a foiled plot in Turkey. Mr. Taeb re-emerged after that supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed at the start of the war, and he played a key role in the selection of the son Mojtaba as the successor to his father, officials said at the time. “The attack on the ships was orchestrated with the goal to blow up the memorandum of understanding with Trump and to kill the prospects of any future negotiations and deal,” Alireza Namvar Haghighi, an Iran expert and former official who still has close contacts in the government, said in an interview from Canada. When Mr. Pezeshkian demanded to know who had struck the three ships, he was told that commanders in the field had acted on their own, in line with an order empowering them to attack any ship violating Iran’s control of the Strait without waiting for approval from central command, according to the officials with knowledge of these discussions. In one sign of the dispute, the Guards’ Khatam al-Anbiya headquarters never issued a statement claiming responsibility for the July 7 attack, as has been routine in other attacks before and since. Iranian officials relayed this same account to the United States and some of its regional allies in the immediate hours after the attacks, blaming rogue operators, according to U.S. officials who briefed reporters at the time and the three Iranian officials. Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, was dispatched to Oman, a key mediator, to try to defuse tensions with Washington. On the streets and on state television in Iran, meanwhile, the hard-liners openly attacked the negotiating team and its peace deal, and at nightly rallies, crowds chanted for a return to war. The Iranian government has devised an official narrative deflecting blame for the collapse of the agreement, saying Washington violated it first by not stopping Israel’s attacks on the militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, by withholding Iran’s frozen assets and by sneaking ships through a portion of the Strait of Hormuz not controlled by Iran. But few inside Iran’s political circles are convinced by this version, including Mr. Pezeshkian himself, five officials said. Mr. Pezeshkian said publicly last month that every agreement sees violations and that they should be addressed through talks, not confrontation. When he was privately told by generals that Ayatollah Khamenei had approved the July attack on the three ships, the president demanded proof, according to three Iranian officials. Phantom Leader Under the Iranian form of government, the supreme leader has ultimate authority to settle internal disputes. But Ayatollah Khamenei’s whereabouts, his physical health and mental acuity, and the extent he is involved in state affairs have become subjects of fevered speculation. “The security situation requires for him to be protected, but I’m asking, how long is this supposed to go on? Six months? One year? Five years? Ten years?” Hojatoleslam Alireza Pirouzmand, a senior cleric and academic at Iran’s National Defense University, said on state television in late July. He added that if “we can’t see our leader, then we will remain in a perpetual state of weakness and decline.” This month Ayatollah Khamenei’s mother-in-law, Tayebeh Mahrouzadeh, gave a lengthy video interview to a local reporter, describing the extreme security precautions surrounding family members and saying they had no news of the ayatollah and his three children. Her husband, the politician Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, told the Iranian news media in July that while Ayatollah Khamenei had no contact with anyone for security reasons, “God willing, he is healthy.” The few comments attributed to the missing leader about the peace deal have added fuel to the dispute. After the agreement was signed, a statement in his name was issued saying he had approved because it had been endorsed by the president and a majority of the National Security Council — but that he was of a different opinion “on principle.” That phrase — “on principle” — has been repeatedly used by hard-liners to attack the deal. In May, Mr. Pezeshkian said he met with Ayatollah Khamenei but did not say when or where. Two Iranian officials and a former official said the circumstances of the encounter were bizarre. They said an ambulance with blacked-out windows was used to drive Mr. Pezeshkian around, while a secure video connection was established. A person who said he was an interlocutor for Ayatollah Khamenei appeared on a monitor and purportedly passed messages between the two men. Mr. Pezeshkian confided to a close ally that he was unsure whether he had actually been communicating with the supreme leader, according to the officials with knowledge of the meeting. Last month Mr. Pezeshkian said he had been granted a second meeting and that it had lasted for seven hours. “We spoke about all the issues facing the country,” the president told Iran’s state television, listing them as affordability, unemployment, sanctions, unity and resilience during wartime. He did not describe the circumstances of the meeting or reveal what Ayatollah Khamenei had said. War Plan For weeks, the political leaders and generals running Iran have debated two ways to break the stalemate with the United States, officials said. Under one approach, Iran could seek to return to negotiations. Under the other, it would escalate attacks on American targets, aiming to strike naval vessels, kill American troops and raise global oil prices. Both would aim to end the U.S. naval blockade on Iran’s southern ports, which have paralyzed trade and brought oil sales down to zero, according to officials. Iran’s economy is deteriorating, with the currency plunging daily, inflation soaring and the government facing a cash deficit. Hard-line generals, including Brig. Gen. Seyyed Majid Mousavi, who commands the Guards’ Aerospace Force, pressed for confrontation, officials and two Guards members said. The generals told the National Security Council they had devised a detailed war plan in which Iran and allied militias, in particular the Houthis in Yemen and armed Shiite Muslim groups in Iraqi, would intensify attacks, including on regional oil facilities, further widening the scope of the war and raising its costs for the United States and its allies. Mr. Pezeshkian and Gen. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who is the speaker of Parliament and the top negotiator with the United States, were among the officials who warned that the war plan risked dragging the country into an abyss, with even fiercer U.S. airstrikes and more crippling economic pressure. But by last Saturday, the hard-line faction had gained the upper hand. “The war between Iran and the United States,” said Mahdi Mohammadi, the top adviser to General Ghalibaf, “has entered the phase of escalation.” Farnaz Fassihi is the United Nations bureau chief for The Times, leading coverage of the organization. She also covers Iran and has written about conflict in the Middle East for 15 years.
Two Hamas engineers were killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City today, the military announces. The IDF names the pair as Hassan Ali Abu Nada and Abd al-Rahim Ahmad Khalil Khawa, operatives in Hamas's engineering unit. Recently, the two terror operatives were involved in development and production of weapons, advancing attacks on troops and civilians, and also attempted to restore Hamas capabilities, "in systematic violation of the ceasefire," the military says. "The terrorists were eliminated to remove a threat," the army says, adding that it took steps to minimize harm to civilians in the strike. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
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Originally Posted By michigan66: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/501718/IMG_7306_png-3826528.JPG Maybe they should have some ships transit during daytime to help determine source of strikes, to make sure they're not from Oman, circling around, then coming in from the Iran direction or something. No clue how big these "one way suicide drones" are, I mean, that sounds like anything from an SDB or JDAM to Hellfire to full global range TLAM. Would like more specifics on what they are using and why we cannot counter or detect what is going on when these ships have damage and there images of them being hit but US doesn't find source? |
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
The tanker struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz yesterday evening is on fire, and local authorities were in the process of evacuating its crew, according to an update from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Center issued earlier today. Attached File
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
The Houthis say they fired dozens of ballistic missiles and drones at King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, a main southern hub for Saudi Arabia's air war. Aircraft shelters, radars, runways and ammunition depots were hit, causing "major losses," according to the group. They framed it as a response to more than 300 Saudi airstrikes across Yemen over five days and warned of larger attacks to come. No Saudi assessment or independent evidence of damage has emerged.
