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US forces identified at least 10 mines planted by Iran in the , CBS News reported on Wednesday, citing US officials with knowledge of the matter.
The mines were discovered following a recent US intelligence assessment.
A previous CBS report from March said there were at least a dozen underwater mines in the Strait, according to US intelligence reports.
Officials had said the mines were Maham 3 and Maham 7 Limpet mines, both manufactured in Iran, CBS reported.

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Further, if we find that piece of paper, does it allow iran to distribute mines willy-nilly if they are involved in military action with states NOT signing said agreement/treaty/ whatever.
Gums asks.....

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The new pipeline that will run alongside an existing one to Fujairah from the Persian Gulf is already 50% completed after the project was accelerated due to the hostilities. The existing pipeline carries an average of 1.8 million barrels per day, the new one once finished, slated to be early 2027, will double that capacity.The Abu Dhabi Media Office revealed the existence of the new West-East Pipeline project last week, saying Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed directed state-owned oil giant ADNOC to fast-track its construction in order to double export capacity via the port of Fujairah by 2027.

"Today, it's already almost 50 per cent complete, and we are accelerating its delivery towards 2027," Sultan Al Jaber said during a live-streamed Atlantic Council event, among his most extensive public remarks since the war began.

"Right now, too much of the world's energy still moves through too few choke points. That is exactly why the UAE made the decision more than a decade ago to invest in infrastructure that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz."

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Outside of government agreements, the process to secure Iranian permission to transit involves a detailed vetting procedure conducted by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran’s elite fighting force, according to three Iranian sources and a European shipping source.

“The affiliation check is to identify if the vessel has any connection to the US or Israel,” said the European shipping source. It takes about a week for the Guards to review documentation, and during the process they may want to physically inspect the ship, the source said.

The IRGC requires ship owners to disclose details including the value of the ship’s cargo, the flag, its origin and destination, the registered owner and manager, and nationalities of the crew, according to documents reviewed by Reuters that were sent to shipping industry sources by Iran’s Persian Gulf Strait Authority. The authority was set up in recent weeks to approve and tax vessel transits.

The vetting is carried out by Iranian state institutions including the Ports and Maritime Organisation, the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, the national shipping organisation, and the security overseer of the Supreme National Security Council, according to the three senior Iranian officials. The IRGC, which has broad oversight over Iranian security, is also involved in evaluating the ships, the officials said.

Bilateral arrangements for passage include an additional step: Countries contact Iran’s foreign minister to request permission. The minister forwards these to the Supreme National Security Council, which includes the IRGC and representatives of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, one of the officials said.

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Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports dropped to a record low of 4.974 million barrels per day in March, based on data since January 2002, Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) data showed on Wednesday.

Saudi production in March was about 6.967 million bpd, the JODI data showed, also the lowest on record, down from 10.882 million bpd in February.

Monthly export figures are provided by Riyadh and other members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to JODI, a data transparency initiative coordinated by energy organisations including OPEC and the IEA.

The Iran war has sent shockwaves through global energy markets, driving oil prices sharply higher.

"At the beginning of the conflict, flows via the Strait of Hormuz were completely disrupted, impacting exports from within the Persian Gulf. The ramp up of exports from the port of Yanbu in the Red Sea and using inventories stored abroad should have helped the Kingdom to recover exports later in the month," said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo.

.............


Brent crude futures were trading at around $108 a barrel on Wednesday, while US West Texas Intermediate futures were near $101.46.

Saudi Arabia's refinery crude throughput in March fell by 0.746 million bpd to 2.266 million bpd from February's 3.012 million bpd, the JODI data showed, while direct crude burning increased by 82,000 bpd to 330,000 bpd.

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U.S. Marines boarded the tanker from helicopters while it was in the Gulf of Oman. According to CENTCOM, the vessel was searched redicted before it was released.

The Celestial Sea is well-known as one of Iran’s shadow fleet vessels. The United States sanctioned the tanker in April 2025 while it was operating under the name Harmony. The NGO UANI (United Against Nuclear Iran) reports it blacklisted the vessel in 2023.

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According to the Financial Times, at least 800 merchant ships remain stranded in Gulf waters after fighting broke out on February 28, leaving around 20,000 seafarers on board carrying out basic maintenance as they wait.

