War on Iran - drives global fuel
market - toward supply crisis
August 19, 2:32pm
(Al Mayadeen English)
Global fuel markets face mounting pressure as the Iran war,
Strait of Hormuz disruption and refinery outages in Russia
and West Asia ..tighten supplies.
Global fuel supplies are coming under increasing pressure as
the US war on Iran and the confrontation surrounding the
Strait of Hormuz disrupt crude and refined fuel flows.
CNN reported on Wednesday that the disruption has expanded
from an oil supply shock into a broader fuel crisis, affecting
gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel markets.
"This... is man-bites-dog news. The market is screaming
that we’re short," Bob McNally, founder and president
of Rapidan Energy Group, told CNN.
Refineries across West Asia have been affected by the war,
while facilities that remain operational have faced
difficulties transporting crude and refined
products, amid the standoff around
the Strait of Hormuz.
The disruption is placing additional pressure on global energy
supplies as the United States continues its war on Iran.
Russia cuts fuel exports amid refinery disruptions
Approximately 40% of Russia’s refining capacity is offline
following Ukrainian drone attacks, according to Capital
Economics. The affected capacity represents around
3% of global refining capacity.
Moscow has responded to domestic fuel shortages by
extending bans on gasoline and diesel exports
through to the end of January 2027.
China has also restricted fuel exports
------- to protect its domestic supplies.
Beijing has reduced its oil imports, helping limit pressure on
crude prices, while simultaneously seeking to prevent
shortages in its domestic fuel market.
The disruptions have increased the importance of US
Gulf Coast refineries, which are operating at high
levels amid elevated refining margins.
US refiners benefit from fuel shortages
Bank of America analysts warned that the global fuel market
is entering a period of high seasonal demand..... with "very
little margin for error."
Shares of Marathon Petroleum and Valero Energy --- have more
than doubled this year, and Phillips 66 has gained almost 90%.
Major US oil companies are also benefiting from elevated energy
prices. ExxonMobil earned $160 million per day last quarter,
according to CNN.
The elevated refining margins come.. as households
and businesses face substantially higher fuel costs.
Gasoline and diesel prices rise
The US national average for regular gasoline reached $4.07 per
gallon on Tuesday, up 30% from the same period last year.
Diesel prices have increased by 48% year-over-year, increasing
costs across agriculture, freight, rail transportation, and other
sectors dependent on diesel fuel.
Research from Brown University’s Climate Solutions Lab
estimates that higher diesel prices -------- have cost US
consumers nearly $40 billion since the war began.
Jet fuel prices have also risen by more than 70%
over the past year. Airlines have responded by
raising fares and baggage fees and reducing
less profitable flights.
"The consumer-facing impact --- is showing up at the pump
and at the airport, and that --- is where the pressure is
going to build from here," Rystad Energy analysts
wrote last week.
Energy crisis adds to pressure on US economy
The continued disruption risks keeping fuel prices elevated
and adding to inflationary pressures in the United States
and other economies.
CNN reports that Bank of America said diesel prices are likely
to remain near cycle highs... if the supply problems affecting
West Asia, China, and Russia continue.
"Unless Middle East, China and/or Russia supply issues are
resolved, diesel prices are likely to remain near cycle
highs, with a further upside risk if inventories
continue to draw into the winter,"
the Bank of America said.
The developments come as Washington continues
its war on Iran and attempts to exert pressure
around the Strait of Hormuz.
The resulting disruption has exposed the economic costs
of the US escalation, with the effects extending from
global energy markets... to consumers, transport,
and overall industrial activity.
Source: CNN
_______________________________
Yemeni armed forces impose
‘3 new equations’ --- on
Saudi Arabia
August 19, 1:48pm
(PressTV)
The Yemeni armed forces have announced a major strategic shift,
declaring that they have reached a level of military capability
that allows them to dictate regional equations.
In a comprehensive statement, the military spokesperson
Brigadier General Yahya Saree detailed how Yemen has
successfully imposed three strategic realities on the
Saudi regime, marked by a highly effective and
crippling maritime blockade.