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Saudi Arabia's key East-West Pipeline could remain mostly offline for three to five weeks after Friday's drone strikes, AP reports. It may run at reduced capacity, though officials could not say how much oil would flow. Up to 4% of global supply is at risk. Buyers and traders say the kingdom could run out of exportable stocks unless the damaged pumping station restarts within days. Satellite photos released Sunday show it charred and badly damaged.
EXCLUSIVE: Based on our satellite imagery analysis conducted on 2026-09-14, we can see that the Strait of Hormuz now hosts bi-directional daytime traffic of VLCC supertankers. Furthermore, greater volumes of crude oil, LNG and LPG are being exchanged via STS transfer in the Gulf of Oman.
CLAIM: Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claims a Panama-flagged oil tanker recently struck a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz. This is FALSE. FACT: The Panama-flagged oil tanker El Gaia was struck by an Iranian missile last month and rendered inoperable. This weekend, Iran struck the tanker again with a drone while the ship sat in waters of the coast of Oman. The tanker is currently being towed by a regional partner. The IRGC's false claim is yet another example of their lies and intimidation attempts while they try to impede commercial vessels in the strait.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree: Saudi Arabia carried out 54 airstrikes across Yemen in the past 24 hours, flown by Typhoon and F-15 aircraft operating out of the Khamis Mushait and Taif bases. In a separate message, Saree claimed the Houthis launched surface-to-air missiles at Saudi warplanes over Saada province in northern Yemen, the group's stronghold, forcing them to turn back. Saree warned the "aggression will not pass quietly." |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Full Reuters article Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis launched a new wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia and were digging into positions on the western coast of Yemen along the Red Sea, Yemeni officials said, as urgent deliberations took place in Riyadh over how to respond to their lightning advance. Meanwhile, Gulf Arab states postponed planned talks with Iran, raising concerns the Middle East conflict could spread further and threaten global oil supplies. The Houthis on Monday said they fired dozens of missiles and drones at a military airbase in Khamis Mushait in southern Saudi Arabia, targeting aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes in Yemen. Saudi authorities issued emergency alerts there and in three other southern cities. Thirteen civilians were wounded in the Houthi attacks, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said. The Houthi advances in recent days, including the taking of Perim Island at the mouth of the Red Sea, have put further pressure on Saudi oil exports after an aerial attack on Thursday knocked Saudi Arabia's east-west pipeline offline. Riyadh blamed the pipeline attack on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. Saudi Arabia built the 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) pipeline across its territory from the Gulf to the Red Sea in the 1980s to bypass the Strait of Hormuz when it came under threat from the Iran-Iraq war at that time. Traders said a prolonged shutdown of the Saudi pipeline could cut off as much as 4% of global oil supply while the strait is largely blockaded. Riyadh has not said when operations might resume. Responding to the Houthi offensive, the Saudi and Yemeni air forces have stepped up aerial bombardment of Houthi targets, including around the historic Red Sea port of Mocha, but the Houthis have maintained effective control over almost the entire western coast of the country along the Red Sea, the officials with Yemen's internationally recognised government said. “The Houthis are being put under heavy pressure. They in turn are putting more and more pressure on the Saudis, increasing their campaign of missile and drone attacks,” one of the Yemeni officials said. Crude oil prices rose more than 4% on Monday before settling about 1% higher. AMERICANS HESITANT TO STEP IN The renewed Yemen conflict poses another challenge for U.S. President Donald Trump. Three sources have told Reuters that Washington has so far resisted Saudi requests for direct military intervention beyond intelligence support. Trump said over the weekend he had spoken with the Saudi crown prince and that the Houthis had also contacted Washington urging it to stay out of the conflict. Saudi state media reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met U.S. regional commander Admiral Brad Cooper in Jeddah on Monday. Saudi Arabia has led a coalition battling the Houthis since 2015, but the conflict had largely quietened under a ceasefire in recent years. Fighting reignited this month, with the Houthis pushing back forces aligned with the internationally recognised government. HOPES FOR DIPLOMACY FADE Oman had been due to host a meeting on Monday with Iran and Gulf states to discuss negotiations aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war carried 20% of the world's oil exports. But Oman announced that the meeting had been postponed. Iran said the postponement was at the request of Saudi Arabia. Trump on Monday repeated his frequent claim that Iran was eager to make a deal quickly, but Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, called the president's message a distraction, saying on X, "No talks until Iran's conditions are met." Underscoring the volatility of shipping through the region, conflicting reports circulated about how and when an oil tanker was damaged. Without giving a date, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker El Gaia was hit by sea mines as it passed through a prohibited zone south of the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Fars news agency reported on Monday. But the U.S. military's Central Command immediately said the report was false and the tanker was "struck by an Iranian missile last month and rendered inoperable." The United Nations' International Maritime Organization reported El Gaia was damaged on Saturday, but did not say how, and that two seafarers were missing. Reuters could not immediately contact the ship's owners in Dubai to verify any of the accounts. The world's most important oil shipping lane has been mostly shut down since the war began on February 28 as Iran has threatened vessels that transit the waterway without its authority. "The IRGC Navy firmly declares that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and still under our smart control," the Revolutionary Guards said in the statement.