But long periods at anchor in the Gulf’s warm, shallow waters are now creating a fresh operational challenge.

“When you don’t move… you have a lot of fouling growing,” said Lasse Kristoffersen, chief executive of Wallenius Wilhelmsen, which has one ship currently stuck in the Gulf.

Marine growth such as barnacles, algae and jellyfish can clog protective gratings and interfere with pipe systems.

It can also attach to ship hulls and propellers, creating drag that slows vessels down and increases fuel use.

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The longer ships remain stranded, the greater the pressure on crews.

Seafarers told industry groups they are struggling to get replacement parts for broken systems because ship owners are finding it difficult to arrange transport to vessels waiting offshore.

Manoj Yadav, general secretary of the Forward Seamen’s Union of India, said one ship had been waiting 15 days for a replacement GPS part that would normally have arrived within one or two days.

“In this situation the owners are not feeling comfortable to find a charter boat to take the material up to anchorage,” he said.

Yadav said the psychological strain on crews is also growing after some have spent more than 70 days on stationary ships.

“Their mind is upset because there is no job on board… It’s a kind of jail for them,” he said.

With Gulf summer heat intensifying and no clear resolution in sight, shipping companies are now dealing with an unusual reality: ships that are not moving are slowly becoming harder to move.

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Commercial air traffic over Iran has thinned dramatically, reviving fears of a possible new military escalation in the Middle East even as regional powers intensify diplomatic efforts to salvage fragile negotiations between Washington and Tehran.

The unusually empty skies above Iran — coupled with widespread electronic navigation disruptions reported in the Arabian Gulf — have triggered speculation among military observers and analysts that preparations for possible strikes may already be underway.

............


Marine and aviation monitoring platforms, including MarineTraffic and Flightradar24, have shown what analysts described as large-scale AIS and transponder spoofing activity northwest of Dubai.

Hundreds of ships and aircraft appeared to transmit false or overlapping location data simultaneously, creating confusion across tracking systems.

Electronic warfare specialists say such spoofing can occur during periods of heightened military tension, though experts cautioned that similar disruptions may also result from defensive countermeasures, cyber activity or regional military exercises.

No government has publicly linked the spoofing activity to an imminent strike.

At the same time, diplomatic efforts to prevent another conflict have intensified.

According to Axios, regional mediators including Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt have been working to bridge gaps between US and Iranian negotiators.

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Iran's publication of a new map asserting its control over the Strait of Hormuz risks extending an already punishing ordeal for thousands of mariners trapped on ships in the Persian Gulf.

More than 20,000 sailors are stuck on around 2,000 vessels in the gulf, many of them unable to leave ship, lacking adequate supplies of food and fresh water, and fearful of an uncertain future at sea in a war zone. Sailors interviewed by Reuters in recent weeks have described the hardships and anxieties of their experience, and a federation representing them warns of dire conditions.

"The only thing we do here is plan how to spend the night and pray to God that we do not get hit during an attack," Indian sailor Salman Siddiqui said by phone from his stranded ship last month.

..........


From the Saudi port of Dammam, about seven large ships were visible moored out at sea - an unusually large number in normal times. As the resupply ship bobbed alongside the tanker in a stiff wind, the sailors aboard called out across the water while they winched aboard large sacks of medical goods.

Mohit Kohli, the captain of a large cargo vessel caught in the gulf when the war began after sailing from Singapore, said that when he first heard the Strait could be closed he, "could not even fathom that this was remotely possible".

His German-owned ship managed to secure a safe anchor off Dammam, but just over a week into the war the crew started to see and hear the missiles and drones Iran was directing at gulf states.

"The crew who was usually loud and happy were now silent. Meals got shorter. Conversations were more guarded," he said, describing the atmosphere on board in a Reuters interview this month after his return to India.

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France has drafted a UN Security Council resolution on setting up an international mission to restore movement in the Strait of Hormuz and could submit it if conditions are right, the foreign ministry said on Friday, as Washington struggles to bring to a vote a text Russia and China may say is biased against Tehran.

Control of the narrow waterway, a vital artery for global energy trade whose virtual closure has led to spiralling oil prices, is a major obstacle in talks to end the three-month-old US-Iran war.

A US-Bahraini resolution on the strait has been under discussion for more than two weeks, with a vote repeatedly delayed as China and Russia signal they could veto it.

