Iran threatens to hit Saudi, Abu Dhabi and Dubai air and sea ports, ships more missiles to Yemeni Houthis

 

Military tensions rise in the Gulf region amid Iranian threats and supplies of extended-range missiles to the Yemeni insurgents.

Tehran has warned Riyadh that unless the Saudi blockade of Yemeni ports is lifted, Revolutionary Guards missiles supplied to the Yemeni Houthi insurgents will be loosed against the seaports and airfields of Saudi Arabia, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The warning was forwarded to their governments through the Omani back channel.

Russia Gains Upper Hand In Asian Oil War

The Saudi-led OPEC cuts may have supported oil prices and reduced market volatility, but they have also opened the door wide to rival crude grades flowing into the most prized market for the Middle Eastern producers: Asia.

Reduced supplies by OPEC resulted in higher prices for Middle Eastern crude benchmark Dubai and a narrower Brent/Dubai spread, which made the shipment of Brent-price-linked crude grades to Asia profitable.

TRUNEWS EXCLUSIVE: Orlando’s Walt Disney World may be target for July 4 terrorist attack

Stay safe on the Fourth of July… no matter where you go.

 

 

VERO BEACH, FL – (TRUNEWS) Orlando’s Walt Disney World may be the target of an Islamic terrorist attack on July 4. The stunning plot is allegedly financed by a man in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) identified as “Dr. Rice.” He is also referred to as “the Sheikh.”

According to emails to city and federal officials, the UAE man offered $25 million to a former law enforcement investigator in the United States to organize the operation.

The informant contacted a Florida-based private investigator who identified himself in an email as a “former FBI operative.” The informant is also a private investigator. TRUNEWS has verified the names and the current professional employment of both men as private investigators in Florida.

The informant contacted the private investigator on May 29, 2016. The date stamp on the email was 4:23 PM. The subject line said: “like to have you in this game.”
The email text stated:

“I have recently and inadvertently come into contact with an individual who purports to be located in the UAE. I have gotten a total of 4 telephone calls from him and a boatload of whatsapp text from an associate of his of which I’ve saved all the call I.D. notations and text. This man carries a thick Indian accent. He has admitted to financing the Manchester United football stadium bombing in the U.K.”

The informant said the UAE man called him on May 18 at 2:10 PM and offered a large amount of U.S. dollars to “do some major damage here in central Florida.” The informant also said “he wants it done on the 4th of July and tells that he has 3 operatives already paid if I am not interested.”

Exclusive: Iran wants euro payment for new and outstanding oil sales – source

A general view shows a unit of South Pars Gas field in Asalouyeh Seaport, north of Persian Gulf, Iran November 19, 2015. Reuters/Raheb Homavandi/TIMA

 

 

Iran wants to recover tens of billions of dollars it is owed by India and other buyers of its oil in euros and is billing new crude sales in euros, too, looking to reduce its dependence on the U.S. dollar following last month’s sanctions relief.

A source at state-owned National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) told Reuters that Iran will charge in euros for its recently signed oil contracts with firms including French oil and gas major Total, Spanish refiner Cepsa and Litasco, the trading arm of Russia’s Lukoil.

Iran sanctions: Middle East stock crash wipes £27bn off markets as Tehran enters oil war

Prospect of the Islamic Republic pumping an additional 500,000 barrels a day sends stock markets in Dubai and Saudi Arabia into tailspin

Stock markets across the Middle East saw more than £27bn wiped off their value as the lifting of economic sanctions against Iran threatened to unleash a fresh wave of oil onto global markets that are already drowning in excess supply.

All seven stock markets in the Gulf states tumbled as panic gripped traders. London shares are now braced for a second wave of crisis to hit when they open on Monday morning after contagion from China sent the FTSE 100 to its worst start in history last week.

Saudi Arabia withdraws $70b from global funds

Saudi Arabia has withdrawn $70 billion from global asset managers as Opec’s largest oil producer seeks to plug its budget deficit, according to financial services market intelligence company Insight Discovery.

“Fund managers we’ve spoken to estimate Sama has pulled out between $50 billion to $70 billion from global asset managers over the past six months,” Nigel Sillitoe, chief executive officer (CEO) of the Dubai-based firm, said on Monday. “Saudi Arabia is withdrawing funds because it’s trying to cut its widening deficit,” he said.

