Middle East oil exports down 39% from baseline amid regional military incidents

Crude oil exports from the Middle East in August were 39 per cent below the January-February baseline of 18.5 million barrels per day (bpd), according to TankerTrackers.

In a post on X, the tanker tracking service said exports hit their lowest point in May, when they were down 67 per cent from the baseline.

The current shortfall stands at around 7.2 million bpd, an improvement from the 12.4 million bpd deficit recorded previously.

The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched two drones towards IDF soldiers operating in the security zone in southern Lebanon.

The IDF said its troops opened fire and shot down one of the drones. No injuries were reported among Israeli soldiers, it said.

The military added that it was carrying out strikes in southern Lebanon in response to the incident.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that they had attacked a US naval drone that was trying to enter the Strait of Hormuz, hours after Tehran and Washington traded strikes.

"The heroic Naval Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attacked an American military unmanned surface vessel (remotely operated vessel) that was attempting to enter the protected area of the Strait of Hormuz," the Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian state television IRIB.

US President Donald Trump is working on what he has privately described as “something much bigger” for the Middle East after the Iran war — an ambitious strategy that could reshape Washington’s approach to the region by building a new alignment against Tehran and deepening ties between Israel and its neighbours.

The plan, according to Axios, is still being drafted and has been discussed by Trump in two meetings with senior advisers in recent weeks.

Read more here.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the M/T Kylo sank in the Gulf of Oman, crediting American service members for what it described as a precision operation.

In a post on X, CENTCOM said the tanker had “joined Iran’s navy at the bottom of the sea”.

CENTCOM also shared video footage showing a tanker engulfed in flames before sinking.

At least 11 people were killed and seven others wounded as a fuel tanker exploded in a traffic accident in western Iran on Saturday, state-run IRIB news agency reported.

The incident occurred on an intercity road between Sanandaj County in Kurdestan province and Hamedan County in Hamedan province, the IRIB cited Babak Hodaei, head of the emergency medical services of Kurdestan University of Medical Sciences, as saying.

The incident caused several nearby vehicles to catch fire, Hodaei said, adding that rescue teams have transferred the wounded to a hospital in Sanandaj, reports Xinhua news agency.

Rescue operations are continuing at the scene, he said.