DUBAI, July 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy said it had intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, in the latest in a series of attacks on ships in the area since 2019.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/shots-fired-oil-tanker-gulf-maritime-security-bodies-2023-07-05/

I wonder how long to pries start going up...

Quote from: Z.O.R.G. on July 05, 2023, 04:07:27 PMDUBAI, July 5 (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy said it had intervened to prevent Iran from seizing two commercial tankers in the Gulf of Oman on Wednesday, in the latest in a series of attacks on ships in the area since 2019.

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/shots-fired-oil-tanker-gulf-maritime-security-bodies-2023-07-05/

I wonder how long to pries start going up...

I give it a week.

Prices took an unheard of dip over the 4th weekend. Gotta crank it back up.

I've stopped trying to predict when oil futures go up or down.  An UAE oil sheik sneezes during a speech and prices skyrocket the next day.  Somali pirates commandeer three tankers in four days and prices plummet over the next seven weeks.  I give up ...

Didn't read the specific article Z.O.R.G. linked to, but another article I read said the second tanker was fired upon by the Iranian vessel as the US warship arrived on the scene.  That captain probably deserves a medal for showing restraint and avoiding an international incident, but damn: wouldn't it have been satisfying if the US ship unloaded a couple of Harpoon anti-ship missiles onto that that *sshole Iranian gunboat? 

They've already seized four tankers this year. Not much media coverage on it because they were all bound for the United States, and sometimes the media doesn't want to say bad things about US leadership. 

So it's really no surprise that the Navy was there to stop on this time because they put extra patrols out.

I'm with the Major, if you attack a commercial ship and send lead down range into it, you should expect something in return.  It wasn't that long ago that would be the response of any navy.