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Iran Escalates Tanker Attacks as Strait of Hormuz Tensions Rise

22m 31s

Iran Escalates Tanker Attacks as Strait of Hormuz Tensions Rise

A global financial and geopolitical crisis is unfolding in the Middle East. Wise provides a transparent alternative for international money transfers, avoiding hidden fees by matching standard exchange rates. Meanwhile, Iran has launched a sustained campaign in the Strait of Hormuz, attacking at least 15 tankers in a short period, including two VLCCs, one struck by a mine and another by a drone or missile. Iran’s military has grown significantly through partnerships with Russia, gaining advanced drone technology and underground bases, while U.S. forces remain vulnerable due to exposed positions and outdated interceptors. Saudi Arabia has retaliated against Houthi attacks, including a deadly strike on King Khalid Airport that killed 12 and injured 309, prompting a regional escalation. Iran has issued warnings to all vessels to avoid the strait, with tankers relocating to Dubai. The situation has drastically increased the cost of oil transport—now $1.5 million per day for VLCCs—driving up global fuel prices. Trump’s claims of a major diesel deal with Putin are dismissed as misleading and economically insignificant. Critics argue his rhetoric, including threats to "kill everyone" and renaming the Strait of Hormuz the "Trump Straight," reflects hysteria and a failure to grasp the reality of regional military capabilities. The growing alliance between Iran and Russia, coupled with direct attacks on key infrastructure, signals a full-fledged regional war, undermining U.S. and Saudi influence and exposing strategic miscalculations.

