This week, it appears that more people out there are starting to understand that the Strait of Hormuz is not going to be reopened any time soon.

On Wednesday, President Trump explained that he is not going to lift the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports until Iran agrees to give up their nuclear program…

US President Donald Trump told Axios that he would keep Iran under a naval blockade until Tehran agreed to a deal addressing US concerns over its nuclear program.

“The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing,” Trump was quoted as saying. “They are choking like a stuffed pig. And it is going to be worse for them. They can’t have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump said Iran wanted a deal to lift the blockade, but added he did not want to do so unless Tehran was prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“They want to settle. They don’t want me to keep the blockade. I don’t want to [lift the blockade], because I don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon,” he said.

But Iran is not going to give up their nuclear program.

In fact, a member of Iran’s Supreme Council of Experts has stated that it is “forbidden to hold any negotiation on the right to enrich uranium”…

Ahmad Kaveibi, member of Iran’s Supreme Council of Experts:

“It is forbidden to hold any negotiation on the right to enrich uranium. This issue falls outside the negotiation’s framework. This contradicts the position of the Supreme Leader and is forbidden from a jurisprudential standpoint.”

Over and over again, Iran has steadfastly refused to even negotiate about their “right” to enrich uranium.

But Trump seems to be convinced that if he just puts enough pressure on the Iranians they will eventually change their minds.

We shall see.

The Iranians know that midterm elections are looming in the United States, and so the clock is ticking for Trump.

If the Democrats take control of both houses of Congress, they would likely force Trump to end the blockade and leave Iran alone.

So from an Iranian point of view, all they have to do is hold out until the end of the year and they win.

Meanwhile, the global economy just continues to suffer.

Even if the Strait of Hormuz reopened tomorrow, it would still take up to 6 months to fully clear all of the mines that have been laid…

It could take six months to fully clear the Strait of Hormuz of mines deployed by the Iranian military, and any such operation is unlikely to be carried out until the U.S. war with Iran ends, the Pentagon has informed Congress — an assessment that means the conflict’s economic impact could extend late into this year or beyond.

A senior Defense Department official shared the estimate, which has not been previously reported, during a classified briefing Tuesday for members of the House Armed Services Committee, said three officials familiar with the discussion. The timeline — met with frustration by Democrats and Republicans alike, two of these people said — is perhaps the clearest sign that gasoline and oil prices could remain elevated long after any peace deal is reached.

And it isn’t just a matter of restoring the flow of traffic through the Strait.

Oil production in the Persian Gulf region is down 57 percent from pre-war levels.

Thanks to damage that has already been done during this war, it will literally take years for production to return to 100 percent.

The head of the International Energy Agency is warning that we are facing “the greatest energy security crisis in history”…

Fatih Birol, chief executive of the International Energy Agency, has called the ongoing closure of the Strait of Hormuz “the greatest energy security crisis in history”, insisting it is “more serious” than the previous energy shocks in 1973 (when some Arab states imposed an oil embargo on the West), 1979 (caused by the Iranian revolution) and 2022 (Ukraine) “put together”.

In a book that I authored during the early part of 2025, I discussed the fact that a great conflict in the Middle East would cause oil prices to rise dramatically.

And that is precisely what has occurred.

On Wednesday, oil prices rose to the highest levels that we have seen during this war so far…

Oil prices jumped more than 6% on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump said he will maintain the U.S. naval blockade against Iran until they agreed to a nuclear deal.

International benchmark Brent crude futures rose more than 6% to $118.33 per barrel by 12:10 p.m. ET, U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures also advanced more than 6% to $106.37 per barrel.

If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, this will only be just the beginning.

A lot of people are freaking out because the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States is now well above 4 dollars a gallon…

U.S. gas prices have hit a fresh record since the start of the war with Iran, rising to an average nationwide of $4.23 per gallon Wednesday, according to the motor club AAA.

The grim milestone comes as oil prices have surged higher over the past week amid a dual blockade by the U.S. and Iran of the Strait of Hormuz, the key chokepoint in the region for transiting crude and petroleum-based products out of the Persian Gulf.

If people are freaking out now, what will they do when the price of gasoline goes much higher?

Meanwhile, we are also facing the worst global fertilizer crisis in history by a very wide margin…

More than half of the Middle East’s urea output may have been lost since the start of the Iran conflict, which is continuing to disrupt fertilizer flows from the region and threatening global food inflation.

The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has choked shipments of urea, a key component in nitrogen fertilizers, leaving large volumes stranded in the Gulf and tightening supplies for farmers around the world. At the same time, Iranian drone attacks on nations including Qatar and Bahrain have damaged energy and industrial infrastructure, hindering production of the chemical itself.

That has forced urea manufacturers in the region to curb operations, with 55% to 60% of output potentially halted, according to consultancy CRU Group.

Without sufficient supplies of nitrogen fertilizer, we can’t even come close to growing enough food to feed everyone on this planet.

In other words, we really are facing a scenario in which large numbers of people in impoverished nations could end up starving.

At the same time, U.S. wheat farmers are facing the worst drought in the heartland of America since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s…

U.S. wheat futures rallied to the highest in nearly two years Tuesday, as drought in U.S. Plains wheat fields pressures yields while soaring fertilizer costs have caused farmers to trim planting of nutrient-intensive crops such as grains.

CBOT wheat futures surged after the latest Crop Progress report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture said only 30% of the winter wheat crop is in good or excellent condition as of April 26.

The amount of winter wheat that gets harvested this year is going to be very disappointing.

Looking ahead, it is being projected that the number of acres of wheat that U.S. farmers are planting in the spring will be the fewest “since record keeping began in 1919”…

U.S. growers were poised to plant the fewest acres of wheat since record keeping began in 1919, as high costs for fertilizer, seeds, and equipment have made it difficult to turn a profit.

Yes, this is really happening.

If you think that the price of cookies is high now, you should brace yourself, because you haven’t seen anything yet.

In some areas of the country, conditions are so exceedingly dry that it just doesn’t make sense for farmers to try to grow anything.

Dane Wigington is warning that we are heading into a “summer from hell”…

What is going to happen when summer starts? Wigington says, “This is the summer from Hell that we are approaching right now. This will be like no other. The snow pack in the Colorado River watershed is almost nonexistent. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada averages about 20%. In the Northern Sierra, it is about 5%. That’s 5% of normal. Why isn’t that headline everywhere? People have no idea what is coming. . .. What will happen in the Southwest? We are going to find out soon. Right now, they are frantically discussing desalination facilities in the Gulf of California. . .. That is idiocy and not going to save anything. It can’t be done in any time frame that matters.”

This isn’t a coincidence.

Most of my regular readers already understand this.

If you look at the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map, it looks like a horror show.

There is no easy way out of this.

It will take some time for the full consequences of this nightmare to arrive, but when they do our society will experience immense pain.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post The Global Oil Crisis Just Escalated To A New Level And U.S. Farmers Are Planting The Fewest Acres Of Wheat Since Records Began In 1919 appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Most people living in the western world have no idea how much damage has already been done to oil and gas infrastructure in the Middle East.

According to Goldman Sachs, oil production in the Persian Gulf has declined by a whopping 57 percent from pre-war levels…

The war with Iran is having an enormous impact on the global oil market. According to an estimate by Goldman Sachs, oil production from the Persian Gulf region is down 57% from its pre-war level, or about 14.5 million barrels per day. The world is currently covering the shortfall by drawing oil from storage, including a record 400 million barrel release by members of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

If the war ends soon, some of that production will be quickly restored.