The U.S. and Saudi Arabia plan to expand the southern shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz to counter the closure of the Bab al-Mandab Strait by the Houthis. According to Israel Hayom, citing regional diplomatic sources, the move was one of the agreements reached in a meeting between CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Channel 14’s Tamir Morag reports Israeli officials now consider the Lebanese army’s effort to disarm Hezbollah a failure. A senior Israeli source said the Lebanon army is likely coordinating with Hezbollah from its commander down to troops in the field. Talks with Lebanon have been postponed until October, with Jerusalem concluding only the IDF can dismantle Hezbollah. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Reuters: Iran war cost hits $38 billion, forecast to rise $3 billion a month, CBO says The six-month-old U.S. war against Iran has cost $38 billion so far and that amount is projected to rise by $3 billion a month, Congress' nonpartisan bookkeeper reported on Tuesday, as the Trump administration searches for ways to end the conflict and reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz. The war is expected to increase inflation by 0.5% in the first three months of 2027, according to the Congressional Budget Office accounting, which totaled expenses through August 1. The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here. The mounting costs have strained U.S. munitions stockpiles and driven up energy prices, raising concerns about the country's ability to respond to other potential conflicts and adding pressure on an already stretched federal budget. The cost was close to the $37.5 billion that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reported at a Senate hearing on July 21. The budget office said the majority of the costs stem from the rapid drawdown of munitions, estimating that it could take five years to replenish U.S. stockpiles. Reuters reported in August that the U.S. had used "virtually all" of its long-range precision missiles during the war. The Department of Defense did not cooperate with congressional financial auditors, CBO reported. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly described President Donald Trump's attacks on Iran as "decisive action" to prevent Tehran from harming U.S. personnel or interests. She said in a statement that the U.S. military has "more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of the Commander-in-Chief’s strategic goals and beyond.” Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell disputed the report's findings of munitions shortages and said, "We have everything required to strike at the time and place of the president’s choosing." The cost inquiry was conducted at the request of the top Democrat on the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee, Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania. “Donald Trump’s disastrous war in Iran has already taken the lives of brave American servicemembers and left others wounded," Boyle said in a statement. "Beyond that human toll, this nonpartisan CBO report makes clear that the war has also cost American taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and counting, while continuing to drive up costs." Eighteen U.S. military service members have died in the Iran war. The report did not include costs of recent strikes on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on U.S. military installations in the region. It also did not factor in the borrowing expenses associated with financing the war, which could add tens of billions of dollars to the total cost. IMPACT ON US READINESS The CBO accounting found the war could have sprawling consequences for the U.S. defense posture and the domestic economy. The deficit in critical munitions, including missile interceptors, risks hampering the Pentagon's response in the event of another major conflict, such as potential hostilities involving China and Taiwan, CBO said. At the July hearing in the Senate, Hegseth pleaded for nearly $90 billion in emergency funding to restock munitions supplies. “Without these funds, we face critical shortfalls,” Hegseth said. The Pentagon’s inspector general reported this week that Iran had damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings on U.S. bases in the Middle East as well as aircraft including fighter jets, refueling planes and drones. It put the war cost through June 19 at $33.4 billion, saying the amount included about $184 million in damages to U.S. diplomatic facilities from Iranian strikes. Energy shocks caused by attacks in the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway through which roughly 20% of the world's oil traveled before the war — and on energy facilities in neighboring Gulf countries have sharply increased prices for consumers and global producers. The rising cost of the war also threatens to weigh on deteriorating U.S. fiscal health. The nation's total public debt surpassed $40 trillion in August. Trump regularly contrasts the Iran war with the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan that followed the September 11, 2001, attacks. The eight-year U.S. war in Iraq, which involved more than 100,000 ground troops at its peak, cost $2 trillion, Reuters reported. The two-decade-long U.S. conflict in Afghanistan, which also involved more than 100,000 troops at its most intense,cost $2.3 trillion, according to Brown University's Costs of War project. Reporting by Jacob Bogage; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman
Photos are all undated--more in CBS report linked below Attached File Attached File Full CBS news story New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks. The images were sent to CBS News by active service members on condition of anonymity because of rigid media restrictions within the military. "This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public," one deployed service member told CBS News. "We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face." One photo, taken at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia, shows a direct hit on the back half of a Boeing E-3 Sentry four-engine aircraft, its tail severed from the charred fuselage that also supported a rotating radar that is essential for collecting midair intelligence. Undated photo of trailers destroyed by Iranian strike, Camp Buehring, Kuwait Other photos taken from the base show hollowed-out buildings and barracks whose shells ironically stand next to unaffected cement "T-wall" structures, which were once regarded as critical fortifications against grenade and mortar attacks but proved critically ineffective against an aerial assault. Similarly grim pictures were captured at Camp Buehring in Kuwait, a major staging area for U.S. Army ground troops, armored vehicles and some aircraft; the post is located in a remote desert region far northwest of Kuwait City. The Defense Department's inspector general this week released a fresh report on the war in Iran that revealed "equipment losses" worth up to $3.7 billion — including nearly 60 aircraft. In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector general added that U.S. Central Command reported Iranian strikes at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan. The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment. "These are not 'squirters' getting through," the service member added, referencing language used by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the deadly March 1 attack on Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait that killed six U.S. troops. "We're not defending these bases. We're just watching them get destroyed."
Hamas Rafah Brigade commander Na'el Abu Abid, also known as Abu Atiya, was apparently killed in a strike in western Khan Yunis. Gaza reports describe two adjacent tents near the gate of the al-Sumud camp being hit. A suicide drone caused the first explosion. Two missiles were then fired at the site from an aircraft.
