The Pentagon hid this review.

That first attack on US troops by Iran?

It was so much worse than they let on. Not only were six service members killed. More than 30 are still hospitalized with traumatic brain injuries, memory loss, shrapno wounds, and burns. Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency, they're releasing its largest ever oil release from global strategic reserves as Iran keeps up attacks across the Middle East and a bid to show that it hasn't been defeated yet. And that's even after American and Israeli strikes that were described as the most intense so far. And right, and that's where we have to start. And so with all that, today you had Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and Oman, all saying that their forces intercepted drones and missiles. Oman also reported drone strikes and fuel tanks at a port in the southern part of the country. And a British maritime monitoring group reported that three commercial ships in or near the Strait of Hormuz were hit by projectiles within hours of each other. And Iran appeared to take responsibility for at least one of those attacks with the commander of the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, saying in a social media post that any vessel that intends to pass must obtain permission. permission. And as we've talked about it length before, Iran's ability to effectively lock down the street of her moves, it's pretty much their best leverage.

About a fifth of the world's oil passes through that waterway. And with Iran knocking it almost entirely out of business, you had international oil prices surging to nearly $120 a barrel at their peak, which was the highest level since 2022. And while they've since fallen to around $91 a barrel, in part because Trump says, oh this is not a forever war, it's actually pretty much done, but then he's constantly contradicting himself. That $91 a barrel, it's still up from less than $73 a barrel before the war began. And with that, you also had another Iranian official claiming today that the world should get ready for the price of oil to reach $200 a barrel. And while these rising prices, they're having the biggest impact in Asia and Europe,

which rely more heavily on the Middle East for oil and natural gas, without a doubt, this is going to

have an impact on the United States. And actually, it's already having an impact. Prices at the gas station, they have gone up for the 11th straight day. The national average is $3.58 a gallon, according to AAA. I saw, I was driving this morning. I saw diesel was $5.18

near me. And well, the markets, you know, they react to Trump's offhand comments and other

speculations. according to AAA, I saw, I was driving this morning. I saw diesel was $5.18 near me.

Well, the markets, you know, they react to Trump's offhand comments and other speculation about when this war might end, that the situation on the ground, or maybe in the sea, rather, it seems to just be getting worse. Where you had Trump previously saying that he might order Navy warships to escort merchant ships through the Strait of Hormuz. And there's actually precedent there. American forces did that for a period of time in the late 1980s during similar tensions with Iran.

And yesterday, you actually had Energy Secretary Chris Wright saying on social media that a Navy warship had successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait, but then he deleted that post. And the Navy's actually turning down requests from the industry for escorts on a near daily basis. Also, Pakistan and France, they're among other countries that are looking into this option, but there's been no movement yet and it may only be about to get more dangerous. Right, because the US reportedly received intelligence yesterday that Iran was getting ready or had even already begun laying mines in the street. With one unnamed official telling the New York Times that none had been laid yet, but preparations were underway, while then other sources told CNN that at least a few dozen mines were already in place. And then adding that Iran still has 80 to 90% of its small boats and mine layers, so its forces could feasibly lay hundreds of mines in the water ray in the days to come. Now then with that, you had Trump writing on social media yesterday that if Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz trade, and we have no reports of them doing so, we want them removed immediately. With Trump then claiming that 10 mine-laying vessels had already been destroyed and Pete Heggzeth saying on Twitter, we will not allow terrorists to hold the Strait of Hormuz hostage. And by the end of the day, you had U.S. Central Command saying that the number of mine-laying vessels eliminated had gone up to 16. But it also is unclear to what extent that's actually limited Iran's ability to keep it up. And then in the meantime, you have the international community having to move forward under the assumption that the situation isn't going to, you know, all of a sudden get resolved. And so today you first had Japan, Germany, and Austria announcing that they would release oil from the strategic reserves. With then the International Energy Agency announcing that its 32 members would together carry out the largest ever oil stock release in history,

by releasing 400 barrels of oil from strategic reserves.

And in addition to it being the largest, this is also the first time that the agency is taking action in this way since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Which on the note of Russia, it's worth pointing out that it and other oil exporters outside of the Middle East are actually benefiting here.

Because prices are going up, sanctions might even be getting lifted, and they have supplies to sell that aren't trapped in the Gulf. And so you're seeing things like an economist, historian at Cornell telling Axios. Sanctioned Russian oil is trading at a premium to the most widely traded international benchmark, which is just mad. If you're a Russian oil trader or a Russian company, you have never earned as much money selling oil as right now because of the supply chain interruption. And with that, besides Russia taking advantage, even Iran is weirdly sort of benefiting from this in a way, with the country now reportedly exporting more oil through the Strait of Hormuz than before the war. Though notably, the U.S. likely could destroy Iran's ability to do so at any time, but they're just choosing not to. because the American military claimed to have struck roughly 5,000 targets in and around Iran, but it is so far kept away from bombing the oil infrastructure. And that, including a place called Karg Island, which handles about 90% of Iran's oil exports. And one reason, at least according to an expert who spoke with the Guardian, is that destroying or damaging the facilities there, the risk of causing an economy shaping increase in oil price that would not drop rapidly.

But then she also argues, Cargay, is that destroying or damaging the facilities there, it runs the risk of causing an economy-shaping

increase in oil price that would not drop rapidly. But then she also argues,

Karg Island is sufficiently important to the Iranian economy that destroying its facilities

would abandon any pretense of fighting a war to create a brighter future for Iran. And actually

with that, you had the Trump administration asking Israel not to carry out more strikes on energy

facilities in Iran, especially oil infrastructure

after previous attacks blanketed Tehran and toxic smoke and acid rain. And the White House

reasons for this, reportedly being that, one, these strikes harm the Iranian public, many of whom

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