But there are many oil and gas facilities that have been completely destroyed, and it is being projected that it could take up to 50 billion dollars to rebuild that infrastructure…

Repair and restoration costs for energy-linked infrastructure as a result of war in the Middle East could hit $58 billion, Rystad Energy analysis shows, with the total for oil and gas facilities potentially up to $50 billion. Three weeks after we published an initial estimate of $25 billion in repair costs across Gulf energy infrastructure, the scope of damage has expanded materially. The continuation of military strikes drove up the number of impacted assets across the region before largely subsiding following an 8 April ceasefire between the US and Iran. This pushed the estimate for the average in potential total repair and restoration spending to $46 billion – representing the midway point in the range of $34 billion to $58 billion – across oil and gas infrastructure, inclusive of an average of $5 billion across industrial, power and desalination assets. The ceasefire, combined with stalled negotiations and renewed escalation risk, continues to shape the operating environment, alongside risks of disruption and potential blockades affecting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

Even if reconstruction begins immediately, it would likely take until 2029 or 2030 before all of the oil and gas facilities in the region are fully restored.

So what is the rest of the world supposed to do while we wait for that to happen?

At this moment, everyone is running through their strategic reserves.

For some countries those reserves will last for months, but for other countries those reserves will only last for weeks.

Once the reserves are gone, shortages will start making a lot more headlines and prices will escalate significantly.

Of course the price of oil has already risen to very painful levels…

Oil prices climbed almost 3% Monday as hopes for a peace deal between the U.S. and Iran dimmed and energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remained extremely constrained.

The price of international benchmark Brent Crude was up about $3, or almost 3%, to $108.36 per barrel early Monday morning, its highest price point in three weeks. U.S. West Texas Intermediate was up 2.6% before U.S. markets opened, at $96.85.

This is going to affect virtually every man, woman and child on the entire planet, because our entire way of life is fueled by energy.

When energy prices go up, our standard of living goes down.

Unfortunately, energy prices have been going way up since the start of the war…

In the United States, the cost of a gallon of gas has increased by over a dollar since the strait closed, and the cost of diesel is up nearly 50 percent. Gas prices in Europe have increased by around 10 percent, and the region is facing a jet fuel shortage and concerns about the flow of liquid natural gas (LNG). Asia is being hit even harder. Roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil and LNG passes through the strait. Over 80 percent of this fuel goes to Asia. Several Asian countries, such as the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea, are now facing a real energy crisis.

Some Americans are now spending more than $100 to fill up their vehicles, and the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States has now surpassed the four dollar mark…

The average price of gasoline in the U.S. rose 7 cents over the last week and currently stands at $4.04 per gallon, according to new data released by GasBuddy, an app that tracks gas prices across parts of North America and Australia. Within the U.S., that data comes from more than 12 million price reports at roughly 150,000 gas stations nationwide, according to the company.

What has shocked me is the apathy that I am seeing out there.

Most people just assume that everything is going to work out just fine somehow.

Our attention spans have become so short that most of us can no longer see what is coming just a few months down the road.

Thanks to the crisis in the Middle East, we are facing the worst fertilizer crisis in history.

If nitrogen fertilizer is not applied to annual crops such as wheat and barley each season, yields will be way down…

Nitrogen-based fertilisers such as urea must be applied each season for many crops and directly influence annual yields as well as quality parameters, including protein content in wheat.

Farmers can cut back on other core nutrients, such as phosphate and potash, without immediate yield losses.

Many farmers all over the world will not be applying nitrogen fertilizer this year.

As a result, those particular farmers will be growing a lot less food in 2026.

I don’t know why this is so hard for some people to understand.

Right now, harvest forecasts are being slashed all over the planet…

Agricultural bodies, including the International Grains Council, are already cutting their forecasts for the next harvests, ​however. And the United Nations, which is trying to ​negotiate shipping access for fertiliser through the Gulf, has sounded ⁠the alarm over food security in developing nations.

This is not a drill.

This is really happening.

What we desperately need is for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened as soon as possible.

Sadly, we are farther away from an agreement between the U.S. and Iran than ever.

The Iranians feel like they have won the war and have all the leverage, and so at this stage they are not even willing to talk about their nuclear program with the United States at all…

Iran is no longer willing to negotiate over its nuclear program at all, per Tasnim. Discussions will only cover ending the war, sanctions relief, compensation, and lifting the blockade. Nuclear issues “could be addressed later in a separate agreement,” only after the war has ended.

Nuclear was the central issue in the first round of Islamabad talks, with Trump saying it was “the only point that really mattered.” Iran has now removed it from the table entirely.

Trump says the war won’t end without a nuclear deal. Iran says nuclear won’t be discussed until the war ends.

The Iranians expect the Trump administration to give in, and the Trump administration expects the Iranians to give in.

But neither side is going to give in, and it appears that it is just a matter of time before more fighting breaks out.

Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz continues to be closed, and it is likely to remain that way for an extended period of time.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Oil Production In The Persian Gulf Has Fallen 57 Percent From Pre-War Levels – Rationing And Shortages Are Coming appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

I wish that I was exaggerating.

Without sufficient quantities of fertilizer, there is no way that we could possibly feed the 8 billion people that are living on this planet today.

Unfortunately for all of us, spring planting season is here and much of the world’s supply of fertilizer is trapped because the Strait of Hormuz is closed…

But the share of world supply of urea – the most popular commonly used fertiliser – that typically passed through the strait before the conflict was more than twice that, at 43%.

For sulphur – used to produce phosphate fertilisers – the figure is 44%.

For anhydrous ammonia – another nitrogen fertiliser – 27% of global supply on average passed through the strait between 2019 and 2023.

In addition, many nations normally use natural gas that is exported through the Strait of Hormuz to make their own fertilizer.

So this is why it is so important for the Strait of Hormuz to be opened as soon as possible.

If that does not happen, one UN official is warning that the consequences will be “very significant and severe, particularly for the poorest countries and for the poorest citizens”…

In response, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres established a task force to facilitate the safe passage of fertilizers and related raw materials for humanitarian purposes.

It is headed by Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of the UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which provides infrastructure, procurement and project management services across the world.

“We can’t wait until everything has been fixed,” he said in an exclusive interview with UN News.

“The planting season has already started…So if we don’t get some solution immediately the crisis will be very significant and severe, particularly for the poorest countries and for the poorest citizens.”

This is really happening.

I have many regular readers in Africa, and it is being reported that African farmers are facing a major fertilizer shortage this year…

Food security in Africa could face major disruptions due to continuing uncertainty in the Strait of Hormuz.

The conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran is disrupting global fertiliser trade flows – and this stands to leave millions of African farmers without the ammonia, urea, phosphate, sulphur and other fertiliser inputs vital to growing more food in sub-Saharan Africa.

Even a small drop in fertilizer availability could be catastrophic.

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization is telling us that just a 10 percent reduction in the fertilizer supply in Africa could mean that 25 percent less maize, rice and what is grown this year…

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, even a 10 percent reduction in fertiliser availability could result in up to 25 percent less maize, rice and wheat grown in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nitrogen fertilizer causes explosive crop development.

Without it, many farmers will grow far less food in 2026.

Even here in the U.S., there are farmers that have decided not to use any nitrogen fertilizer this year because it now costs way too much…

The drought compounds economic strains, including elevated fertilizer costs tied to global events. US Representative Frank Lucas, a Republican from Oklahoma, noted he skipped nitrogen applications on his western Oklahoma wheat fields.

“I didn’t have enough moisture — it wouldn’t have done any good,’’ Lucas said. “Number two, I’m not even sure what the cost would be.”

U.S. farmers are currently facing a double crisis.

In addition to skyrocketing fertilizer prices, conditions throughout much of the middle of the nation are bone dry.

On Friday, I explained to my core supporters that March 2026 was the third driest month ever recorded in the United States.

Only July 1934 and August 1934 were drier, and that was during the Dust Bowl days.

Because things are so dry, massive wildfires are erupting with alarming frequency. For instance, two extremely large wildfires have already burned more than 40,000 acres in Georgia…

Two massive wildfires in south Georgia have scorched more than 40,000 acres and destroyed over 120 homes.

Extreme drought has turned the region into a tinderbox and allowed flames to spread. Overnight, new fires sparked in rural south Georgia. High winds have made efforts to contain the fires difficult, officials said in a news conference Saturday afternoon.

Brantley County Manager Joey Cason called the wildfires a “dynamic situation” in a Saturday morning video posted to social media and begged residents to “please evacuate” if they are ordered to do so. New evacuation orders were issued as the fire spread.

