May 29th, 2026: Gulf Nations Build Emergency Routes Around Hormuz & Russia’s Taliban Partnership
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What emergency routes are Gulf nations building around the Strait of Hormuz?
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It's Friday, the 29th of May. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. And yes, still on the road. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Gulf nations are rapidly building new pipelines, trade corridors, and shipping routes in order to bypass the Strait of Hormuz as the region adapts to the possibility that the waterway may never be fully secure or free for navigation again. Later in the show, President Trump has reportedly shared a draft Iran peace agreement with Israel and other allies, as new reports suggest Washington and Tehran may be close to a temporary deal or a possible agreement to extend whatever you call a ceasefire where the firing hasn't ceased.
Plus, Russia is deepening ties with the Taliban, signing a new military cooperation agreement roughly a year after Moscow removed the group from its terrorist blacklist. There's Russia, sticking with the old adage that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And in today's back of the brief, federal agents have arrested a senior former CIA official after allegedly discovering more than $40 million worth of gold bars hidden inside his Virginia home. Well, gold bar Bob Menendez is very jealous. But first, today's PDB Spotlight. For decades, the Strait of Hormuz was treated as one of the unavoidable realities of the global economy. Roughly a fifth of the world's oil supply passed through the narrow waterway separating Iran from the Arabian Peninsula.
And despite periodic threats and actions from Tehran, most Gulf states operated under the assumption that these shipping lanes would always ultimately remain open. And now that assumption appears to be changing. As the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran continues to disrupt traffic through the strait, Gulf countries are increasingly adapting to the idea that the strait may no longer be a reliable part of the logistics supply chain. And rather than simply hoping that things get better and the Iranian regime has a change of heart, Regional powers are accelerating efforts now to build around it, using pipelines, Red Sea ports, overland trucking corridors, and entirely new supply chains designed to bypass the strait altogether.
Saudi Arabia is perhaps best positioned for this new reality. Long before the current crisis, the Saudis invested heavily in what's known as the East-West Pipeline, sometimes called Petroline. It's a massive system that allows crude oil to move from Saudi Arabia's oil-rich eastern province across the kingdom to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The pipeline was originally developed during the Iran-Iraq War and the so-called Tanker War of the 1980s, when its acts on shipping in the Gulf exposed just how vulnerable the region's energy infrastructure could become during conflict. And now, decades later, that old insurance policy has suddenly become one of the most strategically important pieces of infrastructure in the Middle East.
Reports indicate Saudi Arabia has significantly increased shipments from Red Sea terminals in recent weeks, allowing large amounts of crude to bypass the Strait of Hormuz entirely before heading toward Europe and global markets. And the Saudis are not alone. The United Arab Emirates... has also shifted enormous attention toward its eastern coastline, particularly the ports of Fujairah and Khor Fakkan, both located outside the Strait of Hormuz on the Gulf of Oman. Fujairah has long served as a major energy hub, connected to Abu Dhabi's oil fields through the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline. But since the closure of the strait, the port's importance has significantly increased. Tanker traffic, storage operations, and container shipments have all surged as companies scramble for alternatives to Gulf transit routes vulnerable, of course, to Iranian disruption.
In fact, reports indicate the UAE is now accelerating work on an additional West-East pipeline project that would further increase export capacity outside the Strait.
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