Full article WASHINGTON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's administration is planning to sell to Israel a munitions package worth $2.8 billion, which will include tens of thousands of highly destructive 2,000-pound bombs, according to a U.S. official familiar with the sale. The planned sale, which has been informally communicated to relevant congressional committees who weigh in on large arms sales, includes 20,000 MK 84s and 20,000 BLU-117s, the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. News of the package was first reported by the Washington Post. The State Department and the Israeli embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment. U.S. public support for Israel has fallen since the Gaza war began in 2023, particularly among Democrats. A June Quinnipiac University poll found 48% of voters and 66% of Democrats believe the United States is too supportive of Israel, up from 16% and 20% when the question was first asked in 2017. The 2,000-pound bombs have been regularly used by Israel in Gaza as well as in Lebanon, drawing scrutiny from rights experts. More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's military campaign, according to Gaza health authorities. A U.N. inquiry determined that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza, a charge Isarel rejects. Israel calls its actions self-defense, after Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in an October 2023 attack. The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran responded with its own strikes on Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. bases. U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed thousands and displaced millions. Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; editing by David Gaffen |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
A new Congressional Budget Office report on the costs of Operation Epic Fury was released today, and it contains a notable table detailing U.S. battle losses. The table lists the loss of two KC-135 Stratotankers and one F-35A. To date, the Department of War has publicly acknowledged the loss of only one KC-135, which was destroyed in a crash over western Iraq. The Department has also acknowledged that multiple KC-135s were damaged during an Iranian strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. The inclusion of an F-35A in the CBO's battle-loss table also appears to confirm the first combat loss of an F-35. Attached File Direct link to PDF of CBO report. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
This came out yesterday but I missed it Attached File
Full WSJ article referenced in X post The U.S. military fired up to 70 or more of its high-end air defense interceptors last week when Iran launched a missile attack on Jordan, U.S. and regional officials familiar with the matter said, a heavy expenditure that underscores Iran’s improved ability to target U.S. forces and challenge American air defenses. U.S. forces fired 60 to 70 Patriot interceptors to counter the attack, which consisted of about 20 ballistic missiles, some of the officials said. The U.S. also fired more than a dozen Thaad interceptors, one of the officials said. The expenditure is about what the U.S. has used in a full week at other times in the war, another of the officials said. The exchanges showed how air-defense math can favor the attacker and how Iran has adapted its attacks to force the U.S. to burn precious munitions. The nature of the attack made it more difficult to counter. Iran targeted American troops with warheads that separate into more numerous projectiles as they close in on their target, the officials said. The defenses didn’t stop everything. While no troops were killed in the attack last week, Iran managed to hit jet fighters and other aircraft at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, one of the officials said. Throughout the war, Iran’s attacks have grown increasingly complex, with the regime using different missile varieties, trajectories, maneuvers and warheads to try to overwhelm U.S. defenses, officials say. In July, Iran killed three U.S. servicemembers in one of those missile attacks on Jordan. Iran acquired high-resolution satellite images of the base from Chinese entities before the attack, U.S. officials familiar with the details of the incident said. “These types of new tactics that we’re seeing show that the Iranians continue to adapt, continue to learn, continue to experiment, see what works, what doesn’t work,” said Fabian Hinz, an expert on Iran’s missile force with Conflict Armament Research. A spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which oversees the Middle East, declined to comment. Jordanian officials declined to comment. “Reports suggesting that the United States’ munitions are depleted are completely false,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said. “The U.S. military remains the strongest and most capable fighting force in the world.” President Trump said Monday on social media that the U.S. has large numbers of interceptors in stock and is ramping up production. Lockheed Martin, which makes the Patriots, produced a record 620 of the interceptors in 2025 and has a goal of reaching roughly 2,000 a year. A new report this week by the Defense Department’s inspector general says the war “has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply.” The U.S. and Iran are locked in a race between Iran’s ballistic missile capacity and American stockpiles of interceptors to knock them down. Iran has managed to dig out missiles trapped in underground facilities by U.S. attacks early in the war and has recently resumed production of new missiles from stockpiled parts. The U.S. and its allies, meanwhile, face production bottlenecks that have put pressure on supplies of interceptors across the region, Arab and U.S. officials said. The war in Iran has drained American supplies of missile interceptors and highly accurate offensive weapons. Military planners worry the U.S. has rushed so many munitions to the Middle East that America’s ability to defend against potential threats from China and Russia has been diminished, The Wall Street Journal has reported. Space Force’s Gen. Chance Saltzman says more missiles ‘have been launched in the last three years than all years before combined.’ U.S. inventories in Europe of PAC-3 Patriot air defense interceptors and Atacms surface-to-surface missiles are deemed by some U.S. officials to be beyond critical and rebuilding the stockpiles could take years, the Journal reported. Adm. Brad Cooper, head of the U.S. Central Command, told CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” this week that he isn’t concerned at all about shortages of interceptors and that the military is ready for any contingency. The supply strains have set off a scramble for interceptors among Gulf and other Middle East nations in Iran’s crosshairs and has weakened Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russian airstrikes. A debate over munitions stockpiles along with diplomatic efforts at the time contributed to Trump’s decision in late July to forgo an intensive series of strikes on Iran that could have lasted two weeks, the Journal has reported. The Journal has reported that by mid-July, the U.S. had expended about 1,700 Patriot air defense interceptors and more than 200 Thaad antimissile interceptors in the war, officials have said. U.S. Navy ships had fired another 150 Standard Missile interceptors to take out Iranian missiles and drones. The Iranian attacks on Jordan grew out of an escalating exchange of fire as Tehran tries to break a tightening American economic chokehold. After Iran fired missiles that came close to U.S. warships in the region, the U.S. military responded by destroying five Iranian oil tankers. In response, Iran attacked U.S. troops in Jordan, taking aim at a target it has fired at repeatedly over the summer. “This has been the Iranian objective all along, to make the kind of the U.S. presence in the region unsustainable and costly,” said Hamidreza Azizi, a senior Iran analyst at International Crisis Group, a think tank based in Brussels. “So now it seems that Jordan is also not as safe as it used to be.” The attacks show how Iran continues to be able to use its missile arsenal to put pressure on the U.S. military and allied countries in the region. Any prospect of an escalation in the fighting is alarming to America’s allies in the Persian Gulf. They are concerned about their own declining stockpiles after repelling thousands of missile and drone attacks from Iran during more than six months of war. Gulf states have lobbied the U.S. for more interceptors since early in the war and have scoured the world for other sources with mixed results. At one point Israel sent one of its closely guarded Iron Dome systems to the United Arab Emirates along with troops to operate it.
