AZ Perspectives

Isaiah 55:8-9

Psalms 56:3

What thoughts do you need to take captive today?

There’s no de-escalation here.

Some context on the magnitude of the OPEC+ supply outage.

BREAKING: To those asking what is burning behind the mountains north of Damavand, east of Tehran: it is an Iranian MODAFL complex where nuclear warheads for intercontinental ballistic missiles were designed, developed, and produced—intended for use against targets such as London. That complex has now been completely destroyed. U.S. Air Force B-1B heavy bombers carried out the strike. #OperationEpicFury #OperationLionsRoar

🇺🇸 U.S. B-52 Stratofortress en route toward Iran, reportedly carrying a full payload of 20 bunker-buster munitions. Stay connected, follow @MOSSADil.

Bab el-Mandeb Strait over the last 24 hours. A lot of tanker activities. Saudi is exporting ~4.5 million b/d because of the East-to-West pipeline. Source: @MarineTraffic

Strait of Hormuz over the last 24 hours. Source: @MarineTraffic

🔴NOW Iran demands compensation from UAE for “facilitating US aggression”

Japanese Foreign Minister ‌Toshimitsu Motegi said that the country could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil supplies, if a ceasefire is reached in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. "If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up. This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be ⁠something to consider."

One person was killed in a suspected anti-tank missile strike on the northern Israeli border community of Misgav Am, first responders said, while the Israeli military said it was investigating the apparent attack by Hezbollah from Lebanon.

It’s always hard to have to watch or endure direct impacts and the aftermath of missiles hitting homes and civilians in Israel. We always knew it was coming and that we couldn’t prevent or intercept every missile fired. We can only pray for the victims, and sadly there will likely be more during this war. But it’s so important to remember why we’re fighting in the first place. Unlike what all the propagandists and haters like to throw out there, Netanyahu didn’t start this. Israel didn’t start this nor want it. But this war is the most necessary war in our history. Because our enemies haven’t stopped attacking for nearly 80 years, and they won’t ever stop until they achieve their goals of wiping us out. For Israelis this is a war of survival. We’re surrounded by enemies who worship death and seek ours. And even this war won’t end it. Many people are looking at the firepower of the US and Israel combined and thinking we’ve hit the regime and proxies so hard. And though this may sound controversial, the truth is we haven’t hit our enemies anywhere near hard enough. We’re fighting an enemy who has no value for human lives. They’ve even openly said it themselves. They would more than happily sacrifice 20%/30%/50% even 99% of their own people if it means they achieve our total destruction. For them, the deaths of their people is just PR. They don’t care. Not about women or even children. The death of our people is the prize by any means necessary. So toppling the regime may buy us a little time. But there will be another war. Then another. Because our enemies won’t stop. To end the wars once and for all will require us to do what I don’t believe we are prepared and ready to do today or even tomorrow. And the western world and their misplaced morality certainly aren’t ready for it. To end the wars we need to take out enough of them to make them stop. And that time will ultimately come at some point because we and the rest of the world won’t be given any other option. It will be “do what’s necessary, or be killed and wiped out”. You see, even if we take the idea that not all Muslims are evil and extremists and only a conservative 25% are, that means 500 million extremists are walking around. And if they had the ability to exterminate the 6 billion non Muslims off the planet in a heartbeat, they wouldn’t hesitate. Not for a second. Imagine them with nukes. For them it would be the greatest blessing for Allah. But westerners aren’t able to rationalize this concept. It’s so alien to them. A thousand years ago the west would have understood. But today the line between right conservatives and leftist liberals is blurred and difficult to always differentiate. Because both suffer from this faux morality that will cost them their lives to these barbarians. The time will come when things will change. And if the human species is to survive, that time must come. Because so long as such evil exists and spreads, we are all in danger and under threat. So for now whatever happens in the war will happen. It will go back and forth. Both sides will hit and be hit. Eventually there will be some end and “negotiations”, and it will only be a brief pause. The enemy will rebuild, will rearm, and will prepare to do even worse faster than today. They will gather and grow and come again with more force. By that time half of the west would have already fallen. The future isn’t bright. It’s bloodier than ever and the darkest days in human history are in front of us, not behind us. And there is no choice. It doesn’t matter if we want it or not. Our enemies demand it and won’t stop until they have it, or until we stop them, once and for all.

During COVID, Georgia's Secretary of State invented new election laws out of thin air via emergency orders—no legislature, no debate. The result? One of the biggest election disasters in modern history. We can never allow our politicians to risk the integrity of our elections again.

🚨 Game changer!! The top Basij commander, General Fuqit Immout, has fled Iran. Expect the regime to fall this week.

Two fires have been spotted in Havana, Cuba as the country faced a blackout for the second time in a week. The circumstances remain unclear at this time. Contributed by @AZ_Intel_.

Every geopolitical oil disruption since 1970. the previous ones looks small compared to what's happening right now. The current disruption bar? Nearly 5mb/day of crude supply offline. Matching the Soviet Union's collapse peak. But here's what's different this time: Every previous disruption on this chart was ONE event. 2026 is ALL of them simultaneously: Hormuz mined and paralyzed ☠️ Qatar LNG offline 3-5 years 💥 Saudi refinery struck 🔥 UAE facilities hit 💥 Kuwait refineries burning 🔥 Oman bypass hubs destroyed ❌ 50 years of geopolitical oil shocks. And we've never seen anything stack like this🛢️ I break down what this means for markets 3x per week. 📩 Subscribe now, I just published a new article. Link in bio.

10,000+ subscribers on The Merchant's News Thank you 🙏 When I started this newsletter I wanted to do one thing: Cut through the noise on oil, gas, LNG, metals and geopolitics. the objective is to frameworks what actually help me and you understand what's moving markets and why. 3 times a week I write about: 🛢️ The big moves in commodities and energy 🌍 The geopolitical events shaping prices and trade flows ⚡ The companies, bottlenecks and risks that actually matter We've covered many topics during this time 10,000 readers later, I'm just getting started. If you follow my work here and want the deeper version 👇 📩 themerchantsnews.substack.com See you inside

💥 What Just Broke the Global Energy Market? The strikes on South Pars and Ras Laffan didn't just damage 2 facilities. They broke something structural in the global gas market. I wrote a full breakdown of : ☑️ what actually happened ☑️ who's exposed ☑️who's winning from this. It also covers 3 energy positions and how this conflict is playing directly into each of them. Link 👇 open.substack.com/pub/themerchan… #oott #energy #LNG