Chinese Tankers Exit Hormuz with 4m Barrels; Trump-Vance Talk Up Deal
Two Chinese supertankers, Yuan Gui Yang and Ocean Lily, exited the Strait of Hormuz this morning carrying around four million barrels of Iraqi crude citing LSEG and Kpler data, brightening hopes that the US-Israeli conflict with Iran may soon be resolved. President Trump said the war would be over “very quickly”; Vice President JD Vance told reporters at a White House briefing: “We’re in a pretty good spot here.” Vance acknowledged the difficulty of negotiating with a “fractured Iranian leadership”: “It’s not sometimes totally clear what the negotiating position of the team is.” Brent crude fell to as low as $110.16 on the announcement before regaining most of its losses.
Trump told reporters at the White House yesterday: “I was an hour away from making the decision to go today.” Iran’s leaders are “begging for a deal”, he said, adding a new US attack would happen “in coming days” if no agreement was reached. The Pakistani source mediating between the two sides said both sides “keep changing their goalposts”: “We don’t have much time.” The terms of Iran’s latest proposal (per Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi via IRNA): ending hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon; the exit of US forces from areas close to Iran; reparations for war damage; lifting of sanctions; release of frozen funds; and an end to the US marine blockade. The terms appeared little changed from Iran’s previous offer that Trump rejected last week as “garbage”.