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Support comes from wise, the smart way to manage the currencies you need around the world. Your life is global. Your money should be too. Some providers promise no fees on overseas transfers. Don't be fooled. Extra costs often hide and blow to exchange rates. Choose wise. You can send, spend, and receive money in over 40 currencies. Count on the exchange rate that you'd usually see on Google. That's how millions save billions on hidden fees. Be smart. Get wise. Visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. Iran did it again while Donald Trump is ranting and raving like a lunatic and bragging about his diesel deal with Putin. Yesterday, Iran struck two more tankers in the straight of Hormuz. And they appear to be two VLCCs, those very large crude carriers. One of the VLCCs seem to have struck a landmine. Another VLCC seem to be struck by an IRGC, either drone or missile as it was trying to exit the straight of Hormuz. So in the past 10 days or so from October 1st to October 10th, 11 tankers have been struck by the IRGC in the Strait of Hormuz since September 28th. That number is probably close to 15 to 17 tankers have been struck by the IRGC. And the IRGC has released video of what went down. And then people inside one of these VLCCs released video. I'll show you that in a moment. Iran also issued an urgent warning to all remaining tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and told them to immediately go to the Dubai anchorage and not to move at all. And that any movement would be deemed hostile and Iran would strike any of those tankers. And we did see at least a lot of tankers complying with Iran's instruction go to the Dubai anchorage. Also reporting yesterday from Bloomberg that Iran basically has the same if not even more of its ballistic missile arsenal than it did before. Trump and Netanyahu launched this catastrophic war. Perhaps even more drones, better drones, better ballistic missiles, better cruise missiles. And this report also talked about how Iran is working with Russia. Both in terms of Iran giving Russia weapons and significantly Russia giving Iran weapons. And one of the things that Iran really was looking for because Iran gave Russia the Garen-4 Garen-5 initial prototype the Shaheeds that Russia turned into the Garen-4 Garen-5, which is kind of a more advanced jet power drone technology. Iran wants the Garen-4 Garen-5s, which they likely have as well. The Trump regime says we don't believe it. Iran's militaries at the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz. It's not but the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Iran isn't telling the truth. Here's the thing. Iran built its military bases underneath mountains and underground. And the United States military bases are all exposed. And I guess the Trump regime never thought it through, which they probably should have. That if you launch a catastrophic war against Iran with Netanyahu, and you start slaughtering little children in the country, they're going to fight back. And your military bases are exposed. And you don't have anti-drone interceptors and your ballistic interceptors, your pack threes and your your patriots or your thads. Each time you shoot one of them, it costs about five four to five million dollars each Patriot missile and two are fired at the same time. So about 10 million dollars each time you're going to intercept a Iranian drone or cruise missile or ballistic, which is much cheaper. I mean, some of the drones are 25,000, 30,000. Some of the cruise missiles are 100,000, 200,000. The ballistics are slightly more expensive. But you know, a fad interceptor that the Trump regime uses about 11 million dollars per fad interceptor. And you shoot two at the same time. So 22 million. In any event, we the United States and the Trump regime depleted all of the interceptors pretty much. Iran's built up all of its ballistics and drones and cruise missiles. And they're all underground. So and Russia is helping Iran and a Russia said it publicly at the latest Turkmenistan meeting, the CIS, the old Soviet countries that are now, you know, supposedly independent and sovereign. They all met in Turkmenistan and they talked about how well they invited Iran as an honorary guest and Russia talked about how, you know, they're helping Iran and that Putin said we're strategic partners in all regards. The message is pretty clear there. Then you take a look at what's happening in Saudi Arabia. You know, MBS, I guess, thought when he would do all these quid proquels with Trump and Kushner that he was getting protection and I guess MBS thought that he could escalate against on Serala and attack Sana and that what on Serala, the Houthis were just bluffing. They weren't bluffing. They've developed their technology as well. And it's like the Trump regime underestimates Iran Saudi Arabia MBS underestimates on Serala and we're seeing what happened on Serala hit terminal three of the King Khalid airport in Saudi Arabia. It resulted in 309 people at the airport injured 12 people at that Saudi Arabia re at their main airport in Riyadh. Okay, 12 people were killed including one American 309 people at the airport were injured. The scenes inside the airport were apocalyptic. I have videos of what went down in there. And so you have this massive escalation, this regional war that we've been warning about and talking about. It's here. It's not is there going to be a regional war. There is a regional war and Trump looks weaker than ever. MBS looks weaker than ever. And we're seeing massive amounts of chaos and death and devastation. And Donald Trump's out there bragging about some diesel deal with Putin where what Trump gets the equipment with the United States gets the equivalent of two million barrels of oil or two million barrels of diesel, which is what goes on one VLCC one of those very large crude carriers. So it's