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Geography
Middle East
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Saudi air defenses intercepted two drones over the Riyadh area on October 24th and a Houthi ballistic missile at dawn on October 25th, and Riyadh's airport is running domestic and Saudi international flights from two terminals
Iran's planning and budget chief says part of the country's war-damaged gas facilities is back in production, while urging households to cut gas use by 10 percent this winter
US Central Command has prepared options for renewed strikes on Iran after the November 3rd midterms, The Hill reported, citing unnamed sources
Iran has drawn up plans to attack Gulf subsea cables if the US and Israel strike again, two anonymous senior Iranian security officials told Reuters
The International Maritime Organization counted at least 27 attacks on merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz so far this month, the most of any month since the US-Iran war began in late February
Brent crude traded near $113.9 a barrel on Friday morning, after closing Thursday at its highest level since early May
QatarEnergy signed two long-term deals to buy 4 million tons a year of liquefied natural gas from US exporter Cheniere, with deliveries running from the early 2030s to the end of 2054
Saudi Arabia's stock index fell 2.3% on Thursday, its eighth weekly decline in a row, as a new wave of Houthi attacks on the kingdom raised fears the conflict could spread
The US and Israel are drawing up a plan to resume strikes on Iran after the November 3rd midterm elections, New York Times sources say
The US sanctioned Karnakis and Karnakis, a law firm in Panama and Greece, plus a ship manager, two shipping agencies and nine vessels over Iran's shadow oil fleet
Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it struck four oil-carrying ships in the Persian Gulf and set them on fire
Brent passed $111 after Houthi strikes on a Saudi oil field and an international airport, and the US ordered non-emergency staff out of the kingdom
Britain will fly Royal Air Force Typhoon jets on defensive missions to protect Saudi cities and infrastructure from Houthi attacks
Saudi Arabia is postponing the Future Investment Initiative, its flagship investment conference due next week, after Wall Street executives raised safety concerns, Semafor reports
Iranian officials told Reuters that Tehran is deliberately prolonging talks with Washington to weaken Trump before the November 3rd midterms
At least five of 23 ship incidents near Hormuz in the first two weeks of October reported engine-room impacts, which can leave a ship without propulsion for months, Bloomberg reports
The Joint Maritime Information Center counted 254 Strait of Hormuz transits in the week ending October 14th, about 70% below prewar, and found no substantiation for Iran's October 17th mine-strike claim
Iraq's prime minister, Ali al-Zaidi, ordered the Chazabeh crossing with Iran closed to travelers and goods, with other crossings to close gradually, media report
Conflict Armament Research, a weapons research group, says Yemen's Houthis are trying to get Chinese parts to build medium-range ballistic missiles
UK Maritime Trade Operations says most attacks on ships around the Strait of Hormuz go unreported
Brent crude briefly topped $110 as oil leaving the Persian Gulf fell to 8.5 million barrels a day
Gulf foreign ministers called for the Houthis to be classified as a terrorist group and for Gulf states to have a place in any talks with Iran
The UAE emirate of Fujairah sits at the center of the Gulf push to move oil around the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has attacked its ships, tank farms and port
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy says a second tanker has caught fire after striking a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz, following one Iranian state media reported earlier
22 vessels were attacked in the Strait of Hormuz between October 1st and 13th, more than in March, the previous record month, according to TASS, Russia's state news agency, as relayed by Iranian business daily Donya-e-Eqtesad
Egypt's President Sisi is seeking parliament's backing to help defend Saudi Arabia if asked, Radio Farda reports
Iran's Revolutionary Guard Navy says a supertanker carrying more than 2 million barrels of crude hit a naval mine in the Strait of Hormuz
Vitol, the oil trader, says accelerating crude exports through the Strait of Hormuz are not lifting output of the high-sulfur fuel oil that ships burn
The US Treasury sanctioned Iraq's International Development Bank for Investment and Finance, two offshore Iranian banks and four Iran-based exchange houses, and warned that foreign banks conducting significant transactions for them risk secondary sanctions, including limits on the US bank accounts they use to move dollars
Weekly crossings of the Strait of Hormuz fell to 131 from 176 in the week ended October 14th, the vessel-tracking firm Kpler said, in a week when a projectile struck and sank the container ship GFS Pride
Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia over the past week, including a strike on Saudi Aramco that started a fire across several floors, disrupted Riyadh's flagship oil conference and led top oil executives to withdraw, Reuters reports
