A Chinese shipping company called Sea Legend is reportedly opening an “Ice Silk Road” shipping lane through the Arctic to avoid the volatile Middle East and chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met in the Saudi city of Mecca on Friday to sign a pact called the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement.
The Houthi Iranian proxy terror organization in Yemen proudly announced on Thursday the alleged killing or injuring of hundreds of “Saudi enemy mercenaries” in a large attack on military assets associated with the legitimate government of Yemen.
Ship tracking data released on Monday showed six Saudi-flagged supertankers turning away from the Gulf of Aden and heading for southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen have declared a “maritime ban” on Saudi shipping, backed up by terror attacks.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), the de facto chief executive of Saudi Arabia, reportedly urged President Donald Trump to avoid turning the Iran crisis into a “wider conflict whose repercussions would affect regional and international security and stability” when they spoke by telephone on Sunday.
Saudi Arabia on Thursday held the first planning session for its proposed Red Sea maritime defense coalition which would secure the vital trading passage through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Gulf of Aden against piracy and terrorism, primarily from the Iran-backed Houthi separatists of Yemen.
A consortium of companies from the U.S. and Saudi Arabia plans a $5 billion oil refinery outside the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran is reportedly anticipating the first delivery installment of 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles within a matter of weeks, the fruit of a deal worth over $60 million arranged by a Hong Kong-based intermediary.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Iran are reportedly considering a plan to extort “fees” for safe passage of international shipping vessels in the Red Sea, modeled on Iran’s plans to collect ransoms for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry announced on Monday that it intercepted multiple drones targeting eastern oil facilities that were launched by Iran-controlled Shiite militia forces in Iraq.
With a pause in U.S. attacks stretching into a fourth day on Monday, Iran has shifted its aggression toward Saudi Arabia, and especially at sabotaging Saudi efforts to shift their oil exports from the Strait of Hormuz into the Red Sea.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is close to deciding whether to order a “massive attack” on Iran “bigger than ever before,” as the United States expands its military campaign against the Islamic Republic, reinforces its force posture across the region, and warns Tehran that further escalation will bring increasingly severe consequences.
The oil-producing nations of the Persian Gulf are stepping up their efforts to divert shipping away from the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been launching terror strikes on civilian vessels.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed dual attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea early Thursday morning as the U.S. military conducted a 12th night of strikes against Iran infrastructure – military and civil.
International and U.S. benchmark oil surged by over 4 percent on Wednesday amid renewed fears of supply disruptions, as Iran’s terrorist proxies in Yemen began implementing their “maritime ban” against Saudi Arabian oil tankers in the Red Sea, turning several ships away with threats of force.
Iran’s attacks on neighboring countries are causing massive disruptions of commerce and travel in Jordan, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, from reduced oil exports to canceled airline flights, even though most of Iran’s missiles and drones have been intercepted.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen on Monday declared a “maritime ban” against Saudi Arabia, implicitly a threat to attack Saudi oil tankers passing through the Red Sea on their way to the Suez Canal.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Wednesday threatened to cut off all supplies of Middle Eastern oil to the rest of the world, in retaliation for the restored U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist insurgents of Yemen on Monday condemned Saudi Arabia for allegedly bombing the airport in Yemen’s occupied capital city of Sanaa and launched missiles against Saudi targets to retaliate for the act of “blatant aggression.”
A cargo ship came under attack Sunday off the coast of Yemen in the Red Sea, the British military said, the latest maritime attack off the conflict-torn Arab country.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen declared “a complete and total ban on Israeli maritime navigation” through the Red Sea on Monday.
A report published this week suggests pirates from Somalia are once again threatening commercial shipping in the Red Sea, reportedly working with the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen to menace a trillion-dollar flow of seaborne oil.
The government of Somalia on Thursday announced Israeli ships are no longer allowed to pass through the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital passage that links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
President Donald Trump’s blockade of Iranian ports brings a tremendous amount of air and sea power to bear against the difficult task of ensuring that no ships enter or leave Iranian ports.
The idea that the United States might accept an Iranian fee regime in the Strait of Hormuz has produced something close to panic in the usual quarters.
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen claimed on Thursday to have struck Tel Aviv, Israel, with a “barrage of ballistic missiles.”
The Iran-backed Houthi insurgency in Yemen announced on Wednesday it has launched an operation called “Holy Jihad Battle” against Israel.
The Houthi insurgents of Yemen appear to have joined the Iran conflict on behalf of their arms dealers and paymasters in Tehran by launching missiles and drones at Israel on Saturday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that a long-term solution to the escalating Strait of Hormuz crisis would require rerouting oil and gas pipelines westward across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea and Mediterranean, bypassing what he described as Iran’s “geographic choke point,” as Tehran moves to impose tolls on ships transiting the vital waterway and restrict passage through the corridor.
The U.S. 5th Fleet said two sailors suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a fire broke out on a nuclear supercarrier in the Red Sea.
The shipping industry is concerned that the war in Iran could disrupt worldwide supply chains, far beyond the loss of oil and liquid natural gas (LNG) shipments moving through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthi terrorists of Yemen published an ominous video on Monday showing a ship on fire, captioned simply with the word “soon.”
Shipping giant Maersk announced on Friday that one of its ships successfully navigated the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait for the first time in almost two years, potentially signaling a return to using the cost-effective trade route after the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen shut it down with missile and drone attacks.
Shipping giant Maersk said on Tuesday that it was close to resuming shipping through the Suez Canal almost two years after terrorist attacks from the Iran-backed Houthi insurgents of Yemen forced many transport companies to avoid the route through the Red Sea that leads to the canal.
A ship caught fire Saturday in the Gulf of Aden off Yemen after being struck by a projectile, the British military said.
Yemen Houthi rebels claimed responsibility early on Wednesday, underlining the range of their weaponry and their campaign targeting shipping.
The Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen on Tuesday threatened to impose “sanctions” against 13 American oil companies, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Marathon Petroleum.
Internet monitors said over the weekend that widespread service disruptions in Asia and the Middle East appear to have been caused by damage to undersea cables in the Red Sea, off the coast of Saudi Arabia. It was not immediately clear if the cable damage was caused by deliberate sabotage.
Iran-backed Houthi insurgents in Yemen raided U.N. offices on Sunday, taking at least 11 U.N. employees prisoner, then launched a missile at an Israeli-owned oil tanker in the Red Sea on Monday. Israel Defense Forces (IDF) had killed much of the Houthis’ senior leadership, including their “prime minister” Ahmed al-Rahawi, in an airstrike on Thursday.
A smuggling ship loaded with migrants sank in bad weather off the coast of southern Yemen on Sunday, killing at least 68 of its passengers. Another 74 are still missing, while only 12 victims had been recovered by rescue teams as of Monday.
