Trump Thinking of Taking Over Strait of Hormuz, Says Conflict May End Soon

Fire Erupts At HF Sinclair Refinery In Tulsa Local media in Tulsa, Oklahoma, report that the HF Sinclair refinery, which has a crude-processing capacity of 125,000 barrels per day, has suffered a fire. This comes just days after another refinery fire in the New Orleans area. Fox 23 News reports that the Tulsa Fire Department is currently on the scene after a fire broke out at the refinery in West Tulsa earlier today. The refinery is critical because it primarily processes sweet crude, can handle some sour Canadian crude, and markets...

Bessent Warns Oman On Hormuz Toll Scheme, After Trump Threatened To 'Blow Up' US Ally On an official level at least, Oman remains a close strategic partner and key ally of the United States in the Middle East; however, that relationship has been severely strained this month amid apparent Iranian-Omani cooperation regarding a potential toll system for the Strait of Hormuz. This of course flies in the face of the US posture in the region. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is the latest top Trump admin official to chastize Oman: "The United...

Getting More Anxious By Bas van Geffen, Senior Macro Strategist at Rabobank We have another potentially eventful weekend ahead of us. A three-week extension of the ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon may ease tensions between the US and Iran somewhat, as Trump wants to avoid that this conflict undermines peace talks with Iran. However, there are still no indications that a new round of talks will be held, as both sides continue to blockade the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has continued to shoot at commercial ships that tried to navigate the strait,...