This is going to be such a challenging year.

Far less food will be produced in the U.S. than normal this year, and the same thing could be said about many other major food exporters.

In Australia, they are projecting that wheat production could be down by up to 25 percent.

If farmers do not grow our food, we do not eat.

What we really need is for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened as quickly as possible, but that isn’t going to happen.

In fact, talks between the U.S. and Iran have totally broken down…

Hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough in the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran faded on Sunday, as efforts to revive talks stalled and ⁠both Tehran and Washington showed little sign of softening their positions.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi flew back to the Middle East from mediation talks in Pakistan over the weekend, while U.S. President Donald Trump scrapped a planned visit to Islamabad by his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

The Trump administration is not going to compromise on their key demands, because they are afraid that Israel could be destroyed “within minutes” if Iran is able to produce nuclear weapons…

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Israel would be destroyed “within minutes” if Iran obtained a nuclear weapon, warning the world would be in danger.

He added that previous US administrations should have acted earlier to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

On the other side, the Iranians have stated that they will not move from their key list of demands, and they are insisting that they are more than ready for fighting to resume…

Iran produces more than 1,000 types of weapons domestically, including missiles, drones and military systems, defence ministry spokesperson Reza Talaei-Nik said.

“Today, more than 1,000 types of weapons… are produced entirely domestically,” he said, adding the capability is the result of over 25 years of investment in the defence sector.

He said production is spread across the country so it can continue even if some facilities are damaged, and added that around 9,000 companies are involved in supporting the defence industry.

The Iranians can hit us much harder and in a lot more ways than most people realize.

Even the Trump administration is greatly underestimating Iran’s capabilities, and that could have tragic consequences for the entire globe.

Once fighting resumes, I am entirely convinced that we will witness some shocking escalations.

And it appears that the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed for the foreseeable future, and that probably means that widespread famine is inevitable now.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post The Worst Fertilizer Crisis In The History Of The World Will Result In Widespread Famine In The Poorest Nations appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

On Monday, the Trump administration commenced a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 15 U.S. Navy warships are involved…

A U.S. military blockade of the Strait of Hormuz was under way on Monday after peace talks broke down, and President Trump warned that any Iranian fast-attack ships that came near the blockade would be destroyed.

More than 15 U.S. warships are in place to support the operation, according to a senior official. An advisory to mariners from U.K. Maritime Trade Operations, which is affiliated with Britain’s Royal Navy, said maritime-access restrictions were being enforced for Iranian ports and coastal areas along the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and parts of the Arabian Sea.

Trump threatened drug-boat-style strikes on Iranian ships, saying in a social-media post that they would be targeted “using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea.”

Iran was only allowing a very limited number of vessels through the Strait in recent weeks.

Now that we also have a U.S. blockade on top of that, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will virtually be entirely shut down.

Shortly after the blockade began, two oil tankers that were heading through the waterway were forced to reverse course…

At least two oil/chemical tankers turned away from the Strait of Hormuz on Monday after the U.S. began its blockade of the waterway.

Rich Starry, a ship laden with oil that had said its destination was China, turned back from the Strait about 20 minutes after the blockade began, according to MarineTraffic, a maritime analytics provider. The ship’s flag was Malawi, which is a landlocked country, so it is a false flag.

Meanwhile, Ostria, a false-flagged Chinese oil/chemical tanker that was partially laden with oil, turned back from the Strait, according to MarineTraffic. The ship is sailing under the flag of Botswana, which is a landlocked African country.

The Chinese warned the Trump administration not to do this.

But the Trump administration did it anyway.

Now the Chinese are furious, and they are warning that there could be consequences…

The tanker U-turns follows unconfirmed reports that China has warned the US not to block/intercept Chinese ships/tankers, or face consequences that could potentially include military provocations.

China’s Defense Minister Dong Jun reportedly sent a message to the Trump administration and the U.S. Navy emphasizing Beijing’s intent to continue operating in the Strait of Hormuz and uphold its agreements with Iran. “Our ships are moving in and out of the waters of the Strait of Hormuz. We have trade and energy agreements with Iran. We will respect and honor those agreements and expect others not to interfere in our affairs” adding that “Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz and it is open for us.”

I don’t expect a military confrontation between the U.S. and China yet.

The Chinese will probably give diplomacy a chance to work.

But if the Strait of Hormuz remains blocked for an extended period of time, China will eventually do something about it.

As I discussed yesterday, China purchases more natural gas from the Middle East than anyone else.

China also purchases more oil from Saudi Arabia than anyone else.

And approximately 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports go to China.

A lot of people out there simply do not understand that this crisis really could lead to a major showdown with China.

Of course the entire world is going to experience a tremendous amount of pain if this crisis goes on for long enough.

The New York Times is reporting that as oil prices rise “some companies say they are planning for $175 a barrel”…

If no Iranian oil gets through the strait, prices could keep rising over time — some companies say they are planning for $175 a barrel. The Iranians understand the potential political effects of continued inflation in the United States less than seven months before midterm elections.

“Soon you’ll be nostalgic for $4 to $5 gas,” Iran’s top negotiator and the speaker of its Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, warned American consumers after the failure of the talks he led with Mr. Vance.

The Iranians intend to be in control of the Strait of Hormuz both now and in the future.

And they are warning that if the U.S. or anyone else attempts to interfere with their control of the waterway there will be serious consequences…

“Iran, based on clear and logical principles, is responsible for the security and management of the Strait of Hormuz,” Gen. Reza Talaei-Nik, spokesperson for Iran’s Defense Ministry, told the state-owned organization Press TV.

He said Iran “will not allow any interference or aggression by U.S. or other foreign forces” and will not hesitate to respond decisively “to any aggressor, including Israel and the United States, in the Strait of Hormuz and elsewhere.”

Now that a U.S. blockade has started, it is probably just a matter of time before more fighting erupts.

There is also a very strong possibility that the Houthis could soon shut down commercial traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait…

Iran could retaliate against a U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by directing its Houthi allies to disrupt another critical global shipping route, a senior Middle East analyst warned Sunday.

The Bab al-Mandeb — a narrow chokepoint linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden — carries roughly 12% of global oil shipments and serves as a vital trade corridor between Asia and Europe, making it a strategic target for escalation that could further strain global energy markets.

If that happens, that will make this crisis a whole lot worse.

But even if the war ended tomorrow and commercial traffic in the Middle East was fully reopened, we would still be facing a global energy crisis for an extended period of time because oil production in the region is way down due to all of the damage that has already been inflicted by the conflict…

Crude oil production in the major Gulf Arab exporters plunged in March due to the Iran war, according to data released by OPEC on Monday.

Iraq took the biggest hit with production collapsing 61% from 4.2 million barrels per day in February to 1.6 million bpd in March, according to OPEC’s monthly report. Output plunged 53% in Kuwait and 44% in the United Arab Emirates month over month, the data showed.

Production in Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s biggest producer, dropped 23% from 10.1 million bpd to 7.8 million bpd. The Saudis are relying on a crucial East-West pipeline to reroute barrels from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea for export.

We have a real nightmare on our hands.

Next to nothing has been able to get through the Strait of Hormuz for over a month, and a prominent political scientist is warning that we are facing “a system-wide supply shock”…

Global markets could begin running short of “critical goods” within a few days, following the breakdown in peace negotiations between Iran and the U.S. and the now double-edged blockade on the vital Hormuz Strait.

This is according to political scientist and security scholar Robert Pape, who on Sunday warned that the supply chain impacts of the conflict could soon extend far beyond the current pressures on global energy costs.

“Everyone is still talking about oil prices. That’s already outdated,” Pape posted to X on Sunday. “This is no longer a price shock—It is the early stage of a system-wide supply shock.”

He is right, and the damage to global supply chains is only going to get worse with each passing day.

But this crisis is not going to end any time soon, because both sides are waiting for the other to give in…

President Trump’s decision to blockade all Iranian shipments out of or into the Strait of Hormuz starting Monday morning sets up the next great test in the Iran war: Which side can endure more economic pain, Tehran’s new leadership or Mr. Trump himself?

