mostafa hail
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Iran has demanded compensation from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, according to state media.

BREAKING: Two oil tankers executed 180-degree turns at the Strait of Hormuz within minutes of the US naval blockade taking effect, per MarineTraffic AIS data and CBS News. The Rich Starry, flagged in landlocked Malawi, turned back approximately 20 minutes after the blockade began. The vessel had departed Sharjah Anchorage in the UAE with a signalled destination of China. The Ostria, flagged in landlocked Botswana, turned around at the same time as the blockade went into effect.

Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure is proving resilient: Crude exports from Yanbu terminals are running at ~4.0 million barrels per day, 4 times the levels seen at the end of February. In the last days of March, shipments along the 746-mile pipeline that carries crude from eastern oil fields to the Red Sea coast were as much as 4.5 million barrels per day. This is despite a drone strike last week that damaged one of 11 pumping stations, reducing throughput by ~700,000 barrels per day. Saudi Arabia has since restored the pipeline to its full capacity of 7 million barrels per day, with ~2 million consumed domestically and up to 5 million available for export. The pipeline is now the most significant alternative route for crude exports, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia is ramping up oil exports.

According to @IranIntl, the #Iran central bank has warned President Pezeshkian that unless the current conditions change, because of the current war, inflation will reach 180% and 2 million people will become unemployed. The report adds that the economic damages will take 12 years to repair. The governor of Iran's central bank has advised the government to come to an agreement with the U.S. and lift internet restrictions. iranintl.com/202604139767

🇲🇾 Malaysia just seized two tankers caught doing illegal ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Malacca Strait, the same waters where Russian and Iranian crude quietly changes hands out of sight. The U.S. blockades Hormuz. Malaysia cleans up the backdoor. The shadow fleet is having a very bad week.


Saudi Arabia is pressing the U.S. to drop its blockade of Hormuz, fearing President Trump’s move to close it off could lead Iran to escalate and disrupt other important shipping routes on.wsj.com/4efSCxe


@glcarlstrom It is not about discounted oil indeed. For China it’s strategic partnership with Iran is about hurting the US which is their first priority, and far more important than GCC, as shown is this war too. Gulf monarchies very disappointed with Beijing.




Iran's Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf had impressed the American team as a “refined and professional bargainer, and potential leader of a new Iran.” Source: David Ignatius, WaPo



Absent from all reporting on the Islamabad discussions, and from subsequent accounts of the US negotiating position, is Iran's missile program. Before the war, the US was demanding Iran put limits on the amount and range of its ballistic missiles. Have those demands been dropped?



The IRGC's decision to weaponize the Strait of Hormuz ranks among the most consequential miscalculations in the regime's history. Iran anticipated two outcomes from the Hormuz strategy: 1. A global economic shock severe enough to force Washington to back down 2. To use disruption in the Strait to fracture the alignment between Washington and its Gulf partners, demonstrating that American military operations imposed an unbearable cost on regional stability What the IRGC failed to account for was the weight of the political debt it had accumulated across the Arab world. The Gulf States reinforced the American posture directly, and the political dividend Tehran had assumed would follow from economic disruption never materialized. In the IRGC's misery there is Washington's opportunity. Properly leveraged, Trump's blockade could unlock a broader regional consolidation, @zriboua writes. Read in @TheFP: thefp.com/p/iran-needs-t…

1/10 The U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would cost Iran approximately $276M/day in lost exports and disrupt $159M/day in imports, a combined economic damage of ~$435M/day, or $13B/month. Over 90% of Iran's $109.7B in annual trade transits the Persian Gulf. Oil/gas accounts for 80% of government export earnings and 23.7% of GDP. Kharg Island alone generates ~$53B/year, or as I noted to @TIME, "$78 billion a year in energy revenue.








