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Brent crude futures topped $100 a barrel for the first time since July as US strikes on Iranian oil tankers and renewed attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure and a US base in Jordan suggested to UBS energy specialist Dominic Ellis that a "US-Iran off-ramp remains elusive."

Ellis adds more color on the overnight Gulf developments and response in the crude oil market:

Brent topped $100/bbl as the US and Iran continue to trade strikes around the Strait of Hormuz. 

The US says it has destroyed multiple Iranian vessels (including 5 on Sept. 8) in response to Iranian attacks, and says it will respond to each subsequent Iranian hit (actual or attempted) by destroying another Iranian tanker.

CENTCOM forces destroyed five Iranian crude oil carriers, Sept. 8, after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted a U.S. Navy warship with ballistic missiles twice over the past two days. The U.S. warship successfully evaded the attempted Iranian attacks and… pic.twitter.com/Gi8a2tloN1

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) September 8, 2026

Iran hit a US base in Jordan, and has stepped up attacks on the US' regional allies, with Saudi Arabia's energy infrastructure under particular pressure. 

Some investors have shown signs of wanting to fade the rally in oil and related equities, but the change in tone from all concerned makes it seem less likely (if not impossible) that we will see a return to the de-escalation narrative that has historically triggered a drop in oil and profit-taking in equities. 

With the tailwind into Q3 numbers for the integrated energy sector, I think most will be inclined to leave long positions open until there is evidence of real progress back toward a diplomatic off ramp.

Iran has reportedly rejected the latest US offer of talks, and the conflict seems likely to support oil at current levels and potentially push prices higher in the near term.

The global crude benchmark broke above $100 a barrel in European trading but initially failed to hold the level. Just over an hour later, at around 4:36 a.m. ET, Brent reclaimed triple digits and extended gains to $100.83 by around 6:00 a.m. ET.

Goldman's head commodity strategist, Daan Struyven, wrote in a note on Monday that, given the renewed turmoil in the Gulf region, he raised his Brent/WTI price forecasts by $5 to $85/$80 for December 2026 and to $80/$75 for 2027, on the assumption that Mideast shipping disruptions continue into 2027.

Struyven outlined significant net upside price risks with two Gulf output and Brent scenarios:

• Price upside scenario: Brent might exceed $120/bbl if 2027 average Gulf output remains 4mb/d below pre-war levels, versus 0.5mb/d below in the base case. The bank views more intense shipping attacks in Hormuz and the Red Sea as the most likely driver of this lower-output, higher-price scenario.
• Price downside scenario: Brent might decline into the $60s in 2027 if 2027 average Gulf output rises 1mb/d above pre-war levels. Goldman still recommends hedging geopolitical risk through deferred Mar27-Dec27 European diesel timespreads, which would rise over 100% if persistent Russia or Mideast refinery outages keep the nearby 9-month spread near current levels.

Separately, Darrell Fletcher, managing director for commodities at Bannockburn Capital Markets, warned that the "path of least resistance is a strong and steady grind higher as the war enters seven months," adding, "The fundamental picture for products remains bullish with global inventories and reserves deteriorating. In the typical pattern, the US and Iran continue their counterattacks and warnings." 

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

Was this the turning point of the summer, a kind of summer-sun Merz-turnaround?

Latest figures from the Federal Statistical Office show a significant jump in industrial orders in Germany: The order volume of companies across all sectors rose by 2.5 percent in July compared with the previous month – the third consecutive increase.

These are good numbers for the Chancellor, who is desperately looking for supporting arguments for his political course ahead of the state elections in eastern Germany. The economic reporting of the past week was striking: Economic institutes are revising their growth forecasts for the current year upward. LBBW, for example, now expects growth of 0.7 percent for the current year, up from 0.5% previously.

Growth of 0.7% – given an officially reported government spending ratio of 52.5% and new borrowing of around 4% this year, this is a pitiful figure. It marks no turning point. The figure merely shows that the private sector remains on a path of contraction and will lose at least two to three percent in substance.

