The recent pause in hostilities between the United States and Iran continued, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Tuesday, the 151st day of the Iran War.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to bomb Iran’s Pickaxe Mountain, telling Fox News that “we’ll have to take out Pickaxe if we don’t make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, we’ll take it out very easily.” In the same interview, Trump said that “Bibi is telling me” about Pickaxe Mountain “because he wants me to stay involved.”
The Financial Times, citing a source briefed on Netanyahu’s trip, reported that the Israeli Prime Minister was coming to Washington to ask Trump to expand operations against Iran. “Netanyahu wants it to be about more than just Hormuz,” the source told the FT. Netanyahu is also expected to raise concerns about a possible U.S. decision to allow Turkey to acquire F-35 fighter jets, a move Israel opposes.
Copernicus Sentinel satellite data shows damage to gas storage tanks at Saudi Arabia’s Abqaiq facility, the world’s largest crude processing plant. Saudi Arabia said it halted production at the plant on Monday after a Houthi attack.
Commercial traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, slowed considerably over the weekend, following Houthi strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure and warnings issued by the rebel group to shipping companies.
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In Israel, Defense Minister Israel Katz told a TV network that “we very much want to strike Iran’s energy targets” but “the United States is not approving it at the moment because of the concern that Iran would attack neighboring countries,” which Katz acknowledged could “cause a global oil crisis.”
The price of Brent Crude oil was $87 per barrel on Tuesday morning. AAA reported the national average price of regular gas at $4.10 per gallon.