Two Singapore-registered container ships were reportedly hit by unknown projectiles a day apart in the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf's oil-shipping chokepoint, and one, the GFS Pride, has sunk, Singapore's port authority says
King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, is closed to flights until 2100 GMT, or 5 p.m. US Eastern, on October 17th after attacks by the Houthis, the Yemeni armed group, one of which killed 13 people
A missile hit a Saudi Aramco administrative building in Dhahran late on October 13th, a company source says; the Saudi energy ministry confirms a limited fire and no casualties
Since October 1st, any person the US Treasury determines operates in Iran's automotive or rail sectors is subject to sanctions
US Central Command says it has turned around 135 ships and disabled four in three months of enforcing its blockade of Iranian ports
Yemen's Houthi rebels claim a Saturday strike on Riyadh's airport; a second hit Sunday brings the death toll there to 14, and Saudi Arabia says Dammam's King Fahd airport was also targeted
Saudi Arabia Wants the Hormuz Bypass Written Into Its 2027 Supply Contracts
A US fighter jet disabled a Panama-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman for running the US blockade of Iran
Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it will pursue ships on routes it considers unauthorized anywhere in the region, not just inside the Strait of Hormuz, after tankers were hit off the United Arab Emirates and in the strait
A Houthi attack on Riyadh's main airport killed 12 and injured 309, and Trump said the US might join Saudi strikes on the militias
Companies operating in Iran's car or rail sectors can now be targeted for US asset freezes
Gulf crude exports are back near pre-war levels even though 11 merchant ships have been attacked near the Strait of Hormuz since October 1st, by both Iran and the US Navy
A tanker was hit by projectiles 58 miles north of Qatar, with casualties reported, far from the Strait of Hormuz where attacks have been concentrated
Six of the 17 companies newly sanctioned over Iran's shadow fleet are based in China or Hong Kong
Saudi Arabia is negotiating long-term contracts to ship crude from outside the Strait of Hormuz, starting in 2027
Iraq cut the official value of its dinar about 14.5%, to 1,520 per dollar
The White House has asked the Pentagon for options to strike Iran before the November 3rd midterm elections, The Atlantic reports; the targets for that strike are still undecided
Saudi Arabia says attacks on its airports in Riyadh and Abha, a southwestern city near Yemen, killed 3 people and injured 36
Pakistan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia agree to put the Mecca Defense Pact's collective-defense commitments into effect and deploy forces rapidly to Saudi Arabia amid Houthi attacks
Five Hormuz incidents reported Monday, four of them tanker strikes; Iran's Revolutionary Guard orders a tanker off Oman to turn back or be targeted
Iran's oil minister resigns as the US says no Iranian oil is left at sea; Hamid Bovard, head of the state oil company and under US sanctions since 2025, is acting successor
Saudi Aramco chief warns the world's crude safety margin is 'dangerously low' and says less than 10% of declared reserves are actually available
Gulf crude exports are near pre-war levels but only 60% now cross Hormuz, down from 83%, Standard Chartered Bank says
Kuwait stripped citizenship from 415 people in one day, including businessman Mahmoud Haidar
Iran's oil minister resigned, citing personal reasons, after the US Treasury said Iran loaded no crude in September
Middle East crude exports outside Iran briefly returned to their level from before the Iran war
Turkish prosecutors are seeking an investigation of the former head of the country's markets regulator over an investment-fund scandal
Iran's business press says Israel is preparing for renewed fighting with Iran, citing unnamed Israeli media
Shipping Lines Keep Changing Their Minds About Whether the Red Sea Is Safe
A pilot Oman had barred over extremist views kept his license, flew for FlyDubai, and attacked the captain with a crash axe mid-flight
Iran's parliament speaker now puts seven conditions on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, up from six in August and four in September
The Iranian rial hit a record low past 270,000 to the dollar, down more than 31% since mid-July
A fire broke out at an Aramco refinery in Riyadh, and the Saudi-led coalition denies Houthi claims of a missile and drone strike
The US Treasury's sanctions office designated Tech-Trade International Impex GmbH, a German-registered company whose own sanctions entry lists a German trade licence number
FinCEN says Russia's A7 Network moved more than $17 billion in 18 months, and has proposed barring transfers through A7's sub-agents rather than A7 itself
Russia says Ukraine's defence-intelligence chief and drone-force commander ordered an attack on an Iranian ship in the Caspian Sea
Iran exported no crude at all in September as Hormuz traffic fell to one observed ship in a day and a half
Iran's business press is calling the near-total halt of Hormuz shipping a self-imposed rule, not the tanker attacks Western reporting describes
The Toll You Can't Legally Pay
Two Chokepoints at Once, and a Nigerian Refinery Is the Backstop
Nobody Is Waiting for the Hormuz Deal to Work