We are witnessing a statistical effect. Merz is inflating a debt-financed economic phantom, raising the question: How can real economic prosperity grow out of artificially created credit? If the world were really that simple, all of humanity could catapult itself into the economic stratosphere from one day to the next with a debt-financed Keynesian demand program.

But reality, unfortunately, does not correspond to the voodoo economics of long-faded theories.

Let us therefore return from the Keynesian dream world to the world of true economics.

Comparing incoming orders with the situation a year ago could give the impression that we have reached the peak of an economic boom: In July, incoming orders were 13 percent above the previous year's level – a fabulous figure, one the German economy may have last seen during the years of the post-war economic miracle. The July figure stands out so markedly that investment demand is pushing up the entire gross domestic product and more than compensating for the dramatically poor figures in the other sectors of the economy.

A brief classification: Retail sales were down 2.5% in real terms in July compared with the previous year. Hospitality revenue fell by more than 5% in real terms year-on-year. All in all, consumption stagnated in the first half of the year; only credit-financed government demand prevented a dramatically negative figure. On top of this, inflation, now at three percent, is slowly but surely eating holes into the purchasing power of private households.

But the beautiful appearance of the numbers is deceptive. Everything stands and falls with the large orders recorded statistically. Looking into the mechanics of the statisticians, one sector in particular catches the eye: other transport equipment. It contains, above all, orders for military goods. The statistics currently reflect the development of the military sector almost exclusively, because the private sector is not investing in major projects.

If this sector, which had exploded by a staggering 126.4% compared with the previous month, is excluded, industrial orders as a whole actually fell by 1.4% in July. That would hardly be a reason for celebration, including for the Chancellor, who seems to have gotten lost somewhere in the east on his campaign tour while searching for media-friendly crumbs.

Looking at individual items, the situation in German industry remains dramatic. In the automotive industry, it looks downright apocalyptic. German automakers had to absorb a 12.5% decline in orders compared with the previous month.

Free fall in Germany, the land of the automobile.

Foreign orders overall fell by 2.1% – customers outside the eurozone ordered even 10.1% fewer industrial goods. Domestic orders, by contrast, rose by 9.1% compared with June – another indication supporting the thesis that these may be the first larger waves generated by the German government's debt-financed special fund.

Friedrich Merz and his debt minister Lars Klingbeil are presenting us with an economic experiment that has been performed many times in the past and has always failed.

Once caught in the ideological degrowth trap, the pressure to act in the political boiler continues to rise. As a result of climate policy, dark clouds are gathering over the economic horizon, and political rescue efforts begin reflexively. Friedrich Merz is prescribing the debt-financed military Keynesianism described above as the extinguishing agent for the economic wildfire. Tanks, drones and howitzers are supposed, if the Chancellor has his way, to replace specialized machinery, motor vehicles, machine tools and industrial plants.

Welcome to the economic military yoke of the statist Merz.

But, like every form of interventionism, this policy will leave nothing behind but new mountains of debt, if not an entire Himalayas of debt.

And, as if to confirm this, statisticians reported at the beginning of the week that Germany's new borrowing had risen from €35 billion to €71 billion in the first half of the year.

Correctly calculated and expanded to include municipal debt as well as the special fund that will only become effective in terms of payments in the second half of the year, Germany's debt will increase by at least €180 billion this year. That corresponds to new borrowing of more than 4 percent of GDP. We are facing the disastrous legacy of the debt king Merz, who has sacrificed his country's creditworthiness in pursuit of his personal political goals.

Only economic illiterates regard debt-financed government consumption as economic prosperity.

The construction of the state economy has consequences.

Germany has been seized by a process of economic erosion. Total industrial production in Germany has lost around 15 percent of its volume since the best year, 2018 – a political scandal that to this day is successfully ignored by the relevant circles in the specialist press, the daily media and politics alike, if it is not simply dismissed as a figment of the imagination of malicious opponents.

The booming arms manufacturers, too, should not celebrate too early. The path of the booming sector is predetermined, and it points toward the same abysses toward which civilian industry is heading. The fog will lift the moment the flow of subsidies dries up as a result of the economic crisis in the country.