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Arabian Gulf’s maritime repair and fabrication facilityASRY and India’s Priya Blue Group have joined forces to create a ship recycling venture in Bahrain.

The deal brings together the Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard Company (ASRY) with India’s ship recycling yard Priya Blue, establishing what the companies describe as the Middle East’s largest ship recycling facility.

“Together, we will deliver dry dock, slipway and alongside recycling for vessels up to ULCC size, alongside FPSOs, FSOs, rigs and complex offshore assets,” Priya Blue Group said in a statement Tuesday.

Anchored in Bahrain, the partnership gives Priya Blue a global footprint beyond South Asia. “This is not an experiment,” the company claims and describes the move as “a deliberate expansion of a proven operation.”

The two partners have formally launched their joint venture following the arrival of the first vessel for recycling in Bahrain.

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How long will these 20,000 innocent seafarers who did not sign up to be on ships in conflict zone have to endure being stranded thousands of miles from home from their families who wait helplessly?

At the same time the very ships they are sitting on remain possible targets even if they are not trying to exit the Strait, especially if the uneasy ceasefire between the US and Iran fails and bombing starts again in earnest.

This leaves essentially two options - take the risk of exiting the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz or evacuate seafarers on ships currently stranded and put those vessels into a more permanent form of lay-up.

On the first option the publication this week of Industry Guidance on the Safe Management of Vessel Transit through the Strait of Hormuz produced and supported by the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), IMCA, Intercargo, Bimco, Intertanko, and OCIMF, hardly made for comforting reading for those planning a transit. And as attempts at transits have shown while some may end safely, others have ended in missile strikes with severely injured crew or vessels being seized by Iran.

In the second option by moving to warm or cold lay-up the majority or all of the crew onboard vessels stranded in the Gulf could be brought ashore and repatriated.

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Whether the conflict is settled within the next few days or not, the shipping community needs to be ready. The loss of 14 million barrels per day of oil, which used to come through the Strait of Hormuz, has been calculated by Reuters and Kpler to be worth more than US$50 billion since the beginning of the war, sufficient to keep global shipping fueled for 4 months, and a hole that is going to take some filling. Should the war end this week, there will be a rush to restock to avoid imminent shortages, with oil afloat in the Gulf the first to get on the move. Conversely, a resumption of warfare will generate further safety concerns for ships in the danger area, but also put increased focus on oil stocks held afloat, particularly in Southeast Asia.

..............U.S. production of both oil and gas has soared to maximum available capacity, placing a strain on the infrastructure, particularly so when maintenance is delayed to exploit the high prices, which are likely to fall back when the crisis abates. Higher prices in the West have curtailed demand to an extent, with alternative energy sources being used where these are available. Sanctions against imports from Russia have been relaxed in some narrowly-defined shortage areas as a contingency. The same is very much true of China, where reserves estimated at 1.1 billion barrels remain healthy, and consumption has been reduced in the light of higher prices. Politically, China is not so badly affected by shortages that it felt any need to help President Trump out with the issue on his recent visit to Beijing. For the moment, President Xi Jinping is comfortable enough to sit on the sidelines and let the United States sort the mess out on its own.

The most significant pinch-points are firstly in Japan and Korea, where even though strategic reserves are substantial, there is a high dependency on imports – up to 85 percent in the case of Japan, in part a failure to replace indigenous energy generation following the closure of nuclear plants in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

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https://x.com/thestudyofwar/status/2...090173701?s=20

iran update special report, may 24, 2026: Conflicting us, iranian, and regional reporting indicates that the contours of a possible us-iran memorandum of understanding (mou) remain unresolved and may not yet represent a final agreement.

More key takeaways:

Iranian officials, islamic revolutionary guards corps (irgc)-affiliated outlets, and iranian sources speaking to western and regional media are presenting the possible mou as conditional on us concessions and continued iranian leverage.

Irgc-affiliated reporting has identified frozen assets, sanctions relief, the naval blockade, lebanon, and the strait of hormuz as the main unresolved issues. This is every issue in the first stage of the agreement, before talks on the nuclear program.

Mediators appear to be trying to preserve momentum toward a us-iran mou by sequencing unresolved issues and developing technical arrangements for the strait of hormuz, but iranian reporting suggests that iran has rejected efforts to defer its core demands.

