September 21, 2026: The liquefied natural gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the past two weeks reached the highest level in six months, signaling that US naval protection and mine clearance efforts are “paying off,” a regional US commander said.
 
“Clearly, momentum is building,” Admiral Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, said in a video message Saturday. The strait’s primary transit lanes are clear of mines and Persian Gulf allies have shipped more than 1 billion barrels of crude through it “in the last couple months,” he said.
 
Cooper’s comments follow a growing global squeeze on oil and petroleum products since the summer, spurred in part by drone attacks linked to the Iran war that halted a Saudi Arabian pipeline bypassing the strait. Iran maintains it has closed the strait and regional negotiations on agreed shipping routes have faltered.

Saudi authorities issued two early-morning air raid alerts for Riyadh on Saturday, the first in the capital since the height of the US-Iran war in March and April. 
 
An airstrike hit jet fuel facilities at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited three officials with knowledge of the incident. The newspaper said that black smoke could be seen at the airport.

Saudi defence systems destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward Riyadh, the capital, and separately thwarted Houthi attacks on civilian targets in several cities, including the Red Sea oil port of Yanbu, the Saudi Press Agency reported, citing a military spokesperson.
 
The US State Department said the clashes risk escalating, warning Americans of potential flight cancellations and airspace closures and suggesting they reconsider travel to the region. 

(Source: Bloomberg)