{"id":640099,"date":"2026-07-23T12:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=640099"},"modified":"2026-07-23T12:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T12:55:00","slug":"oil-soars-as-trump-warns-iran-will-pay-for-future-houthi-shipping-attacks-rubio-rules-out-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=640099","title":{"rendered":"Oil Soars As Trump Warns Iran Will Pay For Future Houthi Shipping Attacks, Rubio Rules Out Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oil Soars As Trump Warns Iran Will Pay For Future Houthi Shipping Attacks, Rubio Rules Out Deal<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that Iran is “begging for a deal” and “they need to come to their senses,” adding that Tehran will “pay a very heavy price for the things they are doing<\/strong>.”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking on the sidelines of the ASEAN conference in Manila, he claimed<\/a> that “Iran is begging us, both directly and indirectly, ‘Let\u2019s do a deal. Let\u2019s talk.'” But the reality remains that there’s no public indicators showing this; instead, the Iranians have pretty aggressively sought to enforce their red lines<\/strong>, this week attacking a series of international ships in the Hormuz Strait.<\/p>\n

Rubio tried to blame an alleged fracturing of the Iranian government, and a takeover by the ‘hardline’ faction of leadership. “The problem with Iran is every time they make a deal, the people in charge either break it or they want to change it<\/strong>. So it looks like they\u2019re not ready to make a deal, so they\u2019re going to continue to pay a price, and every night the price gets higher and higher,” he asserted.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"
via Associated Press<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

Rubio then characterized Iran and its policies as “run by radical clerics” – calling them “oblivious” to its economic problems. In the background is the fact that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent months ago boasted that US policies and sanctions engineered a currency collapse in hopes that the January economic protests would topple the regime. This never materialized and now people in the Trump administration seem perplexed.<\/p>\n

Rubio continued the blame-game while suggesting that if Tehran were to play ball on negotiating a deal for the Hormuz Strait, it could receive major economic benefits.<\/p>\n

“Iran can be the richest country in the Middle East if they wanted to be<\/strong>. But instead, they take their money, and they use it and they give it to Hezbollah. They give it to Hamas. They give it to the Houthis. They give it to Shia militias. They give it to sponsored terrorism all over the world,” he said.<\/p>\n

Iran “will pay a very heavy price for the things they are doing. They are already paying a heavy price,” he said. Rubio also responded to recent statements of the Iranians talking about exacting “an eye for an eye” in terms of military approach. The US top diplomat then asserted that President Trump’s\u00a0approach was “a head for an eye”<\/strong>. He described that currently Iran’s military-industrial base is being “decimated” – suffering “billions” of dollars” in damage. This as<\/a>…<\/p>\n

\n

The US bombs Iran for the 12th consecutive night<\/strong>, killing at least\u00a0two people\u00a0and wounding 11 others in an attack on the Shalamcheh border crossing with Iraq. Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait have reported retaliatory missile and drone attacks<\/strong> from Iran.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

But what’s happening in the Red Sea right now does suggest that the Iranians have more cards to play<\/strong>. Their allies, the Houthis of Yemen, have initiated closure of the\u00a0Bab al-Mandab Strait to all Saudi shipping. At least two vessels were attacked, with unconfirmed but widely circulating video showing one on fire and in distress:<\/p>\n

\n

BIG: First Saudi oil tanker reportedly hit by Houthi missile near Yemen, engulfed in flames. pic.twitter.com\/R3nG7FSdW1<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Clash Report (@clashreport) July 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The attacks on the tankers pushed Brent up near $100 – its highest since May 26th…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Pakistan\u2019s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has newly announced he communicated to Saudi Crown Mohammed bin Salman Pakistan’s strong condemnation of Houthi aggression against Saudi vessels.<\/p>\n

“Such actions are unacceptable, violate international law, threaten freedom of navigation, and undermine regional peace and security,” Sharif said in a statement on X. The PM emphasized that Pakistan\u00a0stands “firmly and resolutely” with the Saudi leadership.<\/p>\n

President Trump is threatening to take military action against the Houthis, and on Thursday morning took it a step further in saying he will hold Iran itself accountable for Houthi actions<\/strong>. “The US will hold Iran responsible,” he wrote, explaining that “the Houthis area a Surrogate and\/or Proxy of Iran.” He warned that “major military punishment will be inflicted upon Iran and, of course, the Houthis” themselves.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As for Rubio’s remarks, there were still clear signs that the administration hasn’t totally abandon efforts to revive talks. “The president always prefers to negotiate and reach a deal\u2026 and we are prepared to do that<\/strong>. We’ve tried to do that now for a year and a half,” Rubio had further stated<\/a> from the ASEAN conference.<\/p>\n

But then he again reverted to the argument: “If there\u2019s any undermining of confidence, it\u2019s confidence that the Iranian system as it currently is structured can reach an agreement<\/strong>.” Rubio added, “Ships are trying to go through the Straits, and they\u2019re getting blown up. Commercial ships are going through the Straits, and they\u2019re being blown up.”<\/p>\n

As for the big picture of where things stand, Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent highlights to nature of the current ‘all bad options’ of the table and quagmire the White House has gotten itself into.<\/p>\n

“This is a bombing campaign in search of a strategy,”<\/strong> Kent wrote<\/a> on X. We are choosing escalation when de-escalation remains an option, entrenching ourselves deeper into a broader war that we don\u2019t have the capability or desire to sustain. There is not a military solution here that will lead to a win<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

\n

There was so much smug talk up to last week about how Gulf pipelines would make the Strait of Hormuz irrelevant and haha isn\u2019t Iran foolish for hastening the SoH\u2019s demise. This tanker\u2019s oil came from Yanbu, ie KSA\u2019s East-West pipeline to the Red Sea. https:\/\/t.co\/DrOiAnGytT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) July 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kent noted that “More bombing will not convince Iran to open the SOH or to give us the deal we want, it will only harden their position. Bombing civilian infrastructure will not make the people rise up against the regime, it will rally them around it<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 07\/23\/2026 – 08:55<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oil Soars As Trump Warns Iran Will Pay For Future Houthi Shipping Attacks, Rubio Rules Out Deal US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday that Iran is “begging for a deal” and “they need to come to their senses,” adding that Tehran will “pay a very heavy price for the things they are doing.”\u00a0… Continue reading Oil Soars As Trump Warns Iran Will Pay For Future Houthi Shipping Attacks, Rubio Rules Out Deal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":640100,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-640099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=640099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/640100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=640099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=640099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=640099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}