Then the abyss will become visible. Because at the toxic German location, with its high energy costs, excessive regulation and unfavorable political climate, industrial investment simply no longer pays off.

The flash in the pan of Merz-style military Keynesianism will not change this finding either.

* * * 

About the author:  Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

In the end, economic reality prevails. Green steel has no future in Germany, regardless of how much funding may continue to flow through the channels of the green subsidy machine: At Germany’s overregulated, energy-policy-driven and increasingly sidelined industrial location, industrial production is becoming less and less profitable.

That ArcelorMittal, one of the green economy’s poster boys, threw in the towel at the end of the week and announced that it would end steel production at its Duisburg site is the latest painful blow to the proponents of the green transformation ideology.

From October next year, ArcelorMittal will completely close the Duisburg steelworks and will also cease operating the billet rolling mill, where around 800 employees are currently employed. Around 550 employees could be affected by the closure. Only the wire rod mill is to remain. The semi-finished products required to operate it will in future be sourced from other ArcelorMittal sites and external producers.

The news carries a double weight: That green steel — meaning steel produced through a production route in which hydrogen is used instead of carbon as the reducing agent — would not be able to compete in the face of significantly lower production costs at other locations is hardly surprising. But the fact that, ultimately, even conventional steel production is gradually having to retreat from Germany is tragic — a resounding no from business to the ideologically contaminated energy and location policies of the slowly crumbling industrial heart of Europe.

The basic materials industry is a fundamental component of industrial value chains. Particularly in view of geopolitical tensions, national control over raw materials and primary products is becoming increasingly important. Since the best year, 2018, crude steel production in Germany has fallen from 42.4 million tons to 34.09 million tons in 2025, a decline of around 20 percent — a dramatic indication of the complete failure of Germany’s energy and industrial location policies.

The green transformation is crumbling before our eyes while Germany’s industrial base is being deindustrialized. Capital seeks better returns, regardless of how rosy the world of the green transformers surrounding former Economy Minister Robert Habeck, the spiritus rector of the ecological central planners, may have been.

For Habeck, green steel “Made in Germany and Europe” was indispensable. The Green politician was convinced that steel produced with coal would have no future on the world market. How wrong one can be!

Representatives of this transformation ideology are presumably looking on at developments in the industry in bewilderment. Where is the traitor? they will ask themselves. After all, limitless subsidies, credit assistance and artificially imposed cost disadvantages through the CO2 mechanism were all made available to traditional competitors in order to push this artificial product forward.

ArcelorMittal is by no means the only corporation pulling back. Previously, thyssenkrupp and Salzgitter also abandoned the misguided notion that they would one day be able to produce green steel in Germany.

Ultimately, everyone has to ask themselves: What does it actually cost to produce one ton of green steel? And who will compensate for the loss-making operation in the face of substantially cheaper, considerably more cost-effective competition, for example from India or China? Will these companies have to remain dependent on the taxpayer forever?

The cost gap is enormous: Depending on the calculation and production conditions, green steel increases production costs by around $100 to $500 per ton. For the European steel industry, the conversion to low-carbon production methods is estimated to entail additional costs of 35 to 100 percent per ton. This simply cannot work.

Green steel was one of the political pet projects of the Green Deal. Companies that decided — or were politically encouraged — to convert their production were supposed to be supported through two subsidy channels.

On the one hand, there was the classic subsidy payment. In the case of ArcelorMittal, around €1.3 billion in funding was earmarked for converting the plants in Bremen and Eisenhüttenstadt; the overall project was estimated at around €2.5 billion. Direct reduction plants and electric arc furnaces were planned, with everything ultimately intended to run on hydrogen. Then came the surprise withdrawal: On June 19, 2025, ArcelorMittal announced the end of the projects. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the €1.3 billion was never drawn down. What a blow to green ideology: Even massive public funding could not make the project profitable.

A second subsidy channel for green cronyism runs through the CO2 emissions trading system. Energy-intensive producers such as the steel industry receive free certificates to protect them against international competitors with lower climate-related costs. If a company emits less CO2 than permitted by its freely allocated certificates, it avoids purchasing additional allowances and can sell surplus pollution rights to other companies. Conventional steel production is made relatively more expensive by this allocation mechanism — everything possible is being done to keep the industrial homunculus of green steel somehow breathing.