"We have reached a level of power where we dictate the equations,
and with the help of God, we have successfully imposed three
equations on the Saudi enemy."
These three pillars, he stated, are: "blockade for blockade,"
the ability to strike Saudi military buildups anywhere, and
the absolute protection of Yemeni sovereignty against
any aerial or territorial breaches.
Since the maritime ban on Saudi vessels was announced on July 20,
and as of August 19, Yemeni forces have directly targeted eight
Saudi oil tankers, five in the Red Sea and three in the Gulf
of Aden and the Arabian Sea.
Furthermore, the Yemeni military has intercepted and forced 48
Saudi oil tankers to turn back, effectively halting the enemy's
maritime logistics.
Of these, 34 vessels were blocked in the Arabian Sea and
Indian Ocean, while 14 were turned back in the Red Sea.
To enforce the defense of Yemeni sovereignty, specifically in
response to Saudi aggression against Sana'a International
Airport and Hodeidah Port, & ongoing airspace violations
over Saada and Hajjah, Yemeni forces launched nine
military operations.
These strikes targeted vital locations including Yanbu,
Najran, Jizan, Abha, and critical oil facilities in Saudi
Arabia's Eastern Province.
Additionally, to enforce the equation of striking enemy
buildups, the armed forces conducted 14 operations
targeting Saudi military concentrations in Ruweis,
Al-Wade'a, Al-Wadiah, Marib, and Mocha, as well
as equipment transport vessels.
The spokesperson - reported significant tactical successes resulting
from these operations, including the death and injury of hundreds of
Saudi troops and officers, the burning & destruction of numerous
military warehouses & equipment belonging to Saudi buildups,
the sinking and burning of two Saudi military landing ships
transporting weapons and troops in Mocha, and the
neutralization of more than ten Saudi-directed
warboats that were engaged in piracy and
plunder in the Red Sea.
Ultimatum ---- to Riyadh
The statement concluded with a warning to the Saudi regime, that
any all-out escalation will be met with a comprehensive response.
The Yemeni armed forces said Riyadh has no choice - but to lift the
siege, implement existing agreements, pay the salaries of Yemeni
public servants, withdraw the occupying forces -- and return the
nation's wealth to its people.
A humanitarian warning was also issued to Yemenis who have been
coerced or deceived into joining Saudi-backed military camps,
urging them to defect and return home, to avoid becoming
unintended casualties.
The current maritime blockade is a direct response to the
devastating, years-long siege imposed on Yemen by the
Saudi-led coalition.
For nearly a decade... the coalition has enforced a crippling land,
sea, and air blockade, which the United Nations has repeatedly
said is a primary driver of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
This siege has deliberately targeted Yemen's ability to import food,
fuel, and medicine, while simultaneously attempting to plunder
the nation's oil and gas resources.
Utilizing their advanced asymmetric naval capabilities, including
drones and missiles, Yemen has shifted from a purely defensive
posture ---- to an active pressure campaign.
This strategy is designed to inflict direct economic and military
costs on the Saudi regime until the siege is permanently lifted,
the war is ended, and Yemen's full sovereignty ---- is restored.
_________________________________________
Speaker Qalibaf hails Iraqi Resistance - as
major source of strength for Iran and Iraq
August 19, 1:19pm
(PressTV)
Iranian parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, says
the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has become a major source
of strength for both Iran and Iraq, stressing --- that the
resistance discourse has expanded beyond the
region ....and gained a global reach.
Qalibaf was speaking on Wednesday... after arriving in Baghdad at
the head of a parliamentary delegation, while visiting the site at
Baghdad airport, where Iran and Iraq’s two iconic anti-terror
commanders, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and
Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were assassinated in a US
drone strike in January 2020.
“I begin my visit from the site where two great men from the history
of Iran and Iraq were assassinated,” Qalibaf said, describing the
location as an important symbol of the shared history of the
two nations, and their common struggle.
He said the assassination site represented a confrontation between
the “front of truth and the front of falsehood,” slamming the United
States for targeting Soleimani and al-Muhandis after failing to
prevent the expansion of the resistance movement.
Qalibaf said the two commanders had played a role in fighting Daesh
(ISIS) and protecting Iraq, Iran and the wider region from the group.
“Did the assassination.... halt the power and influence of
the resistance?” he asked, arguing that developments
across the region, demonstrate that the resistance
movement continues to gain influence.
“Everyone ---- witnessed the power of Iran’s resistance
during the recent US-Israeli aggression,” Qalibaf said.
“Resistance in Iraq is also one of the elements of this country’s
power. Over the years, the discourse of resistance has gone
beyond the borders of Iran and Iraq and the region and
has become global.”
He also said the regional security order is changing
following the recent aggression against Iran.
According to the Parliament speaker, foreign and extra-regional
powers are losing their influence over regional affairs, while US
forces are seeking an orderly withdrawal from the region.
He also said that Israel had no future in the region and would
not be able to realize its vision of controlling territory
“from the river to the sea.”
He said his visit to Iraq was aimed at contributing to a new
regional order and strengthening cooperation among the
regional countries .....without foreign interference.
He highlighted the close cultural and religious ties between
Iran and Iraq as an important opportunity for expanding
bilateral cooperation.
Qalibaf said that during his visit, he would meet Iraqi government
and parliamentary officials as well as political, economic, and
cultural figures.
He also said he would attend, on behalf of Iran’s Leader,
a ceremony related to the burial of a prominent Iranian
religious figure, conveying the Leader’s and the
Iranian people’s appreciation to the Iraqi
people and officials....... for their
participation....... in the
funeral ceremonies.
He described the relationship between Iran and Iraq as “historical,
deep-rooted and unbreakable,” saying that the two countries’
neighbourliness is based on brotherhood, devotion to the
Ahl al-Bayt, resistance to foreign intervention
and a shared destiny.
“We will, hopefully, take major steps during this visit toward
consolidating our endogenous and shared security and
improving the welfare of the two nations,” he said.
“Our strength --- lies in our brotherhood.”
'Israel will not achieve its expansionist
goals, even in its wildest dreams'
In a social media statement, Qalibaf paid tribute to the late
Lt General Qasem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,
dedicating the current geopolitical shifts... to the
memories of the martyred commanders
of the Axis of Resistance.
Qalibaf declared, "Here is the fruit of
your jihad ...and your blessed blood."
Qalibaf underscored that the new realities shaping West Asia
are the direct legacy of their sacrifices and the enduring,
unbreakable solidarity between Tehran and Baghdad.
Highlighting a profound transformation in the regional balance
of power, the Iranian legislative chief asserted that the era of
Western hegemony in West Asia is rapidly drawing to a close.
"In the new regional order, foreign powers' interference
in the equations between states ......is receding at an
accelerating pace," Qalibaf noted.
He observed that the United States, exhausted by its
costly and failed military adventurism, is now
desperately seeking an "honourable
exit" from the region.
Further, Qalibaf declared the total strategic defeat
of the Zionist regime's expansionist ambitions.
He stated that the Zionist entity's grand project of territorial
expansion "from the river to the sea. . . has become mere
fragments of dreams."
Qalibaf arrived in Baghdad on Wednesday at the head of
a high-ranking parliamentary delegation, for talks with
senior Iraqi officials: on strengthening bilateral ties,
regional developments, border security, counter-
terrorism, and economic cooperation.
He was received upon his arrival by First Deputy
Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament, Adnan Fayhan.
Later on Wednesday, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Hibet al-Halbousi
received Qalibaf and his accompanying delegation at the Iraqi
parliament headquarters in Baghdad.
The visit comes.. as Tehran and Baghdad have stepped up
high-level contacts in recent weeks --- with the two sides
seeking to further strengthen their strategic partnership
and expand cooperation across the political, economic,
and security fields.