World War III thread

[Brent]

The States launched Project Freedom to guide tankers through Hormuz. No help from Europe despite the EU benefitting from it.

[Herman]

The States launched Project Freedom to guide tankers through Hormuz. No help from Europe despite the EU benefitting from it.

Ships are getting through.

[DKG]

Iran carried out strikes on an Emirati oil port amid a U.S. operation to reopen the Strait of Hormuz on May 4, testing the ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.

Donald Trump stopped short of saying that the ceasefire has been violated.

"They were shot down for the most part," Trump told ABC News. "One got through. Not huge damage."

In a post on Truth Social on May 3, the president announced that "Project Freedom," an effort to free up ships stranded by the strait's closure, would begin on the morning of May 4.

[Brent]

Iran is showing old video of a controlled explosion beside an American ship near Hawaii claiming their navy hit an American warship.

[Thiel]

America has established a "red, white, and blue dome" of protection over the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of commerce ships.

[Prof Emeritus at Fawk U]

America has established a "red, white, and blue dome" of protection over the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the safe passage of commerce ships.

I'd rather they call it the "kick Iran in the nuts" dome.  It sounds more fun.   

[Herman]

I'd rather they call it the "kick Iran in the nuts" dome.  It sounds more fun.   

Start with gay ayatollah.

[Frood]

No meaningful transit levels are happening. The US is posturing and the media is running cover. Strategic stockpiles are being eaten up around the world as excise and other tax vehicles on fuel are being partially cut to give the appearance of calm and governments on top of the problem. They are faking it.

Mates that work in what the world called "essential services" during covid are telling me that their workplaces are getting refitted virtually overnight with huge storage tanks, generators where they never needed them before, beefed up security services, and all kind of crazy initiatives which are being couched as routine maintenance upgrades (which are so routine, nobody in middle managements knew it was coming)...

We've got, at best, mid year before all kinds of economic hell breaks loose... some nations will weather it better than others... most won't.

[Herman]

Which media is running cover for this war? Almost all of them are running cover for Iran?

[Herman]

The United Arab Emirates is actively engaging with missile and drone attacks from Iran, the country's defense ministry said in a post on X on Tuesday, in what appears to be the second day of Iranian attacks on the Gulf nation.

The country's Ministry of Defense a day earlier said that it intercepted more than a dozen missiles and drones that originated from Iran, while it said that an oil-producing port facility was attacked by Tehran hours before.

UAE air defense systems "are currently dealing with missile and drone attacks originating from Iran," the Gulf Arab nation's Ministry of Defense wrote on X about the new round of attacks, adding that the air defenses are also "actively engaging" with drone threats.

[Thiel]

Iran is less likely now to make a deal than they were one month ago. They believe they can wait this out. They know if Mr. Trump does not get a deal soon his party will be trounced in the midterms.

[Lokmar]

I'm sad that Trump hasnt killed more of these dune coon assholes. Especially the IRGC.

[Herman]

[Herman]

Marco Rubio has said the White House is expecting a response proposal on May 8 from the Iranian regime about ending the war, coming as American and Iranian forces clashed in the region in recent days.

"We're expecting a response from them today at some point. We have not received that yet," Rubio told reporters on Friday while he was visiting with the Pope in Italy about negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

Rubio added that U.S. officials hope that the Iranian proposal is "something that can put us into a serious process in negotiation."

The secretary said the U.S. government is aware of recent reports saying Iran is attempting to create "some agency that's going to control traffic" in the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway through which about one-fifth of the world's oil travels.

"That would actually be unacceptable," he said.

[Herman]

The World Bank has warned that disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz and escalating conflict in the Middle East are triggering a global oil supply shock that is beginning to suppress energy demand worldwide.

In its May 7 analysis, the World Bank said that global oil demand declined by 0.8 million barrels per day year-over-year in March and is forecast to fall by another 1.5 million barrels per day in the second quarter of 2026.

"Oil demand destruction is emerging," the World Bank said, citing rising prices, trade disruptions, and reduced economic activity in advanced economies, Asia, and the Middle East.

The warning came as Brent crude prices surged following what the World Bank described as the "near-total disruption" of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Roughly one-quarter of global seaborne crude oil trade passes through the narrow waterway.

By the end of March, Brent crude prices had risen approximately 65 percent, or $46 per barrel, marking what the World Bank called the largest monthly increase on record.