Since January 1, 2026, the CBAM mechanism is supposed to provide additional protection for industry. It is not a formal tariff barrier, but it serves a similar function: CO2-intensive imports such as steel are now subject to comparable regulatory costs imposed by the EU climate machine. Yet even this market barrier cannot change the fact that industrial production in Germany has simply become unprofitable.

Along the entire value chain — from conversion subsidies and free certificates to protection against foreign competition — the state is playing every card in its hand to impose its centrally planned environmentalism on the private sector.

Brussels and Berlin are thus providing an impressive demonstration of the internal contradictions and high costs of a centrally planned state economy. Everyone can now see what happens when the state interferes with price formation and dictates technology and the actions of individual companies: It becomes expensive for the taxpayer. Costs do not simply disappear; they are merely redistributed and concealed through subsidies. When the state repeatedly intervenes in the economy, scarce resources no longer flow to where competition would generate the greatest benefit. Instead, they flow into the pockets of those whose ingenuity lies in hunting for grants and subsidies. This is how the final chapter of the market economy begins.

* * * 

About the author:  Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.

China, the world's largest oil importer, is bidding up crude prices across Africa, Canada, and Latin American markets as disruptions in the Hormuz chokepoint and limited Iranian supplies intensify competition for alternatives. The scramble is squeezing smaller Chinese refineries that once relied on heavily discounted Iranian barrels, according to a new Bloomberg report. 

The renewed Chinese buying marks a major shift from a period when subdued Chinese buying helped restrain crude oil prices. With Iranian exports almost entirely shut off by the US blockade and fighting flaring again, as seen Monday when Saudi Aramco's Jizan oil facilities were reportedly hit, the race to find replacement supplies around the world is becoming an increasingly expensive task for the Chinese. 

Traders spoke with Bloomberg. Here's what they had to say:

The turnaround is producing spikes in the price of various grades. Congo's Djeno crude was offered to Chinese buyers at premiums of as high as $20 a barrel over ICE Brent this week, up from around $15 a couple of weeks ago, according to traders who asked not to be named as they're not authorized to speak to the media.

Chinese buyers are also buying tanker loads of crude from Canada, Brazil, and Argentina, while stronger demand has lifted prices for Russia's ESPO crude. Asian buyers are also pushing Dubai crude futures toward $100 per barrel.  

Chinese seaborne crude imports aren't back to prewar levels and are currently trending toward 10 million barrels per day - still below pre-conflict levels. That means the race for alternative supplies may still intensify. 

Bloomberg pointed out that the rebound in crude imports comes as refinery math improves and inventories are being rebuilt in China. Improved processing margins, the resumption of fuel exports, and commercial restocking are encouraging refiners to ramp up purchases, according to GL Consulting founder Liao Na. 

Smaller independent refiners, known as teapots, face the greatest pressure because their traditional sourcing channels for Iranian and Venezuelan crude have eroded this year as access to those supplies has collapsed amid the Trump administration's push to rewire global energy markets. 

Liao said, "China's robust buying lately is largely driven by refiners taking advantage of decent margins," adding, "Active restocking by commercial players has also helped, but it’s not necessarily a sign of stronger underlying demand that’s supporting the recovery."

Separately, Goldman Sachs energy expert Daan Struyven expects China's ability to adjust purchases to prices to help moderate any spikes in crude prices.

Brent Crude 

Notably, China has a massive SPR against Brent crude prices in triple-digit territory. Its crude inventories are estimated at at least 1 billion barrels, giving buyers room to reduce purchases when prices become unattractive.

Summary

• US Strikes Iran: US forces reportedly hit Iranian oil tankers near Kharg Island and Jask.
• Iran Targets US Ships & Jordan: Iran reportedly launched another attack on US naval assets, though no American ships were hit, say US officials. Ballistic missiles raining down on Jordan overnight. 
• Oil Near $100: Brent crude surged as tensions threaten Iranian exports and the Strait of Hormuz.
• Houthis Hit Saudi Arabia: Ballistic missiles and drones struck Saudi energy and military targets, causing fires and operational disruptions.
• Yemen War Escalates: Saudi airstrikes resumed as Saudi-backed forces vowed to retake Sanaa, raising fears of wider regional spillover.