Iran appears to believe that it is negotiating from a stronger position than the united states and is accordingly attempting to remake the regional order in a way that benefits iran.

Iran has not publicly accepted meaningful nuclear concessions in the possible mou, and iran believes that the draft defers nuclear talks until after iran secures relief from military and economic pressure.

Iranian officials have stated that the us-iran mou must end the war “on all fronts,” including in lebanon. The united states supports continued israeli operations against hezbollah, however, to prevent threats to israel.

Israeli officials have reportedly called on the united states to allow the israel defense forces (idf) to continue its operations in lebanon, in accordance with the current temporary ceasefire in lebanon, and president trump agreed with this position.

Hezbollah officials have continuously reiterated that the group will continue to engage the idf in southern lebanon and launch attacks against northern israel until the idf completely halts its activity in lebanon and withdraws from southern lebanese territory.

Read the full report, may 24, 2026: https://understandingwar.org/researc...t-may-24-2026/

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Iran’s expanded control over the area has stretched beyond the narrow Hormuz passage itself. Reuters reported that Tehran now considers parts of the UAE’s Gulf of Oman coastline within its operational oversight, increasing pressure on alternative export routes.

That includes the UAE’s Fujairah oil export corridor, which has become a critical outlet allowing some Emirati crude shipments to bypass Hormuz entirely.

Jaber called the blockade a “dangerous precedent” for global trade and maritime security. “Once you accept that a single country can hold the world’s most important waterway hostage, freedom of navigation as we know it is just finished,” he said.

For now, the movement of a small number of LNG tankers and crude carriers suggests that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer completely paralysed.

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The spokesperson for the Oil Ministry, Saheb Bazoun, said that the government is in negotiations with foreign oil firms operating in the country to resume activities at closed oil fields. Furthermore, preparations are underway to restart oil shipments through the Turkish port of Ceyhan in the coming days.

The Iraqi government is focusing on oil earnings, activating export outlets, and reaching agreements to maintain the smooth flow of exports.

Bazoun underlined that Iraq’s oil production remains intact despite recent setbacks in the industry.

The majority of foreign corporations operating in Iraq have recently withdrawn, leading to the closure of certain oil fields. However, the government has managed to maintain the oil reservoirs and operational infrastructure while actively working to encourage these companies to resume their activities and complete ongoing development plans.

The Iraqi official explained that the Iraqi government is currently attempting to diversify export channels in light of the challenges posed by recent geopolitical developments.

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Over 1.5 million pilgrims have arrived in Saudi Arabia from outside the kingdom for Hajj, according to a Saudi official, exceeding the number of international visitors last year despite the war in the Middle East.

The conflict triggered by the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February saw Tehran order waves of strikes on targets in Saudi Arabia and across the Gulf, prompting widespread air traffic disruptions and causing travel costs to surge.

Major Gulf airlines in the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain have worked to quickly restore much of their operational capacity after weeks of airspace closures and flight cancelations.

Despite the complications, pilgrims have continued to flock to Saudi Arabia to participate in this year’s Hajj.

“The total number of pilgrims arriving from abroad has reached 1,518,153,” Saleh Al-Murabba, the commander of Saudi Arabia’s Hajj Passport Forces, told a press conference late Friday.

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“Targets included missile launch sites and Iranian boats attempting to emplace mines. US Central Command continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire,” US Central Command spokesman Timothy Hawkins was quoted as saying by CNN.

The missile strikes were reported to have targeted an area near the port city of Bandar Abbas where an Iranian naval base is located.

Iran has previously claimed to have mined the Strait of Hormuz in area that includes the normal traffic separation scheme for commercial shipping although the presence of mines has not been confirmed.

The latest US strikes come as peace talks between the US and Iran are reported to be progressing around a Memorandum of Understanding which would extend the ceasefire for another 60 days and a re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz, although the two sides have differed on how close they are to an agreement.

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Farmers across Sudan say the hike in global fuel and fertilizer costs resulting from the Iran conflict will force them to cut back on planting this summer, restricting food production in a ​country where war has caused acute hunger.

Eight farmers from different parts of Sudan, as well as experts working in the sector, told Reuters that fuel and fertilizer price increases would compound problems caused by a civil war, hitting staple domestic crops such as sorghum and millet as well as exports like sesame.

