Day: October 17, 2026

UKMTO’s latest weekly overview shows attacks on commercial shipping around the Strait of Hormuz running at their highest pace since March. The agency counted 12 attacks in the week ending October 16: 10 in the strait, one in the Persian Gulf and one in the Gulf of Oman. One vessel was lost, two were disabled and three have unconfirmed outcomes. Joint Maritime Information Center threat levels remain “severe” for the strait and “moderate” for the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.

Since the conflict began February 28th, UKMTO has logged 135 reported events, including 114 reports of damage to vessels and 76 people killed or injured. The agency also warns it is “struggling to accurately report” the true number of attacks because most vessels attacked refuse to report it. The two tanker incidents off Al Jubayl below came after this reporting period.

Source:  ukmto.org/-/media/ukmto/prod…OSINTdefender (@sentdefender)The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) Center has issued a pair of warnings following incidents Friday involving tankers in the Persian Gulf northeast of Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia.

In the first incident, a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile about 68 nautical miles northeast of Al Jubayl. Its crew was evacuated and is reported safe. In the second, a tanker’s master reported an attack by a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) fired from a small boat about 78 nautical miles northeast of Al Jubayl, damaging the aft port quarter. All crew are accounted for and reported safe.

The reports come amid escalating attacks on commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Windward counted at least 23 attacks in the two weeks ending October 14, with vessels reportedly sunk and mariners killed and injured.—  https://x.com/sentdefender/status/2111419831522070724

Президент Украины Владимир Зеленский заявил, что в пятницу и в ночь на субботу Россия осуществила “одну из самых мощных атак” на украинскую энергетическую систему. По словам Зеленского, в ней было задействовано более 320 беспилотников разных типов, управляемых авиабомб и баллистических ракет.

Президент Украины сообщил, что ударам подверглись 15 важнейших энергетических объектов в разных регионах страны. Пострадали как центральные и восточные, так и западные области. Наиболее тяжелая ситуация – в городах Луцк, Винница, Ровно, Житомир и ряде других. Ведутся восстановительные работы.

Зеленский заявил, что Россия стремится устроить в Украине тотальный блэкаут. Он также назвал “санкционным блэкаутом” решение президента США Дональда Трампа пока не реализовывать набор новых санкций против России, предусмотренный так называемым “законом Грэма”.

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Изображение официального бренда чемпионата мира по футболу FIFA U-20 2027 года было продемонстрировано с помощью специальной проекции на одном из символических мест Баку — Девичьей…

The UAE Showed The Gulf How Deterrence Works

I’ll say it straight, the UAE deserves serious credit for how it responded when Iran attacked.

The UAE could have stayed behind its air defenses, intercepted Iranian missiles and drones, and simply waited for the next attack.

It didn’t.

The UAE took the fight back into Iran, with strikes around Qeshm, Abu Musa, Bandar Abbas, Lavan Island and the Asaluyeh area.

And this is the part I find important.

The UAE is a small country, but it has serious airpower, F-16E/Fs and Mirage 2000-9s, and when Iran came after it, Abu Dhabi showed that those aircraft weren’t there just for air shows and parades.

Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan also had capable air forces.

The aircraft were there. The weapons were there. The capability was there.

What mattered was the will to use it.

Now imagine if all of them had answered Iran the same way.

Iran wouldn’t just be calculating how many missiles and drones it could fire at the Gulf.

It would have to calculate what was coming back.

That is deterrence.

I’m not saying the Gulf should go looking for a war. Nobody needs another regional war.

But Iran should never be allowed to believe it can attack Gulf countries and expect them to simply absorb the punishment.

The UAE sent a much harder message.

You attack us, we defend ourselves. Push us far enough, and we can bring the fight back to you.

That is the kind of message an aggressor understands.

Small country. Serious airpower. And when tested, it showed serious resolve.