Pentagon Hails Two US Merchant Ships Safely Exiting Strait, As Iran Vows Attack On US Navy Entering Hormuz

Erdogan Taunts Israel & Greece After Trump Hands Turkey F-35, Sanctions Win Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has responded to ongoing Israeli and Greek objections to the possible US sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey by mocking the Turkish enemies and rivals. Opposition to the potential stealth fighter transfer raised by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Greece’s Kyriakos Mitsotakis "has no place in my world," Erdogan said in his characteristically bellicose manner. "Hopefully, when the F-35s are delivered to Turkey, the whole world will say America kept its promise," Erdogan said at...

Three Levers China Is Pulling To Weather Gulf Energy Shock; How Long Can Beijing Hold Out? The new troubling development is that maritime chokepoint chaos spread overnight from the Strait of Hormuz to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, where Iran-backed Houthis targeted two Saudi Arabian tankers. The attacks expose yet another maritime chokepoint and risk further physical market tightening, forcing traders to price a larger war-risk premium into Brent crude futures and pushing the benchmark above $100 a barrel Thursday morning. Oil headed to Asia generally does not flow through both chokepoints....

India Set To Miss Budget Deficit Target As Oil Shock Strains Public Finances Submitted by Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com India may be on track to miss its target for budget deficit for the first time since 2021 as the oil supply shock pressures government coffers. The government of the world’s third-largest crude oil importer is preparing to exceed its own deficit target from early this year as the Middle East crisis is testing the resilience of public finances amid soaring energy import bills, an Indian official with knowledge of the plans told...