The 1980's Tanker War

[Talyn]

Note: The "Oil Tankers" got thru then but in todays conflict they seem to be frozen in fear of a neutered Iran

Fueled by bitter religious and political acrimony, the Iran-Iraq War, one of the longest interstate conflicts of the 20th century, spread into the Persian Gulf in 1987. Forced to protect vital petroleum tankers, NATO and Soviet naval forces in the Gulf faced new and old challenges from a variety of Iranian and Iraqi threats. As the war drags into 1988, there is little prospect of either belligerent raising a white flag.

https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1988/may/tanker-war?

 

[Anchorite]

The IEA has proposed the largest release of oil reserves in history, exceeding the 182 million barrel record set in 2022, per WSJ.

Details include:

1. The proposal was circulated at an "emergency meeting" 3/10/26

2. Countries are expected to decide on the proposal Wednesday

3. The proposal will be adopted if none objects, but even one country's protests could delay the plan, officials said

4. IEA members currently hold 1.2 billion barrels in crude oil reserves

Oil prices are still up +60% since December.

Each day this conflict goes on, things remain spicy.

 

[Talyn]

Gas has gone up .50 here.

The US gets 2.5% of it's oil consumption from that area, compared to the Chinese & other east Asians so they should step up to the plate to escort ships thru the strait. But they haven't made any movement since they're chicken.

The Gulf Arab states have a lot of fancy small ships/frigates for convoy work but like everything else they get it's for show & history has shown they they're poor fighters.