Wall Street Journal: US authorities are investigating whether Iran carried out cyberattacks against at least two foreign tankers that were en route from the Mediterranean to the US and crossed the Strait of Gibraltar in August. The concern in the US is that Iran has begun to expand the confrontation in the Middle East using non-kinetic means to additional regions Article mentioned in X post At least two foreign tankers bound for American shores were targeted in cyberattacks now under U.S. government investigation, fueling concerns that Iran or other adversaries are seeking to widen the Middle East conflict, according to U.S. officials familiar with the incidents. A specialized team led by the U.S. Coast Guard that included Federal Bureau of Investigation agents boarded the two tankers in August after they arrived in the Gulf of Mexico, the officials said. The inspection of the foreign-flagged vessels “were designed to ensure integrity of the vessel’s operational and information technology systems following indications that the networks of both vessels were compromised,” according to Coast Guard and FBI statements. The boardings occurred on Aug. 21 and 24, the FBI said. The tankers were transiting the Strait of Gibraltar earlier in August when they were attacked, according to ship tracking data and one of the officials. That location, as well as the destination of the ships, is likely to raise concerns that the attackers were trying to disrupt a key maritime chokepoint or attack a U.S. port. The vessels were carrying oil and liquefied natural gas, raising the risk of an explosion, a collision or an oil spill. Ships run on integrated systems that, if compromised, could shut down the engine or force the crew to lose control of navigation. The Coast Guard and FBI declined to say how many cyberattack cases they have investigated since the war with Iran began. U.S. authorities haven’t confirmed whether Iran or another adversary like Russia or China is behind the attacks. But officials say they are concerned the recent incidents are opening up a new front in the seven-month war. Bloomberg News earlier reported one of the boardings. The U.S. and Iran have been locked in a battle to control the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway off Iran’s coast that allows for the transit of a significant portion of the world’s oil supply. Iran has attacked commercial ships trying to transit without permission or first paying a toll, prompting the U.S. to retaliate. The Iran-backed Houthis are exerting control over another critical waterway known as the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at the mouth of the Red Sea. Iran and its proxies have sought to choke off oil shipments to pressure the U.S. and its allies in the Persian Gulf. Similar to those chokepoints, the Strait of Gibraltar is critical for global energy markets. Each day, roughly 300 ships transit the waterway, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. Experts have warned cyberattacks on ships can be extraordinarily dangerous, depending upon the sophistication and the type of vessel involved. The Coast Guard has specialized teams trained to respond to and investigate these kinds of attacks. Earlier this year, the teams boarded several dark fleet vessels seized by the U.S. to ensure that the ships’ systems weren’t compromised before arriving in the U.S. or at other ports. “For a vessel that’s carrying tens of millions of gallons of crude oil, which is highly volatile, there’s always a risk of fire explosion,” Rear Adm. Jason Tama, head of the Coast Guard’s Cyber Command, told The Wall Street Journal in June. “The atmosphere in the tanks has to be very carefully managed to ensure that you’re not going to get a situation where there’s a fire explosion. And then there’s always a risk of an oil spill.”
Houthi @MMY1444 military spokesman Yahya Saree @Yah_Saree has officially claimed that Houthi forces shot down a Saudi @modgovksa F-15 fighter jet over Yemen’s Marib Governorate using a locally manufactured surface-to-air missile. Saree said Saudi F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets carried out more than 450 airstrikes this week after taking off from air bases in Khamis Mushait and Taif. He said the strikes targeted Taiz, Lahij, Al-Jawf, Hajjah, Marib, Saada, Al-Bayda and other areas, resulting in civilian casualties. He also claimed Houthi forces later confronted formations of Saudi F-15 and Typhoon aircraft over Marib as they searched for the wreckage of the downed jet, forcing them to withdraw. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
I am listening to a podcast that showcases national defense and energy, yet some of the statements do not match the realities. The first statement asserted that Saudi Arabia is exporting no oil. That is not accurate. While the pipeline has been damaged, the Saudis are shipping oil out via Hormuz and the U.S.-escorted convoys. The regards the Houthis and the closing of the Bab el-Mandeb. While the Houthis have moved into a more advantageous position to interdict the Strait, they have not so, except for Saudi ships. Maersk and Hapag are continuing with their return to the Red Sea. I am guilty as others in making mistakes, but I am not sure why these comments are being made when the evidence is out there.
A U.S.-contracted vessel was hit during an Iranian attack earlier this week, two sources told Fox News. The incident occurred "around the Strait of Hormuz," and involved four Iranian drones, and at least one missile. One of the projectiles struck the vessel and caused minor injuries, including smoke inhalation. The injured are being treated in a Gulf country. Some "U.S. personnel" were onboard. Take with a grain of salt.
Reuters reports that U.S. officials held a previously undisclosed meeting with senior Houthi representatives in Oman over the weekend, just days after the Houthis seized effective control of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandeb. The meeting took place at the U.S. Embassy in Muscat and was facilitated by Oman, according to five sources. The Houthi delegation reportedly included senior officials Mohammed Abdulsalam and Abdelmalik al-Ajri. According to two sources, the Houthis told U.S. officials they do not intend to attack American vessels and remain committed to the 2025 U.S.-Houthi ceasefire. One source said the Houthis also said they would not target Israeli ships or commercial vessels, with the exception of Saudi vessels. The meeting comes as Saudi Arabia seeks greater U.S. involvement against the Houthis. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly asked President Trump last week for U.S. military support as Houthi forces advanced along the Red Sea coast. Washington has so far declined to directly enter the fighting. Reuters says the State Department did not confirm the meeting, but reiterated that protecting freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and preventing terrorism from spreading remain U.S. interests. Full Reuters article U.S. officials met representatives of Yemen's Houthis in Oman over the weekend, five sources familiar with the matter said, days after the Iran-backed militia seized a strategic stretch of the Red Sea coast in a sweeping offensive that routed Saudi-backed forces. The meeting, which has not been made public, was held at the U.S. Embassy in Muscat, three of the sources said on the condition of anonymity. Two sources said that Oman's government, a longtime regional mediator, helped organise the meeting. The Trump administration designated the Houthis a "foreign terrorist organization" in March 2025, criminalising support for the group. But Washington has negotiated with them since, reaching a ceasefire in May last year after bombing the group for two months to halt a campaign of attacks on Red Sea shipping. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the Houthis had phoned his administration asking the United States to keep out of the Yemen war. Vice President JD Vance said on Monday the United States was in direct contact with the group, without giving details. In the meeting, which one source said took place on Sunday, the Houthis told U.S. officials that they had no intention of attacking American vessels and that they were committed to the 2025 ceasefire with the U.S., two sources said. One of the sources, a Yemeni, said the militia group also said they would not attack Israeli ships or any commercial vessels, except those belonging to Saudi Arabia. According to two of the sources, the U.S. side was represented by embassy personnel. One of those sources said the Houthi delegation included a senior official based in Muscat who is under U.S. sanctions, Mohammad Abdulsalam. Another source confirmed Abdulsalam's presence along with that of another senior Houthi official, Abdelmalik al-Ajiri. Asked whether the U.S. had met with the Houthis in Oman, a State Department spokesperson did not confirm the meeting, but said safeguarding freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and preventing the export of terrorism from the Middle East were core U.S. interests. Oman's embassy in the U.S. and senior Houthi official Abdulsalam did not respond to a request for comment. The Houthis last week seized effective control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coastline, including the historic port of Mocha, and Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb, or "Gate of Tears" strait, at the sea's mouth. The Houthis, who seized Yemen's capital in 2014, have fought against a Saudi-led coalition for more than a decade. The war had quietened under a ceasefire in recent years, but fighting resumed in July when the Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea in response to a Saudi blockade of Yemeni ports. Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump last week seeking U.S. military support amid the dramatic Houthi advances. Reuters has reported that Washington told Riyadh it would not get directly involved. Reporting by Timour Azhari in Riyadh, Alexander Cornwell in Tel Aviv and Gram Slattery in Washington; Additional reporting by Simon Lewis in Washington; Writing by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Andrew Mills and Peter Graff
Gaza
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Full WSJ article from X post Iran vowed to respond to a U.S. blockade by pushing more trade overland. On the ground, it isn’t going according to plan. Hundreds of Iranian truck drivers are currently stuck at Iran’s border with Pakistan, unable to send their goods into Tehran’s neighbor. They say they are facing worsening bureaucratic hurdles and costs, many caused by their own government. The same thing is happening at Iran’s land borders with Turkey, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan, dealing Tehran a self-inflicted blow and throttling trade through its few remaining economic release valves. Tons of stranded apricots have been spoiled because of the delays. Lucrative cargoes of iron ore, cement and bottled gas are stuck at entry points to the Pakistani and Afghan borders, truckers say. “Neither Iran is taking responsibility for the situation, nor is Pakistan allowing us to unload our cargo,” one driver says in a video posted by the Union of Truckers and Drivers Organizations Across Iran over the weekend. The economic war in the Persian Gulf is dictated as much by how much the countries in the region can move their exports over land rather than through the Strait of Hormuz. Some have found workarounds. Saudi Arabia is moving more of its oil west across the Arabian Peninsula. The U.S. Navy is helping some of the Gulf nations shift their oil through the strait. Iran’s attempts are faltering. The U.S. is isolating its economy with new sanctions and launching strikes on Iranian tankers in reprisal for Tehran’s attacks on its Navy, collapsing seaborne exports. In another setback for Iran’s plans to bypass Hormuz, the country’s Mahan Air, which is sanctioned by the U.S., said Wednesday that it was suspending flights to Oman and Turkey, state-affiliated media in Tehran said. Last week, the U.S. Treasury imposed new sanctions on companies it said were supporting Mahan, which operates cargo and passenger services. The U.S. blockade has also hurt Iran’s imports of basic goods, 70% of which normally go through the blockaded ports. Though humanitarian goods and food are ostensibly exempt, the reality is that shippers are reluctant to service Iran. Videos posted on social media last week show cranes at the Port of Shahid Rajaee, Iran’s largest commercial container port, at a standstill. Thousands of containers are stranded in ports in Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, transportation professionals in Tehran last month told the Mehr News Agency, which is affiliated with Iranian security services. Iran has tried to compensate by pushing more trade through other routes. Transits across the Caspian Sea have grown by 70% in the past five months, according to Iranian officials. Iran imports large quantities of its wheat, corn and cooking oil from Russia, according to commodities data provider Kpler and Iranian trading websites. “We are trying to turn this threat into an opportunity,” Hadi Haghshenas, the governor of the Iranian province of Gilan, on the Caspian Sea, told state news agency IRNA in late August. A freight railroad from Tehran to Xi’an in eastern China has jumped from once-a-week journeys to every three or four days since the blockade started, according to the state-controlled Tehran Times. Iran imports industrial machinery, electronics and automotive spare parts from China. But in a sign of how vulnerable the alternative routes are, Iraq over the weekend temporarily closed cargo terminals at the Iran border after alleging Iran had used its territory to attack Saudi Arabia. On Sunday, trucks carrying Iranian onions bound for Iraq were forced to turn back as a result, according to Tehran’s Central Fruit and Vegetable Market. Iran’s land borders were a mess before these latest closures, though. This summer, for example, the number of trucks going through Pishin, one of the main crossings into Pakistan, increased from about 40 vehicles to as many as 130 vehicles a day, local governor Rahimbakhsh Balidehei told the semiofficial ISNA News Agency. The result is that customs officers across Iran’s land borders are struggling to cope, Ehsan Malekzadeh, chairman of the Iranian International Transport Companies Association, told the Mehr News Agency. Malekzadeh said 3,700 trucks were stranded on the Iranian side of the crossing to Turkey, with delays reaching 20 days. At the main crossing into Pakistan, 700 trucks—mostly carrying bottled gas and cement—are waiting at any time, but only 40 are allowed to cross, according to the Baloch Human Rights Documentation Network, a local civic group. One driver told Iran’s official news agency IRNA he was stuck for days at the Pakistan side of the border with meat destined for Iran, where prices are spiraling higher. At the border with Afghanistan, truckers also complain they have to wait for days before being able to export Iranian iron ore, according to Iran’s Truckers’ Union. Iranian truckers trying to get into Pakistan say they can be stuck for several days without access to water, food or sanitation as temperatures rise to 122 degrees Fahrenheit, according to footage, published by the Truckers’ Union on its social-media account. The union said some bottled-gas tankers are crossing into Pakistan. But the Pakistani authorities asked Iranian drivers for the equivalent of more than $10,000 each to cross, an unprecedented amount, it said. A spokesman for Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said he wasn’t aware of any new charges or restrictions at Pakistan’s border with Iran. Meanwhile, at the border with Turkmenistan, the gateway to China, transporters complain of constraints tied to a lack of warehouses and of a proper registration process to bring goods by rail to China. One businessman complained it was increasingly difficult to bring in automotive spare parts from the Asian powerhouse. The rising costs are now adding to Iran’s worsening inflation problem. In some cases, the overland bottlenecks and diversions now contribute as much as a third of the price for common goods once they reach Tehran, Mohammad Reza Khodarahm, an import-sector expert, told Iranian economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad last week. Majidreza Hariri, the president of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, earlier predicted that the U.S. naval blockade would cost $18 billion a year in extra outlays. The cost of transporting one container from China to Iran costs $12,000 via land routes compared with $3,000 by sea, he told KhabarOnline, an independent website close to regime moderates. Much of these costs are being passed on to consumers, with unpredictable results for the Iranian leadership. Food inflation rose to 128% in August, according to Iran’s official statistics office.
