Tuesday Afternoon Breaking Updates with Ben 8/18/26
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Welcome to Ben On Breaking News. I'm Ben Myselis, and this is your breaking news. Moments ago, we learned that the Iranian Bakhouthis just struck a tanker in the Bab el Mandab Strait. It's believed to be a Saudi Arabian tanker. Now the Saudis have had to use a different route other than the Red Sea since every time it uses the Red Sea.
What recent tanker attacks have occurred in the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz?
And It gets close to the Houthie controlled areas in Yemen, western Yemen. And uh this one was uh very close to Al Mocha in Yemen, an area where the Houthis have been striking a lot lately. Um these tankers have been repeatedly hit. I mean, we're talking about multiple Saudi tankers. So Saudi Arabia is trying to reroute some of the tankers to basically avoid the Red Sea. And do a much longer route around Africa. But anytime they send a tanker, the Houthis remind them that the Houthis-led blockade in the Red Sea against Saudi Arabian tankers remains in place. Also, we reported earlier how yet another tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was struck by Iran on the Oman route. CENCOM continues to tell these tankers, use the Oman route.
It's safe. Clearly, it isn't. Uh, Iran struck another tanker in the Strait of Hormuz. And then a few days uh before that, on August 15th, we reported here on the Minus Touch network that another tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz. No one else was really reporting it in terms of other major news networks.
How are Saudi‑backed tankers responding to the Houthi‑controlled Bab al‑Mandab Strait?
It was being discussed amongst the open source intelligence community, which of course we monitor. Very carefully. We monitor the surveillance footage, the satellite footage to try to give you everything that's going on. And now finally, today, the UK, the UK MTO finally admitted that there was another tanker hit on August 15th. I've been noticing the UK MTO, which used to do a very good job reporting all the comings and goings of maritime-related issues in the Strait of Hormonian. Moves and the Red Sea really has now become a total tool of CENTCOM. I don't know specifically how the change occurred, but it's been drastic over the past, I would say, month or so, where the UK MTO is just very late to report what's happening.
Now, these are very serious times, obviously, right? Um, Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz through the Houthis, they basically have functional control over the Red Sea. They can destroy all the other tankers that they want in the Red Sea. They're just right now focusing on Saudi Arabian tankers, given that Saudi Arabia backs the uh government that's recognized by the international community uh in Yemen and that Saudi Arabia has attacked the Sahna Air Base and other bases. Um uh but Functional control over the Red Sea and the Bab al Mandab Strait resides with the Houthis. I mean, these are just objective facts. I mean, the world is on fire right now as well, in a in a bad way, not good fire, like very bad stuff is happening.
Um, in the past uh 24 hours as well, Netanyahu striked hard in Syria in a new airport that Al-Shah. The president of Syria is spending a lot of time building. It's the Abu Al-Duhir Air Base. This was a major, major uh construction project by the new Syrian government. Um, again, led by Al-Shara. when he was in Al Qaeda, he was named Al Jalani. Um I've I've watched his clips. I've mean I watched his interviews and I've showed you clips of uh Al Shara. Um, you know, a very, I mean, obviously interesting background given that he was in Al Qaeda and there was a $25 million bounty over his head. But Since he's taken over leadership, I mean he's had to do some kind of Trump bootlegging to have sanctions removed against Syria.
And he knows that Donald Trump loves uh people like who were in Al-Qaeda and people who like beheaded people like Trump Sisiko, who like looks up that stuff. But if if you followed Al-Shara's behavior, he's focused a lot on Arab nation unity. He's focused a lot on, despite the fact that there was obviously direct conflict between his Al-Qaeda sect and Hezbolla during the Syrian civil war, um, about unity, about Arab unity. And we've been reporting over the past few weeks, Israel really ramping up its anti-Syria rhetoric and how people in the Netanyahu regime were saying.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–0:25
2
What recent tanker attacks have occurred in the Red Sea and Strait of Hormuz?
0:25–1:39
3
How are Saudi‑backed tankers responding to the Houthi‑controlled Bab al‑Mandab Strait?
1:39–6:19
4
What is the latest on Netanyahu’s actions in Syria and the surrounding Middle‑East conflict?
6:19–9:31
5
Why is the Trump administration’s Oval Office press conference significant for U.S. policy?
9:31–12:14
6
How are U.S. currency moves affecting the Japanese yen and European euros?
12:14–14:42
7
What impact is the soaring diesel‑crack spread having on the U.S. economy and farmers?
14:42–17:09
8
What are the key takeaways about U.S. debt, bond yields, and future economic risks?
17:09–1:05:11
Speakers
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