it's not a lot. So let me show you here first. This is video released by the IRGC and this was then confirmed by other independent sources of one of the tankers this tanker struck a Iranian mine in the Strait of Hormuz. You can see what this looks like play this clip then I'll show you another VLCC that was struck by the IRGC. This was taken inside of the tanker these tankers hold you know the barrels of oil in them. Let me show you what that looked like. This is a harrowing scene from the inside. You can see it. Here's another video from the inside of that tanker. So you can see again the chaos after it was hit and you can see in the background too. It looks like there's another ship that's burning in the Strait of Hormuz. Could you see that as well? But let me show you this video right here. Then let me turn our attention and turn your attention to the King Khalid airport in Saudi Arabia and show you some of the scenes there. This is after the Houthis Ansarala struck terminal three. Now the Houthis warned that they were doing what they called a full air embargo. Same way Saudi Arabia has an air embargo over the Sana Airport. Ansarala said that's the capital of Ansarala Houthis. They said okay we're warning anybody who uses this Riyadh King Khalid airport. There's no safe flights, nothing safe other than humanitarian, other than it being used for humanitarian purposes. Otherwise we're going to strike it and they did. Let me just show you some of the images inside King Khalid so you can see for yourself your play this clip. We have another clip of what that looked like. Let's play. Now, the warning from the IRGC, let me just read you these statements, this one over here. IRGC, a rogue super tanker carrying crude oil, which was attempting to leave the unauthorized straight of her moose route, suffered a massive explosion after hitting a naval mine on a route declared to be dangerous. The super tanker, which had turned off its navigation and positioning system, is burning in a huge fire after hitting a naval mine, so that its fire is clearly visible to people living on the coast, the IRGC announces that a terrible fire will be the end of any offending tanker that tries to ignore the security and laws of the straight of her moose. Victory comes only from God, the Almighty, the Wise, and then the IRGC issued a warning over VHF channel 16, this was also confirmed by UKMTO, by the way, when I read this to you, I'm confirming it from multiple sources as well, like not just reading one source, I mean, we're seeing it visually, you know, and I'm just giving you a little bit of a summary of what's happening. Okay, can we talk about picky eaters for a second? If your kid survives on basically three beige foods, here's the easiest way to help fill their nutritional gaps, a tasteless, colorless vitamin powder called Ella Ola. It's not a gummy, not a chewable, just one sachet a day stirred into whatever they already eat or drink. Milk, yogurt, juice, oatmeal, smoothies, even ketchup. They genuinely can't detect it. Each sachet packs 19 essential vitamins and minerals, plus nutrients from 15 organic fruits and vegetables. Zero sugar, no artificial dyes or sweeteners, free of the top nine allergens, and developed with pediatricians. It's about a little more peace of mind and a little less meal time stress. Ella Ola is offering my listeners 20% off your first purchase. Just go to Ella Ola.com/Mitis, discount applied automatically, no code needed. Try it risk-free with Ella Ola's 45-day money back guarantee. Go to Ella Ola.com/Mitis for 20% off your first purchase. L-L-L-A-O-L-A.com/Mitis-M-E-I-D-A-S I-R-G-C issued a warning over VHF Channel 16 to six vessels anchored around 16.5 nautical miles north northwest of Rosalcoma, U-A-E, embryotelogen set in an alert. The vessels were advised to heave up anchor exit the area immediately and transit to the Dubai anchorage, which they ultimately did. I also talked about how Iran issued a warning two nights ago, saying any of these tankers that are involved in the ship to ship transfers, where a smaller ship basically goes and hugs the coast of Oman on the straight of Hormuz, loaded with oil. It goes right next to one of the VLCCs. They basically connect to hose and they pump the oil from the smaller ship into the bigger ship and it takes many hours and they try to do that a few times, hook up a few of the small ships, fill up the VLCC, the very large crude carrier, and Iran says we know you're doing that and we're going to strike any ship that's station area as well. It's not just if you're traveling through the straight of Hormuz, we saw a strike off the coast of UAE, the west side, Dubai, the east side, Fujera, and also a strike off of Dubai. It's not just the quantity of strikes, it's where they're striking as well as to me a lot of significance here as well. We talked about the Russia supplying, the ballistic missiles, the Trump regime says that's not true. Putin would never do that. We trust Putin. We don't trust our intelligence community. This is a statement from Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson regarding Donald Trump statements about it would be a small price to pay for more gas to avoid nuclear bombs in San Diego and in San Diego and Los Angeles, Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson says to frighten their own people, they conjure up an imaginary enemy in the sky to overshadow the real threat on the ground. The real danger lies neither beyond their borders nor in the skies over Los Angeles and San Diego. It lies in a ruling establishment that has imposed an illegal war on the world. With global consequences, the US president has even described the destruction of Los Angeles and San Diego as a very small price to pay. This is a textbook example of the politics of fear, frightening people with an imaginary threat portraying the destruction of their own cities as an acceptable price to pay and