What’s impacting oil prices and the flow of oil out of the Middle East
More Iranian threats
** The head of Iran’s armed forces on Wednesday renewed the country’s warning to Persian Gulf states not to assist the U.S. military, saying any help would amount to joining operations against the Islamic Republic.
Suspended
** The United Arab Emirates said Wednesday that it was suspending all trade and financial dealings with Iran after issuing the previous day its first warning to residents of an incoming missile threat in weeks.
a Houthi threat?
** A Yemeni government minister has warned that the country’s Houthi rebels are plotting to seize land along the strategic Bab el-Mandab Strait, which would allow the group to further threaten the vital shipping artery. Three Houthi military sources and a spokesman for Yemeni government forces bordering the waterway also told AFP the rebels are planning to advance.
Naval blockade
** The U.S. Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington is still on route to the Middle East, where it will take the place of the USS Abraham Lincoln, video shared by the Pentagon indicates, as the U.S. remains locked in a standoff with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.
Other targets?
** Iranian forces have assessed striking U.S. assets in Europe if President Trump escalates the war, according to the Financial Times newspaper, which quoted two unnamed regime insiders.
US energy developments
** Japan’s promised $550 billion in U.S. energy investments are starting to take shape. NextEra Energy has announced plans to build a 5.2-GW gas power plant in Anderson County, Texas, and GE Vernova Hitachi says it will build 3 GW of small nuclear reactors in Alabama and Tennessee, both funded in part by Japan.
** Southwestern Colorado officials call on federal regulators to take measures to prevent a repeat of a 2025 gasoline pipeline spill that contaminated groundwater and rendered homes uninhabitable.
** Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) signs an executive order banning non-iron ore mining in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in a move to stop state and federal efforts to extract copper, nickel, and other valuable metals from the region.
** An Illinois ethanol plant will pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit from the state attorney general over wastewater discharges that contaminated the Illinois River.
** Two solar manufacturing facilities in the Southeast are advancing. Tesla has filed for tax incentives to build a $10.1 billion solar cell factory in Texas, and Translucent Solar says it will soon begin production at its South Carolina panel assembly site.
