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Oil crossed $100 a barrel on Saturday for the first time since the war began. The reason: Yemen’s Houthis fired dozens of missiles and drones at two Saudi Aramco refineries… setting one on fire and threatening the last export route Saudi Arabia has left. The Jizan refinery handles 400,000 barrels a day. NASA satellites picked up the heat spike at 4:17 a.m. Video showed thick black smoke rising from the site. The second target was Yanbu… which now handles 92% of all Saudi oil exports. When Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia moved its entire export operation to the Red Sea coast through the East-West Pipeline. Yanbu is the exit point. Hit Yanbu… and you hit the backup plan. Brent crude surged above $100… up roughly 40% over the course of July alone. Gas in the U.S. hit $4.11 on Saturday, up 11 cents in a single week. Both of the world’s most important oil chokepoints… the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab-el-Mandeb… are now under threat at the same time. That has never happened before. The Houthis said the strikes were payback for Saudi bombing of Hodeidah and Kamaran Island earlier in the week. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said they targeted “sensitive Aramco-affiliated facilities.” Saudi Arabia has not commented on the damage. The war that started between two countries now threatens the oil supply of the entire world. | |
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BREAKING A Greek Patriot Battery Intercepted Houthi Missiles Aimed at Saudi Oil Terminals — NATO Allies Are Now Defending Aramco |
When Houthi missiles reached Yanbu on Saturday, they were not stopped by Saudi air defenses. They were stopped by a Greek Patriot battery… made by the United States… stationed in Saudi Arabia under a military agreement between Athens and Riyadh. Al Jazeera confirmed that Greek troops operating the system intercepted two ballistic missiles aimed at the oil terminals. Greece is a NATO member. It is not at war with Yemen. Its parliament has not voted to defend Saudi oil. But its soldiers are running American-made air defense systems on Saudi soil… firing at missiles launched by a group that is fighting because Saudi Arabia bombed its country. The deal was signed quietly. No press conference. No debate in the Greek parliament. Athens sent the battery in exchange for what defense sources have described as a “significant financial package” from Riyadh. The Greek public was not told. A NATO ally is now defending the world’s largest oil company from a militia backed by Iran… using weapons built by the United States… in a war that NATO itself refused to join. No vote. No debate. No disclosure. Just a battery, a contract, and two missiles shot down over a refinery. |
EXPOSED Brazil Blocked Two U.S. Officials from Entering the Country — They Were Sent to “Cast Doubt” on October’s Presidential Election | |
Brazil denied visas to two senior State Department officials on Friday. The Washington Post reported that the officials… Riley M. Barnes and Samuel Samson… had been sent to “cast doubt on the fairness and integrity” of Brazil’s voting system ahead of the October presidential election. A Brazilian diplomatic source cited “risk of political exploitation.” The visa request was filed on July 20… the same day Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro, held a private meeting with foreign diplomats and questioned the reliability of Brazil’s electronic voting machines. Flávio launched his presidential campaign the next day. His father was sentenced to 27 years for leading a coup attempt in 2023. The State Department called the trip “routine” and said any claim of a “ploy to undermine a democratic nation’s election is a baseless lie.” Brazil’s foreign office said the visas were denied because the officials wanted to discuss “election integrity” with local authorities… a topic the Bolsonaro family has used to push the same fraud claims Trump used in 2020. The same day the visas were denied, new U.S. tariffs on thousands of Brazilian exports took effect… ranging from 25% to 37.5%. The country that lectures the world about democracy just had its election envoys turned away at the border. | |
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DEVELOPING The U.S. Military Did Not Bomb Iran on Friday — the First Night Without Strikes in Two Weeks |
On Friday, for the first time since the bombing resumed on July 7, CENTCOM did not announce new strikes on Iran. It was the first quiet night in two weeks. No new targets. No damage reports. No press release. The Pentagon did not explain the pause. Separately, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that mediators had proposed a 10-day ceasefire. Iran has not said whether it has accepted. The U.S. has not commented. Oil dipped briefly on the report before surging past $100 after the Houthi strikes on Saturday. During the two-week stretch of strikes, CENTCOM hit more than 300 targets across Iran… including air defense systems, coastal radar, bridges, and Revolutionary Guard boats. Iran says more than 50 of its people have been killed and over 500 wounded. Sixteen American troops are dead. More than 430 are wounded. The pause may mean a deal is forming. Or it may mean the U.S. is shifting targets. Or it may mean nothing at all. What it does not mean is that the war is over. On the same day the bombs stopped, the Houthis hit Aramco. Oil crossed $100. And gas kept climbing. The machine can stop firing. It cannot stop the chain of events it already set in motion. |
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They rely on the shadows. |