Sudan is particularly vulnerable to the fallout from the Iran crisis as it relies on the Gulf for more than half of its fertilizer needs, according to UN data, while the war between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces has left it entirely dependent on fuel imports.

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Sheinbaum said football's governing body Fifa approached her government after the US said it did not want Iran's squad to stay in the country throughout the tournament, despite Iran playing all three of its group matches there.

"We have no reason to deny them the possibility of staying in Mexico," Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference.

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The US said it launched new strikes on southern Iran, targeting Iranian missile sites and boats attempting to place mines.

The strikes were taken in "self-defense"and were designed "to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces", US Central Command said in a statement.

Central Command spokesperson Capt Tim Hawkins said the US military "continues to defend our forces while using restraint during the ongoing ceasefire" between the two countries.

Iran is yet to respond to the US attack. However, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baqai earlier said that while some progress had been made in talks to end the war, a deal "is not imminent".

It is unclear what impact the strikes will have on any potential peace agreement between the US and Iran.

Following the strikes, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a deal was still possible and pointed to talks on Tuesday between Iran's top negotiator and foreign minister and Qatar's prime minister.

"We'll see if we can make progress. I think it's a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it'll take a few days," Rubio told reporters during an official visit to India.

He said President Donald Trump had "expressed his desire to make it".



"He's either going to make a good deal or no deal," Rubio said.

Asked again later about Monday's strikes, Rubio said: "The straits have to be open. They're going to be open one way or the other, so they need to be open. What's happening there is unlawful, it's illegal, it's unsustainable for the world, it's unacceptable."

Capt Hawkins said the US strikes targeted an area near Bandar Abbas, a southern port city and home of an Iranian naval base that sits on the Strait of Hormuz, according to the New York Times.

Iranian state media had earlier reported that local officials in Bandar Abbas were investigating after explosions were heard.



Earlier in May, a clash between Iranian and US naval destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz - for which each side blamed the other - led Trump to insist a ceasefire was still in place.

At the weekend, Trump had suggested the sides were close to a deal, but later said he had instructed negotiators "not to rush into" one, while Rubio had said an agreement could possibly be reached on Monday.

But Baqai responded: "It is correct to say that we have reached a conclusion on a large portion of the issues under discussion... But to say that this means the signing of an agreement is imminent - no-one can make such a claim."



The memorandum of understanding being discussed reportedly involves a 60-day ceasefire extension, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and a plan for further negotiations over Iran's nuclear programme.

CBS News, the BBC's US partner, has reported that US intelligence believes Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei - who was injured in an Israeli strike on the first day of the war which killed his father and predecessor - is holed up in an undisclosed location, making communication with his envoys difficult and therefore delaying pace of talks with the US.

According to US media, the discussions will not immediately lead to a final settlement. Contentious issues will likely be negotiated later, including details of Iranian sanctions relief, the release of frozen Iranian funds, and US demands for Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions.

At the start of the war, Iran is thought to have had about 440kg (970 lbs) of uranium that was enriched up to 60% purity - a short process away from being enriched further to the weapons-grade 90%, which theoretically could allow it to create a nuclear bomb.

On Monday night, Trump said the enriched uranium would either be "immediately" turned over to the US, or "preferably, in conjunction and co-ordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place".

US and Iranian forces have observed a ceasefire since 8 April. Iran has maintained controls on Gulf shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the US Navy has sought to blockade Iran's ports.

The US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran on 28 February, sparking conflict across the Middle East. Iran responded by attacking Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf, and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. The move sent oil prices soaring globally.

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Iran is yet to respond to the US attack.

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​​​​​​​https://x.com/MenchOsint/status/2059...524990753?s=20

The IRGC shot down an US MQ-9 Reaper drone & fired at an F-35 and an RQ-4. — Tasnim

"The terrorist US army, continuing its interventionist adventures and aggressive behaviors, entered Iranian airspace in the Persian Gulf region, and the IRGC air defense units, in defense of our country's territorial integrity and after precise intelligence monitoring, identified and shot down an MQ9 drone.

"They also fired at an RQ4 drone and the invading F35 fighter jet, forcing them to flee and exit the territorial airspace."

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As speculation over renewed diplomacy between Tehran and Washington intensifies, several citