by Michael Snyder
"Those that boldly proclaimed that the global energy crisis was over have been proven dead wrong. Within the past 24 hours, the Iranians have attacked numerous commercial vessels that were attempting to travel through the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranians have told the world over and over again that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will never go back to the way that it was before the war, and they mean it. Any commercial vessels that want to go through the Strait must get permission from Iran and they must travel a very specific route that has been authorized by the Iranians. Any vessels that do not meet those requirements are subject to attack.
The rest of the world can never accept permanent Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, and that is just one of the reasons why this war is far from over. For now, the Iranians are running the show in the Strait, and CNN is reporting that three commercial vessels have been attacked…"Iran fired on three commercial vessels Tuesday in Oman’s territorial waters near the Strait of Hormuz, according to a US official. The official described the strikes as a “gross violation” of the memorandum of understanding with Iran. The third strike had not previously been reported. The US has a broad range of potential responses to the alleged violations and is considering all of them, according to the official."
I agree that this is a very serious violation of the Memorandum of Understanding. But the Iranians are going to keep doing it until somebody forces them to stop. Just a little while ago, there were reports that a fourth commercial vessel has now been attacked by Iran…
These guys are not bluffing. Just two days ago, the Iranians once again made it very clear that any commercial vessels that attempted to travel through the Strait of Hormuz using the “Omani route” would be subject to attack…"On Sunday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) warned that its navy deployed patrol boats to block the “Omani route,” Iranian media and a Telegram channel affiliated with the IRGC said. In its report on the alleged attack, Iran’s Fars News Agency cited its sources as claiming the tanker had been attempting to transit the “Omani route.”
When your enemies tell you exactly what they intend to do, you should believe them. In response to the latest attacks, the Trump administration has already “revoked a waiver allowing Iran to sell oil and petrochemicals”…"The Treasury Department on Tuesday afternoon revoked a waiver allowing Iran to sell oil and petrochemicals, prohibiting Iran from a significant revenue source negotiated during recent talks and again escalating the tensions between the two sides. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said the action is effective Tuesday. The waiver the U.S. issued last month as part of the 14-point memorandum of understanding allowed Iran to sell oil as talks continued."
It is likely that this won’t be the only response. Many are expecting renewed U.S. military action against Iran in the coming hours. The Memorandum of Understanding is coming apart at the seams right in front of our eyes, and President Trump has warned that if Iran doesn’t make a deal he will “finish the job”… “And it won’t be tough to finish the job. I’d rather make a deal because I don’t want to affect 91 million people,” the President said.
“We can knock down their bridges in one hour. We can knock out their energy supply. All of those big plants that they built, big, beautiful, modern plants. They had a lot of money. They don’t have any money now. We haven’t given them any money. But we can knock out their electricity and power-generating plants in, I would say, a small part of an afternoon. Every plant will be gone, and they know that.”
Unfortunately, no negotiations between the United States and Iran are happening right now, and the Iranians are warning that they won’t even begin if Trump keeps making threats…"Iran’s foreign minister said Tuesday that Tehran will not resume negotiations if threats continue, a day after President Trump said the U.S. would “finish the job” if no peace deal is struck. In a social media post, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said neither the Iranian people nor the Islamic Republic’s military would be “moved by any threats,” without referencing Mr. Trump’s comments specifically.
“Negotiations on final Deal will not commence if threats continue,” Araghchi warned, citing the memorandum of understanding signed by President Trump and his Iranian counterpart in mid-June, which calls for both sides to “refrain from the threat or use of force against each other.”
I don’t mean to spoil the ending for those of you that still want to be surprised, but there isn’t going to be peace in the Middle East. And that means that the global energy crisis is going to continue to intensify.
Last week, the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve dropped to the lowest level that we have seen since April 1983…"The United States is burning through its emergency oil stash at a pace that hasn’t been seen in over four decades. Strategic Petroleum Reserve inventories have dropped to 319.5 million barrels as of July 3, the lowest level since April 1983.
The most recent weekly draw pulled 6.2 million barrels out of the reserve, part of a broader government initiative to release up to 172 million barrels. The goal: address global supply gaps driven by the ongoing conflict with Iran and try to keep domestic fuel prices from spiraling further out of control."
This is not good news at all. On Friday, I shared a tweet from Chris Martenson with my paid subscribers that contained some extremely alarming numbers…
This is how close to disaster we really are at this stage. Commercial oil inventories in the U.S. also continue to decline…"U.S. crude stocks fell to their lowest last week since 2018 as domestic refinery demand rose, while gasoline inventories also fell ahead of the July 4 holiday weekend, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. Commercial crude inventories fell by 3.8 million barrels to 408.4 million barrels last week, the lowest level since September 2018, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 4.5 million-barrel draw."
We had a very large cushion when the war with Iran began. Now that cushion is much, much smaller. If you would like to get an idea of where things could eventually be heading, just check out what has happened to gasoline prices in Alaska…"John Stelling had just cranked the digits of his fuel pump to $9.10 at his gas station in this remote Alaskan community when he realized he had a problem. Could he push the meter to $10 if he had to? “Not sure if it’ll handle those,” he said of double-digit fuel prices.
In rural Alaska, the war with Iran has led to some of the highest fuel prices in the nation. Remote towns and villages aren’t connected to the road system, so they pay hefty premiums to procure gasoline, heating oil and diesel for cranking out electricity.
When I was in my early twenties, there were times when I would keep running my vehicle even though the gas gauge was sitting on empty. That was a very foolish thing to do. But now we are literally doing the same thing as a nation. The party is about to end my friends. The final countdown is upon us, and things are going to get so crazy in the months ahead. Sadly, even though what is transpiring in the Middle East should be obvious to everyone, most people in the western world are still convinced that everything will work out just fine somehow."
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