Till now, no final decision has been made in Tehran regarding the MoU with the United States. Any agreement must pass through multiple layers of the country’s decision-making process. My understanding is that it has cleared most of the stages that facilitate approval, but remains bottlenecked at the final decision-making level. A long night of meetings is now underway, with the outcome still uncertain.
WOW, Trump administration has launched a probe into Iran war critic Trita Parsi and is considering to cancel his Green Card and deport him out of the country, The Free Press reports
Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central HQ has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all traffic, including oil tankers and commercial vessels, warning that any transit will be targeted.
- If enforced, this would not simply be a naval measure. It would mark the operationalization of a broader Iranian strategic logic that has been emerging in recent days.
- Tehran would be saying that if U.S. strikes reach Iranian territory, the confrontation will not remain geographically confined to Iran. The costs will be transferred to the global corridors through which energy, trade and military power move.
- In my view this is where Wahdat al-Mamarrat -the unity of strategic corridors -becomes crucial. Hormuz, Bab al-Mandab and the Red Sea are not separate files in this reading. They are parts of one deterrence architecture.
Together with Wahdat al-Sahat-the unity of fronts-the message is: Iran does not accept a fragmented war, where Washington and Israel can strike one arena while expecting stability in another.
- The key question now is whether this is political signaling or actual maritime interdiction. If tanker movements change, insurance costs spike, or navies reposition, then this becomes one of the most serious escalatory moments of the crisis.
#Iran #Hormuz #PersianGulf
@BrettErickson28 Fifth, what do you think of the advantage that Trump could declare victory—even if only temporarily—over Iran, which holds the strait as leverage? Actually, that is pretty much it, though.
Some of the "new" oil market watchers will look at this chart and say "there's 5M more barrels!" . . . this is what tank bottoms look like folks, it doesn't go to -0-
Takeaways from spending a day with some of the smartest energy people on the planet:
🛢️ The risk of a US product export ban is real if the national average gasoline price hits ~$5/gallon
🛢️the most important questions to come up at dinner were "how does this end?" and "why would Iran give up the Strait at this point?"
🛢️base expectation broadly is the Strait will NOT reopen soon as neither party is feeling enough pressure and both sides believe they are winning - military reopening not politically palatable and lacks European buy-in (you broke it, you fix it)
🛢️I believe the Kuwaitis, Saudis, and Emiratis will NOT ship through the Strait under an Iranian toll system. Incremental workarounds underway with more to come but will take years...Strait oil exports will never reach past levels
🛢️many expect US tank bottoms in July and US SPR to approach minimum operating levels in July/August (!) - the US has front-loaded emergency responses not having expected the closure to last as long as it has and now has limited recourse after July - Presidential jawboning has made the imbalance worse as demand has not yet been impacted. Regional product shortages are being masked (bring your own jet fuel)
🛢️skepticism around available data - China believed to be drawing from SPR even though satellite data does not show and Strait voyages OUT believed to be potentially higher than reported
🛢️how long will it take for production to recover? Weeks/month for majority (~80%) for KSA, UAE, Kuwait, the last 20% is the hardest, and big question mark for Iraq (~2.9MM Bbl/d shut-in) given geology and bureaucracy
🛢️biggest reason why the expected shortage has been delayed? Chinese drop in imports of ~4.0MM Bbl/d leveraging their SPR. Much skepticism around reported demand "destruction" of 5MM Bbl/d
🛢️Net/net: bullish near-term oil price with significant frustration on price action. "New normal" ahead with energy security priority 1, 2, and 3 = increased influence of Western Hemisphere (ie. Canada if we seize it). Many oil stocks discounting <$65WTI with an expected floor price of $75-$80 in 2027+
Five Iranian-trading LPG carriers have broken the U.S. blockade on Iranian ports. Four discharged in India, one in Pakistan.
All five used the same playbook, spoofing and AIS blackouts to mask loading and destination. Yet all signaled their exit and/or entry through Hormuz via AIS.
Three were already U.S.-sanctioned. A fourth sanctioned June 6. Two operated under false flags, making them legally stateless.
The crude blockade is holding. No Iran-trading VLCC tracked in Asia via Malacca, Sunda, or Lombok since May 4. But LPG is still getting through to India and Pakistan.
Via @Vortexa data and Windward analysis.
4-5 newly damaged and destroyed tanks in the premises of the Frushovaya oil depot after second consecutive Ukrainian strike on June 8th, as can be seen in the
@planet satellite image captured today at 11.55 local time. 10-12 after both May 25 and June 8 strikes.