Iranian Missiles Raining Down on US Bases in Jordan: Reports

State Tasnim reports: Iran has launched missiles at targets in response to US strikes, while unofficial sources cited by Tasnim noted that explosions were heard in Jordan following Iranian missile attacks.

The below brief recap shows this new flare-up and tit-for-tat came in rapid succession... Senior US officials to FOX:

US military has struck targets near Kharg Island and Jask. The targets include Iranian oil tankers. This is part of a larger effort to squeeze Iran economically. The strategy includes sinking and disabling Iranian crude oil tankers. -FOX

Looks like a significant number of Ballistic missiles launched by Iran pic.twitter.com/yDSMvEPjb3

— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) September 8, 2026

How many Patriot interceptor missiles are being plowed through this time?

Video shows the large Iranian ballistic missile attack on Jordan pic.twitter.com/cF3qR9ALlB

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) September 8, 2026

More unverified but widely circulating images out of the region overnight:

Insane footage shows the massive Iranian ballistic missile attack against U.S. bases in Jordan.

At least 30 missiles have been launched, and many of them also released cluster munitions while falling from the sky. pic.twitter.com/RM8XqcHBRw

— MoloMonitor ???? (@MoloWarMonitor) September 8, 2026

Iranian leaders have lately vowed to hit US bases and assets harder in all forthcoming rounds of fighting...

This retaliation reflects what Ghalibaf stated a few days ago: that in #Iran's regime's mind, the era of proportional responses is over. https://t.co/VxSVmwJZdh

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) September 8, 2026

US Attacks Iran Tankers, After American Navy Ships Targeted

Oil climbed on reports of explosions on Iran's Kharg Island:

IRIB reports that US forces attacked a commercial vessel in the coastal waters of Jask City

MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS HEARD NEAR KHARG ISLAND ANCHORAGE, A KEY IRANIAN OIL EXPORT HUB; CAUSE, ORIGIN & ANY POTENTIAL DAMAGE REMAIN UNCONFIRMED. - MEHR NEWS AGENCY

US is currently attacking Iranian oil tankers, i24 news reports, citing a US source

A small Iranian tanker was targeted by a missile attack from the US army 4 miles from Kharg Island, Tasnim reports
Via Tasnim

IRAN LAUNCHED UNDISCLOSED SECOND ATTACK ON US SHIPS ON MONDAY: WSJ

NO AMERICAN SHIPS WERE STRUCK IN THE ATTACKS: WSJ

Fox correspondent confirms Iranian oil tankers (plural) and “targets” (plural) were struck by the United States in recent minutes. This does nothing to “squeeze” Iran, just to be clear. The tankers are inside the US blockade line and the Tanker for Tanker policy is just a… https://t.co/bwLrw9QO7v

— Brett Erickson (@BrettErickson28) September 8, 2026

Oil Climbs, Brent Near $100

Nothing official has yet to emerge, also amid unconfirmed reporting that Iran’s IRGC Navy has launched anti-ship cruise missiles from Jask toward the Strait of Hormuz. According to breaking Al Jazeera News:

Several explosions have been heard on Iran’s Kharg Island, according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency. No official information has been released on the cause or origin of the explosions.

More from WSJ on the prior Monday attack incident: "No American ships were struck in the attacks, but Iran's recent attempts to hit American naval assets are raising alarms that the regime is using more sophisticated weapons and could be getting assistance from China or Russia."

But Trump claims the US is in 'control' of Hormuz and that the war is over. 

Heavy Yemen-Saudi Fighting Breaks Out

The heaviest fighting since the Iran war began is taking place in Yemen currently, also involving significant overnight attacks on Saudi energy and military sites by the Houthis.

