Brian Dabbs

Technology editor at POLITICO, former reporter with E&E/POLITICO, via National Journal, Bloomberg, East/North Africa

[Jana Choukeir @ChoukeirJ]

‼️ Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, posing a potent new threat to global energy supplies.

The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic's leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran's Houthi allies, two senior Iranian sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The sources said the Houthis had been informed recently of Tehran's request, which has not been previously reported.

They did not give further details on how it had been conveyed or whether it was after U.S. President Donald Trump’s threat to attack Iranian power infrastructure on Tuesday.

Iran’s foreign ministry and a spokesperson for the Houthi group were not immediately available to respond to Reuters' request.

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

good journalism by @imandylin2 et al: https://t.co/62h1l4uYTP

[Sophia Cai @SophiaCai99]

NEW: Inside the 24-hrs before WH slapped export controls on Anthropic
- Last Thursday, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy raised concerns about Fable jailbreak to Trump admin
- Friday AM, Sean Cairncross, Bessent, Susie etc. held WH call to discuss
- Then White House started reaching out to Anthropic to speak with Dario Amodei, who was at a wellness retreat.
- When Amodei was finally available past 1pm, he had three tense phone calls with a combo of ppl including Cairncross, Bessent, Lutnick, Kessler, Will Scharf, Richard Walters, and Walker Barrett.
-Amodei tried to clear up what he assumed was a misunderstanding. He defended the guardrails and distinguished between universal and non-universal jailbreak
- Cairncross and Bessent were unmoved and asked Amodei to take down Fable and work with the admin to fix the vulnerabilities. (A WH official said Amazon’s findings were run past the NSA and they felt they had “proof.”)
- Amodei asked for more time and info, but he made no commitments to pull the model
- Bessent told Amodei directly at one point that he was making a “bad decision”
- By Friday evening, the Trump admin imposed its export controls.
- “Export controls were a last resort after begging them for hours to work with us,” senior WH official said.

W/ @cheyennehaslett
https://t.co/0Rwny9md3p

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Price will spike in July because of this, per recent comments from @DanielYergin

[First Squawk @FirstSquawk]

US ENERGY EXECUTIVES WARNED THE WHITE HOUSE THAT OIL RESERVES BEING USED TO HELP CONTAIN THE IMPACT OF THE IRAN CONFLICT ON ENERGY PRICES ARE RUNNING DANGEROUSLY LOW, ACCORDING TO CNN.

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Great piece from @calder_mchugh on transhumanism and chips in the brain: https://t.co/aTKfhj6Fg5

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

"Chinese generative AI models accounted for about 15% of global market share in November 2025, up from around 1% a year earlier, according to AI model marketplace OpenRouter."

https://t.co/STEhCaHPPn

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Killer line from @Jack_Blanchard_ in Politico Forecast today: "Kings and queens are easily embarrassed — embarrassment being a fate worse than death in British society."

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Interesting quote from James Jeffrey in FP piece on Brett McGurk: "U.S. interests have been dramatically advanced by what has happened after the tragic day of Oct. 7...” https://t.co/UWsbrVk2NT

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Wow, this is incredible

[Jennifer Griffin @JenGriffinFNC]

Fox News can confirm that the 2nd crew member of the downed F15E fighter jet has been rescued and he and the members of the rescue team that extracted him from behind enemy lines in Iran are all safely out of Iran. That according to two senior US officials and multiple well placed sources in the region. The Weapons Systems Officer ejected along with the pilot when their F15E Strike Eagle they were flying was struck Thursday night (early Friday local time) in southwest Iran. 

The WSO used the SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training to evade capture, hiding on an elevated ridge after hiking away from the wreckage and putting out an emergency beacon.) US Special Operations rescue forces to include PJs (United States Air Force Pararescuemen (PJs) and many layers of elite rescue forces took part in the complex, layered mission to both find the crew member and also keep the Iranian forces who were hunting the American weapons system operator at bay. There are videos that have appeared from local eyewitnesses that show what appear to have been  injured and dead Iranian members of the IRGC and Basij who were looking for the downed American crew member. Fox has learned there was fighting on the ground but no Americans killed during the operation. “It was a very complex operation to retrieve the downed service member,” a well placed source briefed on the operation told me. Many different branches of the US military were involved in the rescue.

