BREAKING: US strikes THREE Iranian oil tankers - #NewVM2 #Dailyworldnews

CENTCOM SAYS THE U.S. HAS STRUCK THREE IRANIAN OIL TANKERS AFTER IRAN LAUNCHED BALLISTIC MISSILES TOWARD TWO U.S. NAVY WARSHIPS. THIS AS PRESIDENT TRUMP CALLS FOR NEW ENERGY ROUTES TO REDUCE THE WORLD'S DEPENDENCE ON THE STRAIT OF HORMUZ. ALEX HOGAN IS AT THE WHITE HOUSE WITH MORE. ALEX. Hi, Molly. Yes, so new escalation today. As you mentioned, U.S. Central Command just in the last 30 minutes announced that they did, in fact, fire upon these new Iranian crude oil tankers after the IRGC fired at two Navy warships. And a U.S. official telling Fox in reaction to all of this, quote, the IRGC can't build more tankers, and the tankers are the heart of their economy. They know it, and it puts them in a tougher decision. So all of this escalation comes just this week. We heard the vice president say that he does not see this conflict as a war. He wouldn't call it that. President Trump, when he was asked about this, he said this. I wouldn't call it a military conflict because it's small potatoes for us. It's not a big thing. Swift backlash to those words. Chuck Schumer writing online, quote, tell that to the families of the 18 troops we've lost and the hundreds of wounded service members and the Americans suffering every single day for record high prices. Ahead of Labor Day weekend, diesel hitting a record $5.85 a gallon on Friday, with AAA predicting that travelers will face the highest prices ever on the holiday weekend. Trump yesterday argued the new pipelines in transportation routes across the Middle East could reduce the world's reliance on the Strait of Hormuz. A lot of alternatives are being made to the Hormuz Strait. The Hormuz Strait is not what it used to be. Iran is going to end up, if they don't get smart, really smart, which I don't know if they can. I don't know if they're able to do that. But they're going to end up with a Hormuz Strait that's not very necessary anymore. And energy experts debate whether that could replace the massive volumes in the Strait or the timeline of how long this could take. But meantime, President Trump, during those comments yesterday, also told reporters the U.S. Special Envoy Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner would attempt to broker a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. The pair arrived in Moscow today, as you can see in this image right here. The war there is now in its fifth year. Meantime, President Trump this weekend is at one of his properties, his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey. Mollye. Alex Hogan, thank you very much, bringing us up to date on all of the things happening in Washington. And for more on the CENTCOM strikes that were just carried out moments ago, let's bring in retired U.S. Army Battalion Commander Lieutenant Colonel Darren Gobb. Sir, thank you for giving us your time on this Saturday morning. I'd like to start with these strikes. What is the message that America is sending with the proximity of these strikes, the target of these strikes? What should Iran know in this moment? First of all, if you attempt to strike our Navy ships, of course, we're going to return the favor and take out something that not only is an Iranian property, but those things that are most destructive to their economy at the same time. Without oil, you don't have an Iranian economy in the first place. So we're just telling them, you know, don't mess with us, essentially, is all we're saying. The president also posting very recently that he likes the position where we are right now much more with almost total control of the Hormuz Strait and their economy, meaning Iran's economy, in total collapse. Do you feel like we're in a better position now than we were, say, a month ago? There is sort of this renewed back and forth going on right now between Iran and the U.S. As far as strikes are concerned, we had a month-long lull. But do you think America's in a better position than we were one month ago? I think ultimately we are, and the reason for that is because we are in charge of the Strait of Hormuz. And what goes through there is the things that we allow to go through there. And if we want to stop it, we can. Combine that with the fact that, yes, we are bypassing the strait with certain things like pipelines across Saudi Arabia, Oman's cutting, making their own pipeline. And by the way, we just signed this massive oil deal with Venezuela, which will be effective at some point when it's ready to be—when the oil is ready to be pumped in large volumes out of that country as well. So I think Trump is right when it comes to saying that the strait itself will become less relevant over time. That doesn't mean that it's not still important as a point of leverage to Iran and still important as a choke point for world energy supplies, just because you can't replace the volume and speed that moves through there now. This is economic warfare. It does take time. It's not flashy, but it can be very effective. And a month later, I think we're closer to seeing that tipping point, I guess, that Trump was looking for, where conditions arrive that could actually get the people of Iran to stand up for their own freedom and against their own dictators. Yeah. Great point about the diversification efforts that are underway. And on that point of economic warfare, Treasury Secretary Scott Besson on Thursday welcomed the European Union's decision to join what he has called Operation Economic Outcast. They want to ensure that the global financial system that helps to prop up Iran takes bigger and bigger hits along the way. Now, there are still some countries that are helping Iran. We know that. But do you think this will have a major impact, to have the Europeans on the same team in this economic part of the puzzle? Well, it'll certainly have an impact as we watch that develop also. But I think the biggest impact will be the continued lifeline that China supplies Iran right now, and whether or not that ever gets affected through the economic warfare, through the sanctions and things like that. Certainly all four having the Europeans aligned with us finally on this aspect of this conflict, it'll certainly help speed up the process to a point. But what I'm watching very closely is how Iran's, essentially their bosses and their economic lifelines in Russia and China react, and whether or not they change course in any way either. You know, as we talk about keeping an eye on Iran and what they're doing, they have once again launched attacks on their nearby neighbors, their nearby allies, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, all facing renewed attacks, and the Houthis in Yemen also taking some strikes reportedly towards Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia yet to confirm the most recent military strikes that the Houthis are claiming. Your thoughts on the efforts still underway for Iran to show that they still have some element of military capability? In my mind, that's the key, is they want to be able to show that they have some capability. What you're not seeing is the large barrages that were part of the conflict at the end of February and into March, because they simply can't do that. And their ultimate goal is to survive. And to survive, they have to be able to show that they are able to do even a little bit. And so that's all they're doing, is launching things here and there to be able to show or at least try to demonstrate that they have military capabilities to threaten the neighborhoods around them. And what they're doing in reality is showing, one, that they're weak and they can't actually affect those decisions. And two, they're isolating themselves even more by basically entrenching those enemies against Iran. What nations that could have been somewhat like allies to them, they're definitely not in favor of Iran, even though they've never really liked them in the first place. So to calculate a gamble on behalf of Iran, I don't think it'll work out, because all it's doing is isolating them even more, because it's not having an effect on our decisions or those nations either, because they're not asking us to leave.