The Iranians clearly think that they have the upper hand.

But the pain that the U.S. naval blockade is going to cause for their economy will be immense…

The U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would cost Iran approximately $276M/day in lost exports and disrupt $159M/day in imports, a combined economic damage of ~$435M/day, or $13B/month.

Over 90% of Iran’s $109.7B in annual trade transits the Persian Gulf. Oil/gas accounts for 80% of government export earnings and 23.7% of GDP. Kharg Island alone generates ~$53B/year, or as I noted to @TIME, “$78 billion a year in energy revenue.

How long can they hold out?

How long can we hold out?

For now, President Trump is insisting that he is willing to go for as long as it takes…

President Donald Trump said Iran is “in very bad shape” and vowed it “will not have a nuclear weapon” as he signaled indifference to renewed negotiations, saying he “doesn’t care” if Tehran returns to talks, while confirming a U.S. blockade of Iranian oil flows set to take effect Monday morning.

Speaking late Sunday after returning to Washington from Florida, Trump underscored his posture following the collapse of U.S.-Iran talks, stating plainly, “I don’t care if they come back or not. If they don’t come back, I’m fine.”

If there is no quick resolution to this crisis, things are going to get really bad.

I am not talking about just a few minor inconveniences.

I am talking about major shortages all over the globe in just a matter of months.

If the Strait of Hormuz stays closed for an extended period of time, there will be extreme hunger in impoverished countries.

At this stage, it already appears that we will not be able to salvage the spring planting season in the northern hemisphere.

Farmers that have enough fertilizer will be able to grow their crops normally, but those that don’t will be out of luck.

Most people out there simply do not have a frame of reference for a crisis of this magnitude.

But unless a miracle happens, a few months from now people all over the world will be freaking out about how painful things have become.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post The Crisis In The Strait Of Hormuz Is The Greatest Threat To The Global Economy In My Entire Lifetime appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Negotiating teams from the United States and Iran went back and forth for many hours in Pakistan, but ultimately the Iranians were simply not willing to agree to the “final offer” that Vice-President JD Vance set forth…

Vice President JD Vance presented a “final offer” to Iran during negotiations in Islamabad Saturday, outlining six U.S. “red lines,” according to U.S. officials.

The demands included an end all uranium enrichment and to dismantle major nuclear facilities and surrender highly enriched uranium.

The fourth was to accept a broader regional peace and de-escalation framework followed by to stop funding proxy groups including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.

The sixth demand was to fully open the Strait of Hormuz without tolls.

So this is it.

Our last best chance for peace just went out the window.

The Iranians feel like they have more leverage than the U.S. does, and following the peace talks they warned that “there will be no change in the situation of the Strait of Hormuz”…

‘Iran is not in a hurry, and until the US agrees to a reasonable deal, there will be no change in the situation of the Strait of Hormuz,’ an unnamed Iranian official told the Fars News Agency.

The Iranians seem to believe that if they can just hold the global economy hostage for long enough, the U.S. will eventually be forced to give in.

Right now, approximately 3,200 ships are currently trapped in the Persian Gulf…

Yet even after a fragile ceasefire took hold, around 3,200 vessels, including 800 tankers and cargo ships, remained stranded west of the strait in the Persian Gulf, according to Windward, a maritime intelligence firm in London.

Iran is allowing a trickle of vessels, so long as they pay a toll and hail from nonhostile nations. Iranian authorities, in effect, are acting like a bouncer at a popular nightclub, permitting some fortunate customers to enter the strait while leaving others to idle in frustration.

“You can think of the Hormuz Strait as a form of flow control. The greatest power actually does not come from total blockade. What Iran is showing is that the real power that it conveys is that you can control who passes and who doesn’t,” said Nicholas Mulder, a sanctions expert and history professor at Cornell University.

Since the war began, it has primarily been vessels from Iran and vessels from nations that are allied with Iran that have been able to travel through the Strait.

But now President Trump is putting an end to that.

Trump just announced that the United States will conduct a full blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and will intercept any ships that pay tolls to Iran…

This is a big move.

The Iranians have only been allowing a handful of vessels through the Strait each day, and now virtually all of those will be blocked by the U.S. Navy.

In other words, from this point forward traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will almost entirely stop.

This will cut off the flow of oil revenue to the Iranian regime, and Trump seems to believe that this will force them to make a deal.

But I don’t think that it will.

Meanwhile, the Chinese are going to be extremely upset with us, because they normally import a tremendous amount of oil from the Middle East.

In the end, this is not going to work out well for anyone.

It is inevitable that we will see more fighting, and the Iranians are already warning that any military vessels that approach the Strait will be “dealt with strongly”…

Military vessels approaching the Strait of Hormuz would be considered a ceasefire breach and would be dealt with strongly, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) navy said in a statement on Sunday.

It will be fascinating to watch this showdown play out.

But it will also be horrifying to watch what this showdown is going to do to the global economy.

Physical oil is already selling for more than 140 dollars a barrel, and if it stays at this level the consequences are going to be absolutely devastating…

In the North Sea, the world’s most important physical crude market, traders submitted 40 bids for cargoes last week, only four of which were met by offers. Cargoes for delivery in the coming weeks changed hands at unprecedented prices above $140 a barrel. Elsewhere, refiners have been hunting increasingly further afield for supplies, leading to a series of unusual trades and surging premiums for any oil that’s ready to ship right now.

Traders said the panicky moves across the world’s key physical oil markets demonstrated the scale of the shortfall in crude that’s due to be felt as the loss of supplies from the Middle East leaves a growing gap.

As I have documented in previous articles, shortages have begun to emerge all over the globe, and people are getting really angry.

In Ireland, police are dealing with massive protests that have erupted due to the high price of fuel…

Police removed and arrested protesters on Saturday to reopen Ireland ‘s only oil refinery as a fifth day of disruptive demonstrations over the soaring price of fuel left many gas pumps dry and threatened to cripple transportation across the country.

Trucks and tractors continued to block access to vital fuel depots and a major port, and vehicles clogging traffic led to closures of part of the main highway around Dublin, the capital, as well as sections of other major roadways.

This is just the beginning.

Just wait until you see what happens a few months down the road.

In addition to oil and natural gas, there are a lot of other critical commodities that remain trapped in the Persian Gulf region…

Polyethylene and other kinds of plastics and resins are also greatly affected. More than 40 percent of the world’s polyethylene is exported from the Middle East. And these are used in all stages of production in all sorts of industries—packaging, auto parts, medical equipment, consumer containers, industrial components, electronics, and much, much more.

And there are other often-neglected but extremely important hydrocarbon products being held up, such as petroleum naphtha, which is critical for refining gasoline and producing solvents for cleaning agents and paints. Natural gas condensate is another liquid hydrocarbon used in refining and to dilute other denser hydrocarbons to make them easier to transport. There’s also liquified petroleum gas, or LPG, which is mostly composed of propane and butane. These components are also important for refining as well as residential cooking and heating in many parts of the world. Much of the world’s supply of all these products is produced in the Middle East and exported through the Strait of Hormuz.

Another often-neglected yet critical higher-order good is sulfur. About half the world’s seaborne sulfur trade moves through the Strait. It’s important for refining petroleum and minerals like copper, nickel, and zinc, which are widely used in everything from electronics to medicine.

On top of everything else, approximately one-third of all globally-traded nitrogen fertilizer normally travels through the Strait of Hormuz, and this war is already “causing shortages and price spikes”…

About a third of the world’s fertilizer supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and its effective closure is causing shortages and price spikes for fertilizer during the crucial spring planting season. That has led to fears of elevated food prices and lower crop yields.

Nitrogen fertilizer must be applied within a certain window of time for each crop or it will not work correctly.

Farmers all over the northern hemisphere are freaking out, because the entire spring planting season is at risk…

The fertilizer shortage is putting the livelihood of farmers in developing countries — already troubled by rising temperatures and erratic weather systems — further at risk, and could lead to people everywhere paying more for food.

The poorest farmers in the Northern Hemisphere rely on fertilizer imports from the Gulf, and the shortage comes just as planting season begins, said Carl Skau, deputy executive director of the World Food Program.

Yields for annual crops such as wheat, barley and corn will be severely affected if the Strait of Hormuz is not opened very soon.

But yields for crops that do not have to be planted each year such as olives and grapes will not be significantly affected.

At this moment, we are still eating food that was produced in 2025.

So the consequences of the coming crop shortages will not be felt for a while.

But 6 to 9 months from now, we will be hit by much higher prices for wheat, barley and corn.

Of course many Americans are already experiencing a case of “sticker shock” whenever they go to the grocery store these days…

It’s hard to go anywhere right now without experiencing sticker shock. Price change notifications can feel like little acts of financial violence.

Americans continue to reel from prices that soared during the pandemic, never came back to earth, and keep ticking higher. There’s no doubt that it costs more to feed yourself and cover basics like transportation, housing, and health insurance than it did just a few years ago.

But at least most of us have enough food to eat.

In impoverished nations all over the globe, that is certainly not the case.

The United Nations has been telling us that the number of people in the world that are dealing with “acute hunger” was already at an all-time record high even before this war began.

When food shortages dramatically escalate 6 to 9 months from now, things will get so much worse.

We can see this crisis coming way ahead of time, but there is no way out now.

So I hope that you are ready for the nightmare that is ahead of us.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Global Food Shortages Will Hit The World Like A Freight Train In 6 To 9 Months Because Virtually Nothing Will Get Through The Strait Of Hormuz Now appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Iran’s IRGC-affiliated Mehr news wrote: “In case of the slightest attack on the electricity infrastructure of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the entire region will go dark.” Here’s the target list it shared:

Saudi Arabia

• The Village (near Al-Khobar): gas power plant (4,000+ MW)
• Ras Tanura (Sharqiya Province): major oil and gas facility / power infrastructure

United Arab Emirates

• Barakah (Al Dhafra, Abu Dhabi): nuclear power plant (~5,600 MW)
• Jebel Ali (South Dubai): gas power and desalination complex (multi-GW capacity)
• Mohammed bin Rashid Solar Park (Dubai): large-scale solar power project

Qatar

• Ras Laffan (north Qatar): gas power plant (one of the largest in Qatar)
• Umm Al Houl (south of Doha): gas power + desalination plant (multi-GW capacity)

Kuwait

• Al-Zour South: oil and gas power plant
• Al-Zour North: combined-cycle power plant (multi-GW capacity)
• Shaqaya Energy Park (west Kuwait): solar and wind renewable energy complex

Please note that the Ras Laffan natural gas complex in Qatar is on that list.

It normally produces approximately 20 percent of the world’s entire supply of liquified natural gas.

17 percent of that facility has already been destroyed, but if the rest of it gets wiped out that alone would be enough to plunge the globe into an economic death spiral that would last for years.

I am sure that Qatar and the other Gulf countries have been screaming at Trump to pull back before it is too late.

Another reason why Trump could not attack Iranian power plants right now is because pro-regime civilians have started to form “human chains” around some of them…

Civilians in Ahvaz and Mashhad formed human chains around major power plants on Monday, according to footage published by the state‑run Fars news agency on Telegram. The videos show residents standing shoulder‑to‑shoulder outside the Ramin power plant in Ahvaz, many holding Iranian flags, while similar crowds gathered near a facility in Mashhad.

Images of U.S. bombs blowing up women and children would have absolutely horrified people all over the planet.

So there was no way that Trump could make good on his threats.

On Monday morning, Trump told the world that any attacks on the Iranian power grid have been delayed for at least five days…

It would be wonderful if “productive conversations” were taking place.

Let us hope that is the truth.

But the Iranians are completely denying that any conversations are taking place, and they are celebrating that Trump has “backed down”…

Shortly after US President Donald Trump announced that he is deferring “any and all” strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure on productive resolution talks, Iranian media reports denied any ‘direct’ or ‘intermediary’ communication with him.

“Trump, fearing Iran’s response, backed down from his 48-hour ultimatum,” Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting said in a post on X.

Ebrahim Rezaei, Spokesperson of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission reiterated the claims and said, “Trump and America have backed down again. The field is still charging forward. Another defeat for the devil,” in a post on X.

Each side is telling a completely different story.

So what is the truth?

It is being widely reported in the western media that the individual that the Trump administration is communicating with is Mohammad‑Bagher Ghalibaf, but he is strongly denying this…

Multiple news outlets reported in the past hour that U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner had been engaged in negotiations with Mohammad‑Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament. But an X account attributed to Ghalibaf swiftly rejected those claims, saying no discussions with the United States had taken place.

The post accused unnamed actors of spreading “fake news” to manipulate global oil markets and insisted that the Iranian public “demand complete and remorseful punishment of the aggressors.”

Personally, I don’t know how Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf could have been much clearer.

And Iran’s Foreign Ministry is also telling us that there have been no negotiations…

Iran’s Foreign Ministry denied on Monday any direct negotiations with U.S. officials, but said “friendly countries” had conveyed messages from Washington seeking negotiations.

“In recent days, messages were delivered through certain friendly countries indicating that the U.S. sought negotiations to end the war. These messages were appropriately addressed in line with our country’s principled positions,” Esmail Baqaei, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, told the country’s state news agency IRNA on Monday. “In our responses, we issued firm warnings about the severe consequences of any attack on Iran’s critical infrastructure, emphasizing that any action against Iran’s energy facilities would be met with a decisive, immediate, and effective response from our armed forces.”

Maybe the Iranians are simply choosing not to tell the truth.

Needless to say, they don’t exactly have a strong track record for veracity.

Despite Iran’s denials, Trump continues to insist that there have been “very, very strong talks”…

“Well they’re going to have to get themselves better public relations people,” Mr. Trump said. “We have had very, very strong talks. We’ll see where they lead. We have points, major points of agreement, I would say almost all points of agreement. Perhaps that hasn’t been conveyed. The communication, as you know, has been blown to pieces.”

The president would not say who his administration is speaking to in Iran, only saying it was a “top” person but not the supreme leader. Mr. Trump added that Iran contacted the U.S., saying, “So they called, I didn’t call. They called. They want to make a deal.”

Ultimately, I don’t think that any of this is going anywhere.

As I write this article, missiles continue to fly all over the Middle East.

The Iranians just launched more attacks, and the Israelis continue to pummel targets in Iranian territory.

And thousands of U.S. Marines continue to sail toward the Middle East…

There has been no change in plans to send thousands more Marines and sailors to the Middle East, military sources told CBS News.

A second Marine Expeditionary Unit of about 2,200 Marines and three warships departed California last week, two U.S. officials previously said. It could take at least three weeks to be in place, although maybe more than that.

The first Marine Expeditionary Unit, coming from the Pacific, is still making its way toward the region.

In addition to the Marine units that are on the way, it is also being reported that elements of the 82nd Airborne Division could soon be sent to the Middle East…

Senior military officials are weighing a possible deployment of a combat brigade from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and some elements of the division’s headquarters staff to support U.S. military operations in Iran, defense officials said.

I think that Trump is really hoping that Iran will give him the sort of deal that he is seeking.

But that isn’t going to happen.

And Trump can’t pull the U.S. out of the war as long as Iran is preventing commercial ships from traveling through the Strait of Hormuz and as long as Iran is hitting targets all over the Middle East with drones and missiles.

The Iranians feel like they have control over when this war will end, and so they are making all sorts of extremely outrageous demands that the U.S. and Israel can never possibly accept.  They actually want all U.S. forces in the Middle East to be completely removed, they want to continue enriching uranium, and they want the U.S. and Israel to fully pay for all the damage that their bombing has caused.

Needless to say, the U.S. and Israel will never agree to any of that.

So I think that this war is going to continue for quite some time, and I also think that more escalations are inevitable.