A Hamas terrorist who invaded the Erez border crossing during the October 7 onslaught was killed in a recent strike in the Gaza Strip, the military announces. The strike on Tuesday in the Strip's north killed Sharif Shadi Ibrahim Labad, identified by the IDF as a member of Hamas's elite Nukhba Force. The military says Labad invaded Israeli territory and attacked the Erez crossing on October 7, 2023. A separate strike in northern Gaza on Monday killed Yusuf Saad a-Din Rashad Zain, a commander in the Nukhba Force, according to the military. The IDF says both terrorists had recently been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, as well as attempting to restore Hamas capabilities, "in a systematic violation of the ceasefire." "The terrorists were eliminated to remove the threat that they posed," the army adds. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Two years ago today, Hezbollah’s communications network was hit by one of the most extraordinary intelligence operations of the war. On Sept. 17–18, 2024, thousands of pagers and handheld radios used by Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon and Syria, killing at least 37 people and wounding more than 3,000, according to AP. Israel later acknowledged responsibility, with the IDF describing years of preparation involving Mossad and military intelligence. The circulating video reportedly shows a Hezbollah operative named Ali, blinded in the explosions, saying he remains proud of his sacrifice “for Gaza” and intends to continue supporting the organization through advocacy and social influence. The lasting significance of the operation was clear: Hezbollah’s supposedly secure communications network had been penetrated at scale.
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Iran is rapidly advancing the reconstruction of a nuclear facility that was previously bombed by Israel, according to satellite images cited in a report by the Institute for Science and International Security. The institute, known as ISIS, says that Iran has been "rapidly moving forward with the reconstruction of the Taleghan 2 facility," located at the Parchin military complex, some 30 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of Tehran. Taleghan 2 was struck by Israel in October 2024, during a retaliation for an Iranian missile attack on Israel earlier that month, and bombed again by the Israeli Air Force in March amid the recent war, after the military said Iran had been restoring the site following the first strikes. The IDF has said that in recent years, Iran used the site for "the development of advanced explosives and for conducting sensitive experiments as part of the AMAD Project," Iran's alleged secret nuclear weapons development program. Western intelligence has suggested Tehran carried out tests relevant to nuclear bomb detonations there more than two decades ago. In its latest report, the institute says Vantor Technologies satellite imagery from September 13 shows that "Iran has erected a tarp above the destroyed hardened buried facility, hiding the reconstruction activity that is occurring underneath from satellite view or aerial reconnaissance." "Significant activity can be seen throughout the construction site. Construction vehicles, including dump trucks, bulldozers, concrete pump trucks and concrete mixers, and cranes, are actively working to rebuild the facility," the report says. The institute notes that in June 2026, initial repair work took place at Taleghan 2, with Iran "repairing and placing concrete caps over the penetration holes caused by the multiple bunker buster weapons dropped on the facility" by the Israeli Air Force. The images show that Iran has also built a new "concrete apron reinforcement on the right side of the facility," which the report says will "provide additional blast protection from an aerial attack." Attached File Attached File Link to ISIS website |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
I think this is the UKMTO warning Attached File |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
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Attached File Attached File
BREAKING: Happening today in central Tehran, the capital of Iran, the Islamic regime has deployed thousands of IRGC terrorists and Basij paramilitary forces to parade through the city in a show of force intended to intimidate the public and warn protesters that the regime is prepared to mass murder them again if they take to the streets.
An Italian Eurofighter F-2000 was damaged in attacks on Saudi Arabia's Ta'if Air Base, also known as King Fahd Air Base, on Thursday night, September 17, 2026. Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto confirmed the jet was parked in a decentralized area of the base when it was hit. No Italian personnel were injured and no other Italian equipment or infrastructure was damaged.
Reuters: China presses Iran to help rein in Houthis after Saudi appeal, sources say DUBAI, Sept 17 (Reuters) - China has privately asked Tehran to help rein in Yemen's Houthis after an appeal to Beijing by Saudi Arabia following the Iran-backed group's military blitz in the past week, according to three Iranian sources familiar with the matter. Riyadh turned to China for help after the Houthis made rapid advances along the Red Sea coast and around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, moves that have left Saudi oil exports and shipping more exposed, the sources said. China has publicly called for restraint, dialogue and the restoration of safe navigation, but its private message went further than the public statements, they said. Beijing wants Iran to use its influence with the Houthis to help prevent the conflict spreading further across energy routes on which China, the world's second-largest economy, depends. The sources, who were briefed on the discussions and spoke on condition of anonymity, did not provide details of how the message was delivered or whether it was conveyed during a visit to China on Wednesday by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi. The sources said Tehran's response was that stability and peace in the region depend on ending the US-Israeli war on Iran. Chinese officials did not issue any explicit threats or indicate that Beijing would seek to pressure Tehran economically if it failed to use its influence over the Houthis, the three Iranian sources said. In response to a Reuters request for comment on this story, the Chinese foreign ministry said: "China does not wish to see regional tensions further spill over into Yemen and the Red Sea. Escalating regional instability is not in the interests of any party". "The sovereignty and security of all countries should be respected, and facilities vital to people's livelihoods must not be targeted. China calls for an end to actions that further complicate the situation and urges resolving issues through dialogue and negotiation," it said. Iran's foreign ministry and the Saudi government's media office did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment for this article. DANGERS OF A WIDER REGIONAL WAR China has been Iran's largest trading partner for more than a decade and remains the main buyer of its oil. Chinese purchases accounted for more than 80% of Iran's seaborne oil exports in 2025, averaging about 1.4 million barrels per day, according to commodities data and analytics firm Kpler. "Beijing is one of the few capitals that can still press Iran to rein in the Houthis," said a senior Western diplomat in the region. The Houthis, who emerged in the 1990s in opposition to Saudi Arabia's Sunni religious influence in Yemen, are armed, trained and funded by Iran, according to Iranian sources and Western countries, and form part of Tehran's anti-Western, anti-Israel "Axis of Resistance". Any threat by the Houthis to shipping in the Red Sea and through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait risks sharply worsening the global energy crisis since Iran started blocking the Strait of Hormuz and increasing the danger of a wider regional conflict. With Hormuz already effectively shut, sustained Houthi attacks on vessels or ports in the Red Sea would disrupt the Middle East's two main oil-export routes simultaneously, opening a new front in both the energy crisis and Iran's broader confrontation with the United States. Iran and its allies now exert pressure over both ends of the region's key maritime network, one of the sources said, adding that "China depends on both". Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute in Washington, said Beijing may oppose US pressure on Tehran, but its interests in the Middle East extend well beyond Iran. Roughly half of China's oil imports come from the region, while trade between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council states totals around $300 billion a year. "Iran can disrupt Hormuz. But at some point that leverage begins hurting the very power Tehran increasingly depends on," Vatanka said. CHINA'S DILEMMA It is unclear whether Tehran will act on the concerns raised by Beijing, according to the three Iranian sources. The relationship nevertheless carries significant economic and strategic weight for Iran as it continues to face hostilities with the US, they said. China is among the few countries with the financial capacity to provide the investment Tehran needs to sustain its oil industry and ease pressure on its economy, battered by war and sanctions. Beijing has also demonstrated its diplomatic influence. In 2023, China brokered the agreement that restored ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia after years of hostility. That influence has limits, however. Critics inside Iran have complained about the relatively modest level of Chinese non-oil trade and investment since the two countries signed a 25-year cooperation pact in 2021, particularly compared with China's growing investment commitments in Gulf Arab states. China remains a factor Tehran cannot afford to ignore, but two of the Iranian sources said Beijing's interests were only one consideration among many. Iran's decisions are shaped by competing strategic, economic and political priorities, they said. "Tehran and Beijing need each other. China is a factor Tehran cannot ignore, and Beijing wants Hormuz reopened and Red Sea shipping secured," the Western diplomat said. Analysts say the key test will be whether China is prepared to attach consequences to its demands. Ultimately, they say, the clearest sign of Beijing's resolve would be evidence that it is willing to use its leverage over Tehran. Additional reporting by Liz Lee in Beijing and Timour Azhari in Riyadh, Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Angus McDowall and Timothy Heritage. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
The Joint Maritime Information Center latest weekly report is showing the uptick in escorted tankers through the Strait. But the latest Iranian attacks will most likely have an impact on the numbers in the coming days as the Saudis are trying to push more oil through the Strait with the shutdown of the East-West pipeline and the Houthi blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Major wave of Yemeni attacks reported across Saudi Arabia Yemeni missile and drone attacks are being reported against Saudi military bases and other facilities across multiple regions of the Kingdom. Attacks have been reported in Jeddah, Taif, Yanbu, Al-Ula, Khamis Mushait and Jazan, with additional missile salvos reportedly continuing. Air-raid sirens have sounded repeatedly in Taif, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Yanbu as the attacks continue. This appears to be a large, geographically dispersed wave of strikes, spanning both western and southern Saudi Arabia.
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
The Saudi attack happened before the Houthis attacked Riyadh.
NEW: Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa was hit by Saudi SKYWASP kamikaze drones yesterday, modeled after Iran's Shahed-136. SKYWASP is Saudi Arabia's first domestically produced long-range kamikaze drone, a Shahed-136-style delta-wing UAV built by SR2Vector (Saudi-US joint venture) at ~$35K per unit with ~1,500 km range.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards experts visited Mokha’s port and airport and the Bab el-Mandeb area, Yemeni sources told Sky News Arabia. The sources said the Houthis had begun installing radars on hills overlooking the southern Red Sea and that Iranian equipment had reached Houthi-controlled areas along Yemen’s western coast. The shipments were unloaded secretly after arriving from the Somali coast, the sources said. The report did not specify the equipment.
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
War in #Yemen #SITREP | September 19, 2026 | One week after the collapse of the West Coast front, the rapid territorial losses previously seen in Taiz, Lahij, and Hudaydah appear to have slowed. Fighting has shifted into a grinding battle for hilltops and strategic positions, with neither side reporting major advances. The Houthis claim Saudi @modgovksa aircraft have carried out more than 700 airstrikes, while reported Houthi losses exceed 400 killed in action. For now, the front lines appear to be stabilizing, with both sides exchanging strikes and launching limited attacks rather than making significant territorial gains. Yemeni government forces @Yem_army_media report intensified operations across southern Ma'rib. The Third Military Region Command (MRC) has used artillery and drones against Houthi positions, troop concentrations, and vehicles. In the Al-Fulayhah sector, government forces say they repelled a Houthi infiltration attempt, killing 12 fighters and wounding others. Government aircraft also reportedly struck Houthi concentrations and vehicles at Umm Rish camp and Aqabat Mal'a. Meanwhile, the Southern Giants Brigades @SouthArmed @alamalika report strikes on Houthi vehicles, barracks, and trenches along the Al-Bayda front, as well as troop concentrations and military positions in Kahbub, near Bab al-Mandab. The fighting has become a war of attrition, with both sides trading strikes and contesting individual positions. There are NO confirmed major breakthroughs at this stage. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Two Hamas terrorists who invaded Israel during the October 7, 2023, onslaught and another member of the terror group's elite Nukhba Force were killed in recent strikes in the Gaza Strip, the military and Shin Bet security agency announce. A strike on Saturday killed Yahya Hamdouna, identified by the IDF and Shin Bet as a member of Hamas who invaded Israel on October 7. The military and security agency say a separate strike over the weekend killed Mohammad Rafa'i, a member of Hamas's Daraj-Tuffah Battalion who invaded Israel on October 7, and Basir al-Barsh, a Nukhba commander. The three terrorists had been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians, and acting to restore Hamas's capabilities, "in systematic violation of the ceasefire," the joint statement says, adding that they were killed "to remove the threat." West Bank
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Israeli security forces are preparing to carry out a series of "extensive" operations in the West Bank during Yom Kippur, following this morning's deadly shooting attack. The IDF is currently imposing a closure on several Palestinian villages in the Ramallah area, where the attack took place. Starting tonight and during the fast, the military says it is preparing to conduct dozens of arrest raids in the West Bank, including those suspected of involvement in today's attack. A brigade-level operation will also be conducted in the gunman's village, and troops are set to raid his home to map it out ahead of its planned demolition, according to the IDF. Forces from the military, police, Shin Bet, and the Civil Administration will also increase their presence in settlements and along main routes. Following the army's latest troop buildup, the West Bank now has the equivalent of 27 battalions, including special forces. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Attached File
Trump decided against ordering U.S. airstrikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis for now, after briefly telling the Pentagon to prepare strikes following a personal appeal from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to administration officials cited by the New York Times. Most of Trump’s inner circle reportedly opposed opening another front in the war. |
Robert A. Heinlein, Friday
Attached File
A crowded qat market in Ras al-Arah, near Bab al-Mandab, was hit by a large explosion today. Southern government sources point to a Houthi ballistic missile. Other accounts blame a Saudi airstrike. No casualties in initial reports. Weapon type and perpetrator remain unconfirmed.
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Robert A. Heinlein, Friday