diverting their attention from the real danger statement over there. The Iran Embassy, South Africa posted this photo. Yes, we are the descendants of those you once knelt before in this time. The Islamic Republic of Iran is going to make history repeat itself. This is after Marco Rubio referred to the catastrophic war in Iran as part of a clash of civilizations where the West is essentially on a crusade to destroy the Iranian civilization and then Iran's parliament leader and basically the top civilian political guy, M. Begala Bob says throughout history, we Iranians have faced those who declared themselves masters of the universe and sought to erase ancient civilizations, they came in fire and flame, only to depart in dust and shame. Those who chase Alexander's legacy will share Valerian's fate. You will kneel. That's the statement over there. Meanwhile Donald Trump is doing impressions of Iran's leaders. We will kill everyone, everyone, we will kill everyone and I hear like 20 guys behind him he's talking. We will kill everyone, this is, they don't talk that way anymore by the way. We will kill everyone and behind like 20 guys, praise B to Allah, praise B to Allah, praise B to Allah and I say, I do, I say, man, you guys, you're really, you're crazy. Donald Trump is saying we can end this all really quick, Iran doesn't realize how nice we are to them. Let's play this clip. I do a little bit extra before the election thinking it's going to hurt us but we could end it really quick. They don't know how nice, they don't know how nice I've been to them. They don't know how nice I've been to them, even though their navy has been obliterated. And then Donald Trump says we will rename the straight of Hormuz to the Trump straight. The bill has been knocked to hell, radar, gone, they needed radar. We're taking out more barrels of oil right now from the Hormone straight, we're thinking about renaming it to the Trump straight, I don't know. Trump was also asked if he spoke with MBS. Here was Trump's response, let's play it. No, but I will be speaking to him and what happened in Saudi Arabia is not acceptable. Thank you. Now, you may recall back in 2025, the Trump regime launched a war against the Houthis, which the United States lost, people don't talk about that a lot. But remember, that's when Pete Hegsith and the whole gang of Trump regime rejects or the Trump regime idiots were talking on the signal chat and they invited the reporter onto the signal chat and then all these planes started, remember the planes would like fall off the aircraft carriers and like the helicopters would like mysteriously crash and back in 2025, people believed what pentagon and Sencom were saying, oh, I guess it's just a lot of accidents taking place. And then the Trump regime entered into a deal with the Houthis and Trump was like, they're so courageous, they're so brave and we have an understanding, remember, he did that. And so on Sirala recently, as you know, just taken over all of Western Yemen, the Babel Mondob straight area, they're pushing east and circling an area called Tais city, Saudi Arabia backs a proxy government in Yemen and other areas, which headquarters is eight in or Marie, but some other areas over there, but they're against the on Sirala, on Sirala controls kind of the primary, which is the area in the west, which is right by the Red Sea. And so Saudi Arabia uses its proxy group to impose its will on on Sirala, on Sirala. So the Houthis are on Sirala, they respond by striking in Saudi Arabia. We've been following all of those strikes a few days ago. They struck the Riyadh airport King Khalid killed a few people. And then yesterday there was that massive strike, a terminal three that killed 12 people including an American and injured 309 other people on Sirala also has been able to strike refineries in Riyadh, refineries in Yambu, refineries in Abkiyakh, refineries in Jeddah, refineries in Juzin, refineries, you know, all throughout the various in various areas where the big refineries are in Saudi Arabia. So that's where we are now, this full-fledged regional war, and Iran fully controlling the Strait of Hormuz, and that's why we're seeing the price of diesel and the price of gas very high. It costs $1.5 million a day to basically have a VLCC deliver whatever is in their barrels of oil, whether it's crude or diesel or whatever the product is, it's $1.5 million a day. And before the war, it was about $30,000 a day. So that already adds $30 a barrel. And now Donald Trump wants to scapegoat Zelensky and then act like, "Oh, we have this great deal with Putin, and it's going to lower the price of diesel." And as I've told you, it's such a small amount of diesel for the global market. It doesn't add anything of significance, right? We're talking about maximum 2.2 million barrels, but what Trump wants to blade, because he's a loser. So everything was going great. We were doing so amazing, but Zelensky screwed it up. Zelensky, that's where he's going with all of this, right? And Zelensky keeps on striking the refineries. That's what it did. That's his scapegoat. It's obvious what he's doing. Blame Canada, Blame Zelensky, Blame NATO, Praise Putin, that's Trump's strategy. Hit subscribe, thanks for watching. Oh, this is coming out now. Here at Home Stretch, WTF America, the first page is dedicated to you. The book is about the Midas Mighty, how the Midas Mighty formed, how this movement can help, I think, brings democracy throughout the world and fight back against the authoritarianism. For the Midas Mighty and everyone else who wakes up, checks the news and can help thinking WTF, get the copy, ebook card cover, thanks for watching. Breaking news right now, my brothers and I wrote a book. It's called WTF America, and well, doesn't that just say it all? It comes out officially this October, but you can pre-order your copy today. Scan the QR code, or click the link in the description below.