And that is really bad news for the global economy, because this war has already had “a worse impact on oil than the two oil shocks of the 1970s combined”…

The head of the International Energy Agency said Monday that the global economy faces a “major, major threat” because of the Iran war.

“No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction,” Fatih Birol said at Australia’s National Press Club in Canberra on Monday.

The ​crisis in ​the Middle ⁠East, he said, has had a worse impact on oil than the two oil shocks of the 1970s combined, and a worse effect on gas than the Russia-Ukraine war.

We should all be thankful that a nightmare scenario has been avoided for the time being.

But it appears that this is just a very temporary reprieve.

The Iranians will never give Trump what he wants, and the U.S. and Israel will never give the Iranians what they are seeking.

The two sides are not even in the same universe as far as what a peace deal should look like, and that means that a lot more fighting is still ahead.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Has A Global Catastrophe Been Averted, Or Is This Just A Very Temporary Reprieve? appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

On Wednesday, a stunning series of airstrikes absolutely pummeled the South Pars gas field in Iran…

Iran said the US and Israel struck its giant South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, the latest attack on energy assets in the region-wide conflict.

Oil prices jumped after Iranian state TV reported the airstrike, which raised fears of further risks to global crude and gas supplies. Gulf producers have significantly reduced output during the 19-day war, particularly due to the effective shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz.

If confirmed, the assault would mark the first time the US and Israel have targeted Iran’s upstream oil and gas facilities since starting the war on Feb. 28.

This was an enormous escalation.

Up to this point, the U.S. and Israel had left the South Pars gas field alone.

As a result of the airstrikes, production at two of the primary refineries at South Pars came to a screeching halt…

The attack effectively halted production at two of the field’s refineries, which typically put out about 100 million cubic meters of gas a day, according to state media.

It would be difficult for me to overstate how important this is.

South Pars is the home of “the largest known gas reserve in the world”, and it normally produces approximately 70 percent of all natural gas used in Iran…

The South Pars/North Dome mega-field is the largest known gas reserve in the world. The field supplies around 70 percent of Iran’s domestic natural gas. Iran, which shares the massive field with energy giant Qatar, has been developing its side since the late 1990s.

So now Iran will be immediately facing an unprecedented domestic energy crisis.

There simply won’t be enough energy for everyone, and this is going to have a huge impact on Iran’s ability to keep fighting…

The South Pars attack signals a shift in the conduct of the war toward degrading Iran’s economic infrastructure and curbing its ability to continue fighting, according to Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin.

“South Pars is central to Iran’s gas supply and, by extension, to electricity generation and industrial activity,” Azizi said by email. “Even limited or temporary disruptions can translate into power shortages, industrial slowdowns, and broader economic strain.”

Needless to say, the Iranians are extremely angry about what has just happened.

In response, they are threatening to attack oil and gas infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates…

Iranian state media issued a new warning Wednesday urging civilians living near major oil and gas facilities in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to leave immediately, saying the sites will be targeted “in the coming hours.”

In a Telegram post, the semi‑official Tasnim news agency listed several facilities it said were at risk. The sites included the Samref refinery and Jubail petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia; the Mesaieed petrochemical complex, Mesaieed Holding Company and Ras Laffan refinery in Qatar; and the Al Hosn gas field in the UAE.

Tasnim said the facilities had become “direct and legitimate targets” and urged residents, workers and nearby communities to move to a safe distance without delay.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are apparently taking these threats quite seriously, because it is being reported that oil and gas facilities in those countries are being hastily evacuated…

Energy sites across the Middle East were being evacuated on Wednesday as Iran threatened strikes on facilities “in the coming hours”.

The price of oil surged by more than 5pc to $108 a barrel after ‌Iran urged staff to leave sites in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar ahead of a possible strike, according to state media.

Such an assault would further cripple global oil and gas supplies, with Brent crude reaching the highest level in 10 days amid fears of a growing shortage.

As I write this article, reports are circulating on social media that indicate that targets have been hit in Saudi Arabia.

In the coming hours, we shall see if those reports are confirmed or not.

I think that the Saudis are rapidly losing patience with Iran.

In fact, a Saudi analyst just told CBC News that if Saudi Arabia joins the war it “will activate its bilateral defence agreement with Pakistan”…

If Saudi Arabia joins the US-Israeli war on Iran, it will activate its mutual defence pact with Pakistan and potentially lean on the South Asian country’s nuclear arsenal, a Saudi Arabian analyst told Canada’s CBC News.

“If the Saudis were to decide to enter with complete force…Iran is going to be the biggest loser because Saudi Arabia will activate its bilateral defence agreement with Pakistan,” Salman al-Ansari, a Saudi Arabian geopolitical researcher, said in an interview.

“We can say it literally that there is a nuclear umbrella over Saudi Arabia,” he added.

We are in such dangerous territory now.

If the Iranians are backed into a corner, there is no telling what they might do.

But there is no turning back now.  A number of Gulf states are actually encouraging the Trump administration to finish the job because they don’t want Iran to ever be in a position to do something like this again…

Battered by Iranian strikes and the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz, the United Arab Emirates and some fellow Persian Gulf states have come to view Iran’s theocracy as an existential enemy. They now want the regime they once courted to be neutered, if not dismantled, when the conflict ends—so the ordeal is never repeated.

The U.A.E. has borne the brunt of Iranian attacks: more than 2,000 drones and missiles have been fired at the country since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28.

Of course it would take quite some time to do what they are asking.

Even a military operation that would be designed to take control of the Strait of Hormuz would extend the duration of this war by months…

A number of sources told The Jerusalem Post that if President Donald Trump decides to launch a military operation to take control of the Strait of Hormuz – an operation intended to ensure freedom of navigation – it could significantly prolong the war “by weeks, if not months.”

“This could extend the war by as much as two months,” one source familiar with the discussions said.

If taking control of the Strait of Hormuz would take “months”, how long would full-blown regime change take?

It is becoming clear that this isn’t going to be a short war.

And the longer this war persists, the more damage we will see to oil and gas infrastructure throughout the Middle East.

Energy prices are just going to keep on rising, and the global economy and the global financial system are not going to be able to handle that.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post It’s An Energy War Now! Oil And Gas Infrastructure All Over The Middle East Is Being Targeted And This Will Have Devastating Consequences appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Normally, approximately one-third of all globally-traded nitrogen fertilizer and approximately one-half of all globally-traded sulfur passes through the Strait of Hormuz…

Another world crisis sparked by the war in Iran may also be in the offing. That’s because the region’s oil and gas production has made it one of the world’s leading exporters of nitrogen fertilizers, which are indispensable to the global food system. To produce the chemicals used to grow much of the planet’s crops, natural gas is broken down to extract hydrogen, which is combined with nitrogen to make ammonia, and then mixed with carbon dioxide to make urea. All told, nearly a third of the global trade for nitrogen fertilizer passes through the Strait of Hormuz, while almost half of the world’s sulfur, essential in producing phosphate fertilizers, also travels through the corridor.

Reading that should chill you to the core.

But that is just part of the story.

Fertilizer producers in other countries will also be forced to shut down if they are not able to get the liquified natural gas that normally comes to them through the Strait of Hormuz…

Already, fertiliser plants in India and Pakistan are facing production declines given the disruption to natural gas supplies from the Middle East. Gulf countries targeted in the war supply nearly all of Pakistan’s LNG imports, 72% of Bangladesh’s and 53% of India’s.

Even if deescalation occurs, the conflict has likely locked in a food price hike in the coming months. The longer the war continues, the greater the shock to food security as energy and fertiliser prices remain elevated.

What we are facing is truly a global problem.

A farmer in Virginia named John Boyd recently admitted to NBC News that local dealers are telling him that “we can’t get the fertilizer” that he needs…

John Boyd Jr., a fourth-generation farmer in Virginia who grows soybeans, corn and wheat, said his fertilizer supplier recently warned him that shipments may not arrive as expected.

“The dealers are telling me we can’t get the fertilizer,” Boyd told NBC News in an interview this week. “Due to the war and the bombing through that area, the fertilizer isn’t moving.”

Fertilizer is essential to food production, he said, and it must be applied before crops are planted.

“If I don’t apply fertilizer, that means I won’t have the yields to make my crop,” Boyd explained.

If one U.S. farmer can’t grow enough, that isn’t a big deal.

But if hundreds of thousands of U.S. farmers can’t grow enough, that will be a full-blown national crisis.

Stacy Simunek, the president of the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, is warning that we really are facing a worst-case scenario…

The war in Iran has led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping route not only for oil and gas, but also for fertilizers needed to produce the world’s food.

“We cannot grow without it. There is absolutely no way you get around it,” said Stacy Simunek, president, Oklahoma Farm Bureau.

If farmers do not grow our food, we do not eat.

The U.S. is actually in better shape than much of the rest of the world, because we produce much of the fertilizer that we use.

But as Simunek has very aptly observed, if this crisis in the Middle East results in a major global fertilizer shortage, there is no way that we are going to be able to feed the entire world…

“Who’s going to feed us? Where are we going to get the food to eat? Where are we going to feed the world? This is critical,” said Simunek.

Already, hundreds of millions of people around the world go to bed hungry every night.

So a very large disruption to global food production would push us very deep into nightmare territory.

Today, approximately half of the population of the world eats food that is grown using nitrogen fertilizer…

About 4 billion people on the planet eat food grown with synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Roughly half of the global population, in other words, is alive because of these chemicals converted into nutrients for plants, said Lorenzo Rosa, who researches sustainable energy, water, and food systems at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University.

Spring planting season in the northern hemisphere is rapidly approaching.

The fertilizer that would normally be traveling through the Strait of Hormuz now would get into the hands of farmers around the middle of April.

But that isn’t going to happen, and that means that a lot of farmers around the world are simply not going to have the fertilizer that they need in 2026.

China produces more fertilizer than anyone else, and there was hope that they could help ease the potential global supply shock that we are facing, but instead they have chosen to implement very strict restrictions on fertilizer exports…

China is tightening controls on fertilizer exports as disruptions linked to the conflict in Iran ripple through global crop-nutrient markets and push prices higher. Authorities have asked exporters to halt outbound shipments of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer blends while reiterating existing restrictions on urea exports, according to people familiar with the matter. The steps appear aimed at protecting domestic supply and stabilizing prices as farmers prepare for the spring planting season, a period when demand typically peaks in the country’s vast agricultural sector.

People familiar with the situation said the latest directives have effectively paused overseas shipments of most fertilizer types, including compound varieties that had still been moving abroad after China loosened some urea limits last year. One key exception is ammonium sulfate, which accounted for about half of the country’s fertilizer shipments last year and remains unaffected for now.

The Chinese want to make sure that they have enough fertilizer for themselves.

A global scramble for what is available has begun, and nobody can blame the Chinese for putting themselves first.

But what is the rest of the world supposed to do?

White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett is telling us that the Trump administration is “all over the fertilizer problem”…

The Trump administration is seeking alternative fertilizer supplies for U.S. farmers as the war in Iran disrupts a key global trade route just weeks before the spring planting season.

“We’ve been all over the fertilizer problem,” White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on CNBC Tuesday. “I’m not saying that we can eliminate what disruption there is so far, but we can minimize it for sure.”

Hopefully he is right.

But words alone can’t magically get fertilizer into the hands of the farmers that need it.

What we really need is for traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to return to normal.

Unfortunately, the Iranians are telling us that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz “cannot be the same as before and return to its previous conditions”…

In a televised interview Tuesday, Iranian parliamentary speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said the Strait of Hormuz remained under threat because of the American and Israeli presence in the Gulf region.

“The Strait of Hormuz cannot be the same as before and return to its previous conditions,” Qalibaf said, adding that “there is no longer any security.” He also cautioned that US bombs and jets could not destroy Iran’s weapons facilities.

Since the Iranians are not willing to allow commercial traffic to flow through the Strait, it will be up to the United States and Israel to reopen it, because everyone else has decided that they do not want to be involved.  This is something that President Trump just posted about on his Truth Social account…

The United States has been informed by most of our NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved with our Military Operation against the Terrorist Regime of Iran, in the Middle East, this, despite the fact that almost every Country strongly agreed with what we are doing, and that Iran cannot, in any way, shape, or form, be allowed to have a Nuclear Weapon. I am not surprised by their action, however, because I always considered NATO, where we spend Hundreds of Billions of Dollars per year protecting these same Countries, to be a one way street — We will protect them, but they will do nothing for us, in particular, in a time of need. Fortunately, we have decimated Iran’s Military — Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti-Aircraft and Radar is gone and perhaps, most importantly, their Leaders, at virtually every level, are gone, never to threaten us, our Middle Eastern Allies, or the World, again! Because of the fact that we have had such Military Success, we no longer “need,” or desire, the NATO Countries’ assistance — WE NEVER DID! Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea. In fact, speaking as President of the United States of America, by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World, WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE! Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP

The Europeans are being hurt by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, but they have announced that they are simply not willing “to put their people in harm’s way”…

“Nobody is ready to put their people in harm’s way in the Strait of Hormuz,” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told the Reuters news agency on Tuesday. “We have to find diplomatic ways to keep this open so that we don’t have a food crisis, fertilizers crisis, energy crisis as well.”

I see three ways that the Strait of Hormuz could potentially be reopened soon.

The first option would be for the U.S. and Israel to give the Iranians everything that they are demanding and the war would end.  But that is certainly not going to happen.

The second option would be for the U.S. and Israel to put boots on the ground and secure the Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz.  But that is not going to happen any time soon.

The third option would be for the U.S. and Israel to completely destroy the Iranian regime using nuclear weapons, but that would be absolutely unthinkable.  The use of nuclear weapons is completely off the table, and I don’t know anyone that would argue with that.

So it appears that the Strait of Hormuz will be closed for an extended period of time.

In the western world, that will mean that food prices will likely be going up quite substantially.

But in impoverished nations all over the globe, the consequences will be much more serious.

We are potentially facing widespread global food shortages, and most of us don’t even want to think about what that could look like.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post “Fertilizer Shock”: The Closure Of The Strait Of Hormuz Could Cause Widespread Global Food Shortages appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

According to CNBC, the Iranians just hit another oil tanker with a missile…

Iran claimed to have struck an oil tanker with a missile, according to a state media report. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard ordered a closure of the Strait of Hormuz earlier this week and threatened to attack tankers passing through it, according to state media.

The British Navy on Thursday reported a large explosion at a tanker at anchor in Iraqi territorial waters. The ship’s master reported seeing a small vessel flee the scene. The crew is safe and no fires were reported.

The Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz is absolutely teeming with anti-ship missiles.

Until something is done about that, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz will continue to be paralyzed…

“You’ve essentially had the Strait of Hormuz grind down to a halt,” explained Matt Smith, an analyst at Kpler, a data and analytics firm.

He said the slowdown isn’t necessarily because Iran has formally closed the waterway, though Tehran has threatened to, but because shippers are weighing the risk of missile or drone strikes in the narrow corridor.

The result, Smith said, is a growing bottleneck of crude and refined products. And if the disruption stretches from days into weeks, Smith warned, the fallout could intensify quickly.

“If this drags on for weeks, the ramifications are huge,” he said, pointing to early ripple effects already emerging in global energy markets.

Many are comparing the current state of affairs to the oil embargo of 1973.

But the truth is that the supply disruption that we are experiencing now is far greater than anything that we experienced back then…

So how does this get fixed?

Well, the truth is that it isn’t going to get fixed until the war ends.

At this stage, the U.S. and Israel have achieved full aerial dominance and are bombing the living daylights out of Iran.

But that won’t bring an end to the regime.

Regime leaders are now hiding deep underneath hospitals, schools and mosques, 125,000 heavily-armed members of the IRGC have full control of the major cities, and Iran has one of the largest armies in the world.

Sending in a few thousand Kurds won’t do much against an army that boasts more than 600,000 men on active duty and more than 300,000 men among the reserves.

