#BREAKING
🇦🇿🇮🇱🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — An Iranian drone made an impact in Nakhchivan Airport, Azerbaijan.

#BREAKING
🇨🇳🛢📈❗️ — Crude Oil is now being sold by 100 USD/barrel in Mainland China!

📝 The Shanghai INE crude futures (RMB/bbl) surged to 680 RMB today, equating to ~$98.5 USD at current 6.90 CNY/USD ratem near that $100 chart spike.

@BellumActaNews

🇮🇷🛢🇨🇳 Iran remains China's biggest source of oil as of October 2025.

After the fall of Nicolas Maduro, China's reliance on Iran for oil has likely increased as the remnants of Maduro's regime have ceased all oil exports to Beijing.

@CIG_telegram

🇨🇳❌🛢 China Tells Top Refiners to Halt Diesel and Gasoline Exports

China’s government has told the country’s largest oil refiners to suspend exports of diesel and gasoline as an escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf disrupts the arrival of crude from one of the world’s largest producing regions.

Officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner, met refinery executives and verbally called for a temporary suspension of refined product shipments that would begin immediately, according to people familiar with the matter. They asked not to be named as the discussions are not public.

The refiners were asked to stop signing new contracts and to negotiate the cancellation of already-agreed shipments. the people said. An exception was made for jet and bunker fuel held in bonded storage and supplies to Hong Kong and Macau, they added.

China has a vast refining sector, but much of its production is funneled to serve domestic demand, meaning it is not a critical supplier. Across Asia, it ranks third for seaborne exports, behind South Korea and Singapore. However, Beijing’s precautionary curbs reflect efforts across the import-dependent region to prioritize domestic needs as the crisis in the Middle East deepens.

🔗 https://archive.ph/hByUV

🌍 The cost of leaching copper oxide ore in the Central African Copperbelt is about to get even more expensive.

In the past few days a number of Middle Eastern Oil refineries have been attacked / closed. In addition, exports through the Strait of Hormuz have ground to a halt.

What has this got to do with leaching copper in one of the world’s largest copper belts ? Sulphur, or more specifically sulphuric acid.

Approximately, 50% of seaborne sulphur is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz.

90% of sulphur imported into Africa is from the Middle East… and therefore passes through the Strait of Hormuz

The central African Copperbelt imports around 2 million tonnes of this sulphur per annum. The sulphur is used in local sulphur burners to convert into sulphuric acid, which is used by mining companies for leaching copper out of copper oxide ores. One part of sulphur makes 3 parts of liquid high-strength sulphuric acid. Therefore, 2.0 million tonnes of sulphur produces approximately 6.0 million tonnes of sulphuric acid.

The price of high-strength sulphuric in Kolwezi, on the western edge of the DRC Copperbelt, has been trading near all-time highs of $700-$800/tonne for the past 4-5 months, due to regional export restrictions, higher copper prices, as well as an already tight global sulphur market. This price will rise further.

I have heard that traders are already struggling to source any. Sulphuric acid prices will therefore significantly increase across Africa… and if the disruption lasts longer than ~3 weeks, copper oxide operations will have to close as they’ve run out of acid.

Oxide copper is the dominant ore source of copper produced in DRC… and the DRC is the world’s 2nd largest copper producer.

🔗 Robert Friedland

🇧🇩 Bangladesh has enough fuel for two weeks and will begin rationing it

Bangladesh is preparing to reduce deliveries to petrol pumps as the country tries to stretch existing reserves in the face of an escalating conflict in the Middle East, according to a senior government official.

Energy shortages — along with rising prices — deal a body blow to a newly elected government trying to pull the country out of a period of political instability, high inflation and slow growth.

Bangladesh’s stocks of petrol and diesel will last two weeks, prompting the government to reduce delivery to fuel pumps by 10-15%, said the official, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are not public.

Asia’s energy crisis has been worsening by the day as US and Israeli attacks on Iran escalate into a regional conflict that has interrupted production and all but closed the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway connecting the Persian Gulf with the world. The war has forced even cash-strapped buyers to look for alternative oil and liquefied natural gas volumes. Bangladesh bought two LNG cargoes on the spot market Wednesday, the official said.

The South Asian nation, which imports more than 80% of its energy from the Middle East, is also shutting down production at its fertilizer plants to save gas, and is mapping out other industrial sectors which can survive a temporary halt in operations, the official added.

The South Asian nation is not alone in confronting the prospect of severe disruptions if the war continues. India is facing the prospect of a cooking gas shortage and is also considering contingency plans.

🔗 https://archive.ph/KEdfi

🇺🇸🇮🇱⚔️🇮🇷 Report: ‘Double-tap’ strike killed 165 Iranian schoolgirls in Minab

An investigation by Middle East Eye finds the deadly strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, involved two explosions, with the second blast hitting survivors who had taken shelter after the first attack.

▪️ Witnesses and Red Crescent medics said students were moved to the school’s prayer hall after the initial strike. A second missile then hit the same area.

▪️ 165-181 people were killed, almost all girls aged 7–12. Many parents had been called to collect their children when the second strike occurred.

▪️ Officials say the destruction was so severe that dozens of victims remain unidentified, with DNA testing underway.

U.S. and Israeli officials say they are “investigating” the incident

🔗 Drop Site News

🛢 BREAKING: Brent oil prices surge above $82.50/barrel with gas prices now up nearly +20% since January.

Keep watching oil prices as a leading indicator for a potential "deal" or market intervention.

The world simply cannot afford oil prices rising toward $100/barrel.

🔗 Kobeissi Letter

🇯🇵❌🛢 Japan has instructed its refiners to stop exporting diesel and gasoline according to Bloomberg, to protect the domestic fuel supply.

@CIG_telegram

🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 — WATCH: CENTCOM released footage of U.S. strikes on Iranian aircraft.

The Iranian regime's ability to impact U.S. forces and regional partners is rapidly declining, while American combat power continues to build.

🇮🇷📝 What does a balkanization of Iran mean for the world?

Although many Israeli and American politicians stated that the goal was to regime change Iran, the real intention was to do to Iran what happened in Syria and Iraq, foment uprisings, provoke multiple civil wars because Iran will never be a regional competitor to Israel if its dealing with uprisings and ethnic separatism.

A balkanized Iran or an Iran locked in civil war would transform the country from an occasional source of geopolitical instability to a source of PERMANENT geopolitical instability.

A balkanized Iran would be a huge source of:

🔶 International terrorism

🔶 Supply chain disturbance through its proximity to the Persian Gulf, Caspian Basin and emerging Trans-Caucuses logistics corridors. Terrorist orgs can and will throw loitering munitions at any ship, aircraft or train that is within their reach and will require foreign interventions and troop deployments to counteract these threats.

🔶 Massive migration flows (which in turn would destabilise European politics);

🔶 Nuclear proliferation and radiological terrorism fears

🔶 Regional sectarian and ethnic conflict

🔶 Great power competition. Proxy wars between other powers, especially Turkey and Israel

🔶 Keeping America and other European countries entangled in the Middle East for many years trying to stem migratory flows, combat terrorism and protect trade and supply chains to and from East Asia.

Nobody except for Israel has anything to gain from a balkanized Iran.

@CIG_telegram

🇺🇸🛢 US average diesel prices have reached $4.12/gal this morning according to GasBuddy data, the highest level since December 8, 2023.

🔗 Patrick de Haan