Islamic State To Target Saudi Arabia Next

The meteoric rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, which has since styled itself the Islamic State in an affirmation of its broader aspirations of dominion over a self-declared caliphate beyond the territories where it exercises control, has aggravated the Middle East’s already treacherous geopolitical landscape. Having emerged out of conflict and instability in Iraq and Syria, the Islamic State has arguably matched or otherwise exceeded the capabilities of fellow extremist groups such as al-Qaeda, its regional affiliates and other violent Islamist organizations. Despite its recent setbacks—notably in Syria’s Kurdish-majority town of Kobane (a.k.a. Ayn al-Arab), located in the northern Aleppo province—the Islamic State has demonstrated an impressive ability to capture, control and consolidate its hold on territory and sustain its insurgent and support cadres. It also operates a sophisticated information and propaganda wing that exploits social media as a force multiplier alongside its scorched earth campaign. It has also drawn support from independent sympathizers and ideological allies throughout the broader Middle East and around globe—including among locally focused extremist factions in Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Pakistan and Yemen. These attributes are reminiscent of al-Qaeda’s at the pinnacle of its influence. However, they also reflect the simmering competition between the Islamic State and its al-Qaeda precursor as well as the latter’s regional affiliates such as Jabhat al-Nusra (Terrorism Monitor, February 20). The Islamic State’s increasingly strident discourse and threats also illustrate its rising ambitions; in addition to confronting the incumbent regimes in Iraq and Syria and rival militants and insurgents, the Islamic State has an ambitious set of goals that include challenging Saudi Arabia.

Russia Sanctions Accelerate Risk to Dollar Dominance

While no one’s suggesting the dollar will lose its status as the main currency of business any time soon, its dominance is ebbing. The greenback’s share of global reserves has already shrunk to under 61 percent from more than 72 percent in 2001. The drumbeat has only gotten louder since the financial crisis in 2008, an event that began in the U.S. when subprime-mortgage loans soured, and the largest emerging-market nations including Russia have vowed to conduct more business in their currencies.“The crisis created a rethink of the dollar-denominated world that we live in,” said Joseph Quinlan, chief market strategist at Bank of America Corp.’s U.S. Trust, which oversees about $380 billion. “This nasty turn between Russia and the West related to sanctions, that can be an accelerator toward a more multicurrency world.”

Such a transformation may take as long as 25 years, with the dollar remaining “top of the heap” even as other currencies play a greater role, Quinlan said, speaking by phone on Aug. 4 from New York.

Dubai Stock Market Crashes

 

The Dubai stock market crashed today, with the main index falling over 6.5%, after being down 8% at one point.

Oman’s $3 Billion Railroad Plan to Blunt Iran Oil Risk: Freight

Oman, which faces Iran across the Strait of Hormuz, said it’s poised to start raising cash for a $3 billion rail line offering an alternative route for oil and freight shipments that funnel through the 21 mile-wide channel.

The nation of 3.3 million people, located on the southern side of the strait, is considering issuing bonds by the end of 2014 to kick-start funding for the track across some of the Arabian peninsula’s harshest terrain, Abdulrahman Al Hatmi, a director at Oman National Railway Co., said in an interview.

Chinese firm to build $1.4 bln Port City

Sri Lanka has signed a deal with a Chinese company to build a $1.4 billion city complex on reclaimed land near the harbour of the capital Colombo, an official said Wednesday.

The state-run Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) will reclaim 230 hectares (568 acres) next to the new Colombo South port, said SLPA chairman Priyath Bandu Wickrama.

Saudis, Gulf emirates actively aided Egypt’s military coup, settling score for Mubarak ouster

The lightening coup which Wednesday, July 3, overthrew President Mohamed Morsi put in reverse gear for the first time the Obama administration’s policy of sponsoring the Muslim Brotherhood movement as a moderate force for Arab rule and partner in its Middle East policies. debkafile reveals that the Egyptian military could not have managed their clockwork coup without the aid of Saudi and Dubai intelligence and funding.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE threw their weight and purses behind Egypt’s generals aiming to put their first big spoke in the US-sponsored Arab Revolt (or Spring), after they failed to hold the tide back in Libya, Egypt and thus far Syria.

China opens city-sized shopping mall, with fake sun

If you don’t care about authenticity, the New Century Global Center has everything you could want, including an artificial Mediterranean village.

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The New Century Global Center building opened recently in Chengu, a city of more than 14 million people in southwest China’s Sichuan province. It’s described as “the world’s largest standalone structure” by Chinese officials and is 328 feet high, 1,640 feet long, and 1,312 feet wide.

While Boeing’s plant in Everett, Wash., is the world’s biggest building by volume, the Chinese mall seems to be tops in floor space. Almost the area of Monaco, its 420 acres of floor space could fit nearly three Pentagons, four Vatican Cities, or 20 Sydney Opera Houses.

Strategic ties with UAE likely to result in billion-pound defence contracts for UK

UK defence companies would benefit from a more energetic UK-UAE bilateral relationship, especially since the UAE is keen to replace its ageing Mirage fighter jets with the BAE Systems Typhoon in a deal worth $10 billion (c. £8bn), according to a new paper from the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

As the UK appears to strategically orientate its defence and security posture towards the Gulf region from 2014, with the Minhad airbase in Dubai undoubtedly forming a major focal point of the future British presence, new research suggests that the UAE government is also committed to reinvigorating its relationship with the British; possibly at the expense of other potential strategic alliances.

Report: UK plans largest military presence in Gulf states since 1971

LONDON — Britain intends to establish a permanent military presence in the Gulf, the report said.

The Royal United Services Institute asserted that Britain seeks to restore military bases in Gulf Cooperation Council states. The London-based think tank said Britain was working to reach agreements for army, air force and naval installations.