The Houthis have since unveiled new operations, in a Tuesday statement saying the Iran-aligned group is targeting critical Saudi oil and military infrastructure. Widely circulating local videos suggest the attacks on multiple sites were in some case simultaneous and overwhelming.

"In response to this brutal aggression and in confronting comprehensive escalation with comprehensive escalation, the YAF carried out a large-scale … operation, targeting Aramco facilities in Abha and Najran, the Economic City, Aramco in Jizan, and Khamis Mushait Air Base, using dozens of ballistic missiles and drones," said the Houthi statement.

"The strikes, by God's grace, were accurate and direct and caused significant damage to those facilities," it added. 

The kingdom's Energy Ministry has indeed acknowledged fires and operations stoppages at several sites as a result, as well as damage and injured personnel.

Houthis Attacked Four Saudi Cities, Energy Installations

"Several energy sector facilities and installations in the southern region of the kingdom were targeted this morning," the energy ministry stated.

"The attacks caused fires at several locations, leading to a temporary halt in some operations. Specialized field teams have begun containing the fires, securing the sites, and assessing the damage," the statement said. Aramco sites have been targeted on multiple occasions this summer, resulting in operations halts, particularly at key sites near the Yemeni border. Damage is still being assessed at the Aramco Jisan oil facilities, which were targeted yet again.

Also military and supply missions were hit, with the Houthi statement also indicating the destruction of Saudi military equipment and convoys of Saudi-backed forces of the internationally-recognized government.

For anyone putting a lot of faith in those pipelines that bypass Hormuz...

??BREAKING: Houthis have released footage of Striking Saudi Arabia's Supply Lines to Pro-Saudi Forces in Yemen with Ballistic Missiles pic.twitter.com/b3JQ78LQrK

— Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) September 7, 2026

"Arms trucks coming from Saudi Arabia were targeted and caught fire at the Al-Wadiah military camp," the Houthis stated.

In response later on Tuesday, Saudi airstrikes have reportedly resumed on Yemen in the governorates of Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, Ma'rib, Taiz, and Al-Hudaydah. Already the death toll is mounting from these renewed strikes:

Houthi rebels in Yemen accused Saudi Arabia of striking a prison on Monday in the country’s north, killing seven, including a child, as tensions escalate between the Iran-backed group and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces.

The strike on the Central Corrective Facility in the strategic city of Hazm in Jawf province also wounded at least seven people, including a woman, said Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry.

The prison’s warden told the Houthi al-Masirah news channel 35 prisoners and a woman who was visiting her husband were trapped under the rubble.

The Saudi side has meanwhile said that dozens were injured in the Houthi attacks. Major General Turki Al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led Coalition Forces, blasted the new Houthi aggression as "dangerous" and "senseless" - and announced that at lest 73 people have been wounded, including women and children.

??BREAKING: Yemeni Drone Strike Impacts Near Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid Airbase

Stunned lookers in Khamis Mushait film the attack.

This is part of the largest ongoing missile & drone attack on Saudi Arabia from Yemen in years. A retaliatory campaign after strikes on Yemen. pic.twitter.com/SO1YVgl92K

— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) September 8, 2026

Yemen Escalation

Both sides are now vowing escalation:

Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of launching airstrikes and “committing massacres” in Jawf, as well as deploying a reconnaissance drone and supplying mercenaries with various weaponry.

“The ongoing Saudi aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered or unpunished,” he said.

The aerial war is additionally heating up: "Saree said later Monday that Houthi forces downed a total of four reconnaissance drones belonging to Saudi Arabia over the past 24 hours, including one that was spotted Monday morning in Bayda province," as cited in The Associated Press.

Another test of the Mecca Agreement, which says an armed attack on any one of the three states will be regarded as an attack on all three. https://t.co/4V6lbh9LMN

— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) September 7, 2026

Oil prices on world markets continue to steadily inch higher, rising more than 1% as a result of Tuesday's Saudi-Yemen escalation.

The Saudi coalition says it aims to liberate the country's capital of Sanaa from the Iran-backed rebels. "The decision has been made to retake Sana’a. There are surprises we will not reveal now," the Deputy Defense Minister Major General Samir Al-Sabri told state-run Yemen TV.

