Drones struck Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, the overland route built to move crude without using the Strait of Hormuz. Riyadh confirmed the attack, disclosed nothing else, and declined to retaliate at Baghdad's request. In the same week the Houthis completed control of Yemen's Red Sea coast, the other exit for the crude that pipeline carries.
Saudi Arabia's restraint holds because neither attack this week has a state actor attached to answer for it.
Drones struck Petroline on the morning of Thursday 10 September and the Saudi Ministry of Energy shut the line as a precaution. The ministry named no pumping station, no segment, no damage figure and nobody to blame.
United KingdomTürkiyeUnited Arab EmiratesDrones hit Saudi Arabia's Petroline crude pipeline on the morning of Thursday 10 September. The energy ministry shut the line and named no damaged segment, no figure and nobody to blame.
The pipeline exists so Saudi crude can reach the Red Sea without crossing the strait of Hormuz. With it off, The Kingdom has no spare route.
Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said it would refrain from an immediate response to the pipeline attack at the request of Iraq's prime minister, while reserving the right to take all necessary measures.
United Arab EmiratesSaudi Arabia says it will not hit back over the 10 September pipeline attack, at the request of Iraq's prime minister. It kept the right to act later.
Riyadh has put its restraint on the record and attached it to Baghdad rather than Tehran. That gives Iraq a deadline nobody has written down.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi dismissed the Maysan Operations Commander and the provincial police chief on Saturday 12 September and ordered a special investigative council, after investigators traced the drones to a launch site in the province.
QatarIraq's prime minister sacked two Maysan security chiefs on Saturday 12 September. Investigators had traced the pipeline drones to a launch site in that province.
Ali al-Zaidi also ordered a special investigative council. Nobody has been named as having fired the drones, and an Iraqi militia umbrella group denies involvement.
OFAC gazetted General Licences CC and DD in the Federal Register on Friday 11 September. Holland & Knight reads the notice as expiring the banking licence on 19 September and the aviation licence on 23 September.
The US Treasury's sanctions office published two Iran wind-down licences in the Federal Register on Friday 11 September. Law firm Holland & Knight reads them as expiring on 19 and 23 September.
Banking counterparties have until 19 September to close out Golden Global business. Airlines have until 23 September to settle old Iranian overflight and fuel bills.
Iraq closed the Shalamcheh, al-Shaib and Mandali crossings with Iran and suspended flights to the country, after launch sites for the drones that hit the Saudi pipeline were found near them.
QatarUnited KingdomIraq closed three border crossings with Iran and suspended flights there. Launch sites for the drones that hit the Saudi pipeline were found near the crossings.
Lorries and pilgrims use those crossings. Drones do not. The closure costs Iraqi traders as much as it costs Iran.
Brent crude spiked intraday to roughly $109.98 on Friday 11 September on news of the pipeline attack, then settled the same session at $104.61, down 2.81 per cent.
TürkiyeBrent Crude jumped to about $109.98 during Friday 11 September on news of the pipeline attack, its highest since early May. It closed the same session at $104.61.
That close sits 2.81 per cent below the previous settlement. Futures do not trade at the weekend, so Monday 14 September is the first close that can price what happened since Friday.
Iraqi security forces located and seized a drone-launching platform used in the strike on Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline on Sunday 13 September, three days after the attack.
Qatar×2Iraqi security forces found and seized a launching platform used in the drone attack on Saudi Arabia's pipeline, on Sunday 13 September.
A launch platform can be matched against hardware recovered elsewhere. Iraq has agreed to let Iranian investigators see this one, and Saudi Arabia has no announced role.
Ali al-Zaidi approved an Iranian request for a joint Iraq-Iran investigation into the platforms used to launch the drones that struck the Saudi pipeline.
QatarIraq's prime minister approved an Iranian request to examine the drone launch platforms jointly, on Saturday 12 September. He had sacked two provincial security chiefs hours earlier.
Iran now has formal sight of the evidence from an attack fired at Saudi Arabia from Iraqi soil. Baghdad's own investigative council keeps running alongside it.
Iraq's Security Media Cell published a phased reopening of the Iranian border crossings on Sunday 13 September, with passenger traffic resuming that morning and commercial traffic staggered through Thursday.
QatarUnited KingdomIraq began reopening its Iranian border crossings on Sunday 13 September. Passenger traffic at al-Shaib and Shalamcheh resumed at 6am that morning.
Freight follows in stages: Shalamcheh on Monday, Mandali on Tuesday, al-Shaib on Thursday. Baghdad has published an end date for the closure before its own inquiry has reported.
Yemeni government officers and a Houthi official say the Houthis now hold the entire Yemeni Red Sea coastline, including Mayun island inside Bab al-Mandeb and the Hanish islands, after a week-long offensive.
United Arab EmiratesUnited StatesYemeni government officers and a Houthi official say the Houthis now hold the whole Yemeni Red Sea coast, including Mayun island inside Bab al-Mandeb.
About 12 per cent of world seaborne trade passes through that strait. One party now controls its eastern shore, and no navy moved against the week-long offensive.
A merchant vessel was struck near Hengam Island in the Strait of Hormuz early on Sunday 13 September, killing one crew member and wounding four, according to the governor of Qeshm city. No outlet gives the ship a name, flag or operator.
FranceUnited StatesQatarA projectile hit a merchant ship near Hengam Island in the strait of Hormuz early on Sunday 13 September. The strike killed one crew member and wounded four.
No outlet has given the ship a name, flag or operator. Without a hull, an insurer has nothing to price and a flag state has nobody to ask.
Masoud Pezeshkian met Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the BRICS sidelines in New Delhi on Saturday 12 September, their first publicly known meeting since the war began.
India×2United Arab EmiratesIran's president met Abu Dhabi's crown prince on the sidelines of a summit in New Delhi on Saturday 12 September. It was their first known meeting since the war began on 28 February.
The United Arab Emirates cut all trade and financial links with Iran on 18 August. Neither side has reversed anything, and the Emirati readout names no nuclear file and no war.
BRICS leaders adopted the New Delhi Declaration on Saturday 12 September, calling for maximum restraint over the Middle East conflict without naming any state, after negotiators worked to roughly 4am to bridge Iranian and Emirati positions.
IndiaRussiaBRICS (the bloc that now includes both Iran and the United Arab Emirates) adopted the New Delhi Declaration on Saturday 12 September. The text expresses concern over the Gulf conflict and calls for maximum restraint, without naming any country.
Negotiators worked to about 4am to bridge Iranian and Emirati positions. Agreeing a text meant leaving out the name of every belligerent.
Iran is due to meet Gulf states in Oman on Monday 14 September on safe passage for Hormuz shipping. An Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson told Bloomberg the talks cover a shipping route and nothing wider.
United StatesIran is due to meet Gulf states in Oman on Monday 14 September to talk about safe passage for shipping through the strait of Hormuz.
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson says the talks cover a shipping route and nothing wider. The nuclear file, the sanctions and the tanker exchanges stay off the table.
The US State Department announced sanctions on 10 September against Kataib Hezbollah, Hezbollah and their financial networks in Iraq and Lebanon, under the same Operation Economic Outcast that widened in August.
The US State Department sanctioned Kataib Hezbollah, Hezbollah and their money networks in Iraq and Lebanon on Thursday 10 September.
The action runs under Operation Economic Outcast, the campaign Washington used in August against Iranian shipping and trading firms. This time it goes after the money around two armed groups.