Fox News can confirm the A10 Warthog that crashed Friday was involved in providing cover for the rescue teams searching for the pilot. That A10 crashed in Kuwait (first reported by ABC Friday) but the A10 pilot managed to eject safely and was rescued. There was destruction of aircraft which have sensitive equipment on board, I am told, all part of this complex CSAR (Combat Search and Rescue) mission.

The F15E was pretty much destroyed on impact. Two rescue helicopters were hit by enemy fire on  Friday and crew members onboard were injured by enemy fire but managed to make it out of Iran.

There were a lot of elements to this rescue, I am told.

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Now #WTI is trying higher than #Brent crude and almost at Murban, what is going on #oilmarkets??

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Where these are headed is key

[Javier Blas @JavierBlas]

Everything suggests that at least ~4 million barrels of crude exited the Strait of Hormuz today. Largest outflow since the 1st day of the Third Gulf War.

(... And yes, that's a fraction of the 20 million barrels a day that typically left the SoH on any given day pre-war...)

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Kinda surprised @SecretaryWright has held on this long

[Dasha Burns @DashaBurns]

NEW: Trump is considering more changes to his Cabinet, according to four officials.

He has expressed frustration and disappointment with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer.

"He's very angry and he's going to be moving people," an administration official told @politico.

No final decisions have been made on Chavez-DeRemer and Lutnick, and Trump has contemplated firing people and then backed off before.

My latest reporting: https://t.co/jRrdYCqosH

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Energy crisis hits ride sharing in Singapore, only 40 cents now SDG, but likely would spike if fuel prices do actually rise dramatically, in the event of Kharg invasion, attacks on power plants/pipelines, etc

[Martin Kelly @_MartinKelly_]

Trump issues new, new, new ultimatum, after securing the passage of 20 Pakistan-flagged tankers following talks with a “new and more reasonable regime”.

Interesting that there are only 13 Pakistan-flagged tankers in the world, and none of them are in the Gulf. Also, 10 tankers haven't exited the Gulf since Trump's first announcement.

So, does this mean that ships are being re-flagged in preparation for exiting? Or is this a fabrication?

Trump warned if a deal isn’t reached or the Strait of Hormuz isn’t open, the U.S. may target Iran’s power plants, oil wells, Kharg Island, and possibly desalination facilities - no deadline on this one after the 48hr, 5 day then 10 day previous ultimatums.

Energy wars have already begun.

Overnight, a water desalination plant in Kuwait was attacked by Iran and Haifa oil refinery were attacked following claims that the US/Israel struck electricity infrastructure in Tehran.

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

The first third of this seems designed to boost Monday morning markets, and then…

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

Looks like a big win for China

[MarineTraffic @MarineTraffic]

COSCO vessels complete Strait of Hormuz transit after earlier aborted attempt

After aborting an initial transit attempt on Friday, COSCO’s ultra-large container vessels have now successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz, signalling a potential shift in conditions for commercial shipping.

According to #MarineTraffic data, CSCL Indian Ocean crossed the strait at 08:47 UTC, followed by CSCL Arctic Ocean at 09:14 UTC. Both vessels list Chinese ownership and crew details in AIS and are currently bound for Port Klang, Malaysia, as they continue their voyage on COSCO’s MEX service, linking the Middle East with the Far East.

The successful transit marks the first confirmed crossing by a major container carrier since the start of the conflict.

[Rajdeep Sardesai @sardesairajdeep]

Important: first conversation between Donald Trump and Narendra Modi since West Asia war began.

[Brian Dabbs @briandabbs]

https://t.co/zJpix4zDz6

[Javier Blas @JavierBlas]

Somewhere in the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin is rubbing his hands.

India is paying ~$99 a barrel for Russian crude Urals (including shipping costs). And since the US eased its sanctions on Russian crude, it's all legal.

[Al Jazeera Breaking News @AJENews]

BREAKING: Iran may allow oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz if traded in Chinese currency

🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/aC5ahhoVG4