Breaking in Saudi Arabia! A key transportation route is disrupted! Oil prices surge.

Oil prices rise again.

According to Iranian authorities, as of local time on the 7th, a key route connecting Saudi Arabia and Bahrain—the King Fahd Bridge—was shut down due to an “Iran attack threat.”

Subsequently, the King Fahd Bridge Authority said in a statement on social media that vehicle traffic on the King Fahd Bridge has been suspended because the alerting platform issued an attack warning targeting Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

Publicly available information shows that the King Fahd Bridge, also known as the Bahrain–Sea King Bridge, is a cross-sea bridge connecting Bahrain Island and Saudi Arabia. It is 25 kilometers long and includes five bridges. The bridge was invested in and built by Saudi Arabia. The project took more than 4 years, and was completed and opened to traffic in late November 1986.

In the early hours of the 7th local time, Iranian authorities cited unnamed sources to say that an explosion occurred that day in the Jubail Industrial Area in northeastern Saudi Arabia, in which U.S. capital is involved, and that it was hit by widespread strikes.

The report says the Jubail Industrial Area is one of the world’s major petrochemical production hubs, with an annual output of about 60 million tons of petrochemical products, accounting for 6% to 8% of global total output. The area is home to multiple large petrochemical companies and projects. Among them, Saudi Basic Industries Corporation is one of the main investors in the industrial area. In addition, the Sadara project, in which the U.S. Dow Chemical Company is involved, as well as projects jointly invested by Saudi Aramco and France’s TotalEnergies, are also located in the industrial area.

Also, according to a statement issued by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense on the 7th, Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed 7 ballistic missiles launched toward the country’s eastern region, and some debris fell near energy facilities, and losses are being assessed. The statement did not mention who launched the missiles.

The Israel Defense Forces said in a statement on the 6th that on that day it carried out an airstrike on a large petrochemical integrated facility in Iran’s southern Asaluyeh area. The facility is Iran’s largest petrochemical complex.

In addition, according to reports from the U.S. on the 6th, mediators feel pessimistic that Iran will “yield” before the final deadline set by U.S. President Trump and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, as the prospect for a U.S.–Iran ceasefire agreement “hope is fading.”

Some U.S. officials said that before the 20:00 deadline (U.S. Eastern time) set by Trump on the 7th, the U.S.–Iran stances are “too far apart to bridge.” Meanwhile, Arab officials familiar with the situation said that Iranian officials have told mediators that even if negotiations with the United States make progress, they expect the United States to continue attacking Iran, and Israel will continue conducting airstrikes on Iran to “remove” senior Iranian officials.

Some U.S. officials said Trump is “less optimistic” privately about an agreement being reached between the U.S. and Iran, and expects to issue the final order to strike Iran on the evening of the 7th (U.S. Eastern time), but Trump’s thinking may change at any time depending on developments in the situation. Trump wants to end the war, and he knows that the U.S. public has limited patience for further military action.

It is reported that Egypt, Turkey, and Pakistan are delivering information from the U.S. side to Iran through diplomatic channels and their intelligence agencies. “One complicating factor is that the mediators in these countries overlap with the people Iran is communicating with. Another complicating factor is that many senior Iranian officials have died and Iran’s government communications infrastructure has been attacked, making it difficult for the U.S. to determine which people in Iran to negotiate with and how to contact them.”

U.S. and Middle East officials said any decision regarding negotiations is made by Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and Ahmad Vahidi, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The heads of intelligence agencies of Egypt and Turkey, as well as Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff, are focusing their mediation efforts on Vahidi and other senior intelligence officers of the Revolutionary Guards.

In the market, international oil prices surged during the trading session; NYMEX WTI crude oil was up more than 3% at one point.

Asian and Korean stock markets, meanwhile, fluctuated and trended lower. South Korea’s composite index turned down at one point, after having risen nearly 3% earlier in the morning.

Compiled from: CCTV News

Proofread by: Wang Zhaoqing