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Wise offers transparent, fee-free international currency transfers with exchange rates matching those seen on Google, helping users avoid hidden fees.
  2. Iran has intensified attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, striking at least 15 tankers in recent days, including two VLCCs, one of which hit a mine and another struck by a drone or missile.
  3. Iranian military forces have expanded their capabilities, including acquiring advanced drone technology like the Garen-4 and Garen-5 from Russia, and are now operating underground bases.
  4. The U.S. military is underprepared, with exposed bases and limited anti-drone and ballistic missile interceptors, costing up to $22 million per engagement—making defense economically unsustainable.
  5. Saudi Arabia has faced direct attacks from the Houthi movement, including a deadly strike on King Khalid Airport that killed 12 and injured 309, and a warning of a full air embargo.
  6. Iran and Russia are now strategic allies, with Russia openly supporting Iran’s military development, signaling a deeper regional power shift.
  7. Donald Trump’s claims of a large diesel deal with Putin are dismissed as exaggerated and strategically misleading, with negligible impact on global oil prices.
  8. Escalation in the Middle East has led to soaring fuel costs, with VLCC operations now costing $1.5 million per day—up from $30,000—due to increased risks and blockades.

Summary:

A global financial and geopolitical crisis is unfolding in the Middle East. Wise provides a transparent alternative for international money transfers, avoiding hidden fees by matching standard exchange rates. Meanwhile, Iran has launched a sustained campaign in the Strait of Hormuz, attacking at least 15 tankers in a short period, including two VLCCs, one struck by a mine and another by a drone or missile.

S. forces remain vulnerable due to exposed positions and outdated interceptors. Saudi Arabia has retaliated against Houthi attacks, including a deadly strike on King Khalid Airport that killed 12 and injured 309, prompting a regional escalation.

Iran has issued warnings to all vessels to avoid the strait, with tankers relocating to Dubai. 5 million per day for VLCCs—driving up global fuel prices. Trump’s claims of a major diesel deal with Putin are dismissed as misleading and economically insignificant.

Critics argue his rhetoric, including threats to "kill everyone" and renaming the Strait of Hormuz the "Trump Straight," reflects hysteria and a failure to grasp the reality of regional military capabilities. S. and Saudi influence and exposing strategic miscalculations.

FAQs

Wise offers transparent exchange rates similar to those seen on Google and avoids hidden fees. It allows users to send, spend, and receive money in over 40 currencies.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been targeting tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, including with mines and drones, as a response to shipping activity and to enforce security measures.

Iran has expanded its drone and ballistic missile arsenal, including receiving advanced drone technology from Russia, and has built military bases underground, making it harder for adversaries to target them effectively.

Iran has warned ships to avoid certain areas and go to the Dubai anchorage, stating that any movement in these zones would be considered hostile and could result in attack.

Intercepting drones with Patriot systems costs around $10 million per engagement, while drones themselves cost only $25,000 to $200,000, making the defense strategy extremely expensive and inefficient.

The increased attacks in the Strait of Hormuz have raised oil prices, with the cost to move a VLCC through the strait now at $1.5 million per day, up from $30,000 previously.

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