In order to bring the regime in Iran to an end, it will require either a ground invasion or the use of nuclear weapons.

Needless to say, the Trump administration is not even considering either of those two options.

The other way that this war could stop is if the U.S. and Israel simply decide to stop attacking and allow the current regime to remain in power.

That would be considered a victory for Iran and a loss for the U.S. and Israel.

Personally, I don’t think that President Trump will be eager to admit defeat any time soon.

So for now, the war will continue, and the global oil crisis will escalate.

Interestingly, the Chinese are trying to convince the Iranians to allow vessels that are carrying oil and liquified natural gas to China to travel safely through the region…

China is in talks with Iran to allow crude oil and Qatari liquefied natural gas vessels safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz as the US-Israeli war on Tehran intensifies, three diplomatic sources tell Reuters.

The war, which entered its sixth day on Thursday, has left the critical shipping passageway all but shut, with countries around the world cut off from a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.

China, which has friendly relations with Iran and relies heavily on Middle Eastern supplies, is unhappy about the Islamic Republic’s move to paralyze shipping through the Strait and is pressing Tehran to allow safe passage for the vessels, according to the sources.

China is very dependent on oil and liquified natural gas from the Middle East, and I have a feeling that the Iranians may make an exception for them.

But the rest of us are going to experience significant pain.

Since the war began, gasoline prices have already been jumping all over the country…

Retail gasoline prices in the U.S. have jumped nearly 27 cents since last week to $3.25 per gallon on average, according to the motorist group AAA. The last time gas prices made a similar jump was in March 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine, the group said.

It is obvious that this is just the beginning.

Unless some sort of a miracle happens, the price of gasoline is only going to go higher, and the White House is desperately searching for solutions…

President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is telling his advisers to bring ideas to the Oval Office to lower gasoline prices in the wake of the U.S. attack on Iran, according to two energy industry executives familiar with the conversations.

The White House is “looking under every rock for ideas on improving energy prices, especially gasoline prices,” said one of the executives, who was granted anonymity to describe internal administration discussions.

Apparently things are so tense that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and other top advisers “are getting screamed at”…

Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other advisers focused on energy policy, including a council led by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, “are getting screamed at to find some good news” on bringing down prices, the same executive said. “Folks are scrambling for announcements and messaging to counter the narrative” of rising prices, this person said.

I don’t know what Doug Burgum is supposed to do.

He can’t stop this war.

Now that missiles are flying back and forth, there is no turning back now.

Sensing an opportunity, Vladimir Putin is threatening to cut off the flow of natural gas to Europe…

A smirking Vladimir Putin has threatened to halt gas supplies to Europe and Britain amid a spike in energy prices triggered by the Iran crisis. Oil and gas prices have soared following the US and Israeli attack on Iran and Tehran’s strikes on Gulf Arab neighbours. The conflict has paralysed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and forced the shutdown of Qatar’s LNG production and Saudi Arabia’s largest oil refinery. The Russian president said oil prices were rising due to the ‘aggression against Iran’ and due to Western restrictions on Russian oil, while European gas prices were rising because customers were willing to buy gas volumes at higher prices due to events in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

During the weeks ahead, global energy prices are going to be such a huge story.

All over the world, people are going to be blaming the United States and Israel for the price of gasoline.

We were warned in advance that this sort of a scenario was coming, and now it is here.

The longer this war drags on, the worse global economic conditions will become.

Our entire way of life depends upon cheap energy, and now that entire paradigm has been put at risk.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Are You Prepared For The Worst Global Oil Crisis In More Than 50 Years? appeared first on The Economic Collapse.

Earlier today, the IDF announced that it has destroyed a secret compound in Iran known as “Minzadehei” that was being used “by a group of nuclear scientists who operated to develop a key component for nuclear weapons”…

This is a major bombshell, and we deserve some answers.

Exactly what was being produced at this facility?

And how long has it been operational?

In recent days there has been so much debate in the western world about whether Iran really was close to developing nuclear weapons or not.

What was going on at this compound could be the key to settling that debate.

Within the past 24 hours, the war with Iran has gone to an entirely new level.

Just hours ago, the IDF bombed the building where Iran’s Assembly of Experts had assembled to elect the nation’s new supreme leader…

Israeli forces “flattened” a building where Iran’s 88-member Assembly of Experts had gathered to select the regime’s next supreme leader, according to Israeli officials and regional reports.

“We wanted to prevent them from picking a new supreme leader,” an Israeli defense official told Axios shortly after pinpoint strikes leveled the building. Video posted on X showed rubble where the building once stood.

The attack came as the powerful regime body was counting votes, hoping to select a supreme leader to replace Ali Khamenei after his death during the opening salvo of the U.S.-Israeli operation against the Iranian regime. The assembly claimed just hours earlier that it “won’t take long” to select a successor, though that process is likely at a standstill in the wake of Israel’s operation. While it remains unclear how many Iranian leaders were in the building and how many regime officials the strike killed, Fox News reported that “multiple Iranian officials responsible for counting the votes of the Supreme Council were killed,” while Israeli journalist Amit Segal said “the council secretary was killed and the ballot box was burned” in the strike.

This was essentially the equivalent of bombing the Vatican while cardinals are electing the next pope.

It is an extremely solemn ceremony for the Shiites in Iran, and so this surprise attack is something that they will never forget.

Personally, I have no idea why Iranian leaders thought that it would be safe to gather in one place.

Did they actually believe that they could hold this vote without the U.S. and Israel finding out about it?

In addition to hitting the building where the Assembly of Experts had assembled, the IDF bombed a number of other key government buildings as well…

Overnight, the Israeli Air Force struck Iran’s “leadership complex” in Tehran, the military said Tuesday, saying that around 100 fighter jets dropped over 250 bombs on the complex as the joint US-Israeli bombing campaign and Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone launches continued into their fourth day, wounding 12 people in Israel.

The buildings targeted in the complex included Iran’s presidential bureau, the headquarters of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, a compound used by Iran’s “most senior forum” for meetings, and an “institution for training Iranian army officers,” according to the IDF.

“The leadership complex of the terror regime is one of the most secured assets in Iran and spans many streets in the heart of Tehran,” the military said, describing it as the “most important and central headquarters for the Iranian terror regime.”

The Israelis are not messing around this time.

And now that Hezbollah has started firing missiles into Israel, IDF forces have begun moving deeper into southern Lebanon…

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have instructed their military to “advance and seize additional strategic high ground” in Lebanon, after forces unleashed a wave of attacks on the country this week.

The Defense Minister said that he and Netanyahu called on the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to “prevent fire and protect the Israeli border communities” in a video address on Tuesday.

“The IDF operated overnight and continued taking control of the area,” the minister said, adding, “the IDF continues to act forcefully against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.”

Needless to say, U.S. forces have been very active too.

According to U.S. Central Command, our bombers and fighters have struck approximately 1,700 Iranian targets so far…

The US military has hit an additional roughly 700 targets in Iran since Sunday and has introduced new bombers and fighter aircraft to the operation, a fact sheet released on Tuesday said.

US Central Command said Tuesday that more than 1,700 targets have been struck throughout the operation dubbed Operation Epic Fury. As of Sunday, more than 1,000 targets had been struck. A listing of US assets involved also added B-1 Bombers, long-range B-52 bombers, and F-15 fighter jets.

The U.S. and Israel are absolutely pummeling Iran.

But the Iranians are far from done.

They have been hitting targets all over the Middle East, and many Israelis were quite shocked when Iranian munitions started raining down right in the heart of Tel Aviv.

We have known for a long time that a “final showdown” with Iran was coming.

Hours ago, President Trump declared that it is “too late” for talks with Iran.

The U.S. and Israel are going for it.  Regime change is the goal, and the Iranians are going to pull out all the stops in a desperate attempt to survive.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com.  He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”.  When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing.  You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter.  Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites.  These are such troubled times, and people need hope.  John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.

The post Major Bombshell! Israel Says That It Just Destroyed A Secret Nuclear Weapons Development Compound In Iran appeared first on The Economic Collapse.