The Yemeni army further released a statement saying that "From today, we declare that our goal is clear and unequivocal: to liberate Yemen from the grip of the terrorist Houthi militias and restore Sana’a as a capital for all Yemenis."

This appears a return to the kind of bull-blown war in Yemen which marked the latter half of the last decade. But this time it's more complicated and dangerous in terms of regional spillover, given it comes in the context of the Iran conflict, the Strait of Hormuz crisis, and Houthi efforts to close Red Sea shipping to the Saudis, Israelis, and their allies.

Trump acknowledges 1) oil prices are high, 2) it's because of the war with Iran, 3) the war has not ended, 4) the US has not won, yet. pic.twitter.com/gcsfqYmu0E

— Gregory Brew (@gbrew24) September 7, 2026

Below are more developments via Al Jazeera:

• Saudi Arabia has carried out new attacks in Yemen against al-Jubah district in Marib, in the Houthi-controlled part of the country, according to a news report in Houthi-run media.
• Forces loyal to Yemen’s internationally recognised government have launched a counteroffensive against the Houthi rebels, with officials saying they aim to recapture the capital Sanaa from the Iran-backed group.
• The Houthis say they repelled an offensive in al-Jawf, and at least seven people were killed in an air strike on a prison in the town of al-Hazm, pledging that the “aggression will not go unpunished”.
• Saudi Foreign Minister Prince ?Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud has described Yemen’s Houthi rebels as “selfish” for putting their own interests above the welfare of the country’s people. “The Houthis choose to prioritise their narrow interests over the interests of Yemen and resort to violence,” he said at a news conference in the Russian capital.
• Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has told his ?Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, in Moscow that Russia is ready to help resolve the spiralling situation in the Middle ?East.

Saudi-led forces in Yemen bombed Al-Jawf Central Prison:

#BREAKING

Saudi-led forces in Yemen bombed Al-Jawf Central Prison, causing death and injuries to at least 35 people. Terrible scenes#houthis #yemen #saudiarabia pic.twitter.com/sNBhWOZdaI

— METRONIDAZOLE (@METRO_NIDAZOLE) September 7, 2026

More Overnight News

via Newsquawk

• US President Trump posted, "Oil prices will drop precipitously, like everything else is dropping (but more!), when we WIN the war with Iran. Three Dollars a gallon, but ultimately, below Two Dollars a gallon. It will all happen quickly, and Iran will never have a Nuclear Weapon. MAGA!"
• Iranian President Pezeshkian said Iran has always opposed war but will continue to resist aggression with full force until the aggressors are made to regret their actions.
• Iran's top national security official Rezaei said Washington has received a clear warning from Iran’s new missiles and that economic warfare will be met with a maritime exclusion zone across the Persian Gulf to the blockade perimeter, while he added that the operational posture toward US warships and bases has been fundamentally recalibrated.
• Tasnim analysis suggests that commentary from Iranian official Rezaei signals that Iran is considering expanding the geographic scope of its maritime confrontation into the northern Indian Ocean.
• Saudi Energy Minister said a number of energy facilities and utilities were hit and that some operations have been temporarily halted. This was later confirmed by the Houthis, in which they added that they struck the Khamis Mushait Air Base in retaliation to recent Saudi airstrikes. The group warned that further attacks on Yemen will be met with broader strikes on Saudi.

Submitted by Thomas Kolbe

On Thursday evening, Volkswagen’s Supervisory Board unanimously approved the company’s “Future Plan 2030.” The decision had originally been scheduled for Friday. By moving faster, Volkswagen is not only seeking to underline that the situation is genuinely serious, but also that it has recognized the danger and is now taking control of the situation again. Symbolism is everything these days, as the damage caused by the company’s business strategy of recent years has become visible like a gaping wound. Supervisory Board Chairman Hans Dieter Pötsch described the decision as evidence of the Group’s determination to transform itself and work with all its strength toward its long-term future and competitiveness, as Pötsch put it. Nevertheless, the impression remains that the Group’s consolidation course represents less a controlled downsizing than an internal corporate collapse — the twilight of an economic era.

50,000 jobs worldwide are to be eliminated by the middle of the 2030s. Social plans and early-retirement offers will probably account for the lion’s share of the workforce reduction. Volkswagen is said to be facing an overcapacity of 500,000 vehicles in Europe. The restructuring costs for the Group could amount to as much as €10 billion. VW is stumbling over social hurdles that the company itself created during the good times — German labor law prevents a rapid, situation-appropriate adjustment of corporate structures to the conditions of the market and the company’s actual economic strength.

For Germany as an industrial location, the outlook is bleak: VW’s plants in Emden, Hanover and Zwickau, as well as the Audi plant in Neckarsulm, are likely to fall victim to the Group’s downsizing. The decision has not yet been formally made — by the end of June 2027, the company intends to clarify how the individual sites will proceed. From 2031 to 2034 onward, there will no longer be a competitive follow-up allocation of production at these plants, suggesting that VW is preparing to abandon the sites.

Remarkably, only a few days ago, CEO Oliver Blume had emphasized during a visit to the Zwickau plant that the site would, as he put it, receive the same chance as every other plant in Europe. Blume, however, had already pointed to its lack of profitability compared with other locations: Labor costs there were more than twice those of comparable European sites, according to Blume.

This is where the real problem lies: Volkswagen is no longer competitive. Excessive labor costs, excessive energy costs and rampant overregulation are driving not only carmakers but industrial production in general away from Germany.

There is indeed an urgent need for action in Wolfsburg. The China business in particular has virtually collapsed. Overall, revenue in the first half of the current year fell slightly to €158.1 billion. The problem is that operating profit plunged by 11.6 percent to €5.9 billion, leaving an embarrassingly low operating margin of just 3.8 percent. It is the continuing negative trend that is causing concern. Volkswagen therefore does not merely have a sales problem, but above all an immense cost problem. The possibility that liquidity problems may also be becoming visible was demonstrated by the sale of the Group’s large-engine subsidiary Everllence, formerly MAN Energy Solutions: Volkswagen sold a majority stake to U.S. investment firm Bain Capital, generating proceeds of €7.4 billion.

Volkswagen — and with it the entire German automotive sector as well as energy-intensive industries more generally — has its back against the wall. As Bild reports, citing internal Volkswagen Group data, factory costs per vehicle at the Emden plant amount to €4,850, roughly 4.5 times the comparable figure at VW’s Chinese plant in Tianjin, where the figure is €1,078. Direct production labor costs are reportedly €74 per hour in Emden, compared with €12 in Tianjin — a factor of more than six.

The mistakes of the past become particularly apparent when looking at labor productivity. In Emden, the calculation comes to 29 vehicles per employee per year, compared with 51.3 in Tianjin. That corresponds to roughly 77 percent more vehicles per employee. Absenteeism due to illness also differs dramatically in the internal comparison: In Emden, the rate is 10.5 percent, compared with 1.0 percent in Tianjin. This figure is more than merely a personnel-policy issue affecting internal operations. Has the downward spiral into which the Group and the entire industry have fallen perhaps already left its mark on employee morale? In any case, this particular figure requires interpretation, precisely because it is so striking.

The consequences of Germany’s nuclear phase-out and the continued expansion of climate regulation have been discussed often enough here. Taken together, they create the impression of an ideologically driven economic suicide by a satiated society that was convinced of its own success — and must now watch as its industrial substance, the engine of prosperity, is ground down between excessive energy and labor costs, growing regulation and the merciless forces of global competition.

Volkswagen has become a victim of increasing political central planning and the permeation of the corporate landscape with environmental ideology. The lesson now is clear: corporatism and reliance on political steering do not pay off in the long run. In the end, things turn out as they always do: Others pay the bill — namely employees and investors who had placed their trust in the future of the automaker.

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About the author:  Thomas Kolbe, a German graduate economist, has worked for over 25 years, he has worked as a journalist and media producer for clients from various industries and business associations. As a publicist, he focuses on economic processes and observes geopolitical events from the perspective of the capital markets. His publications follow a philosophy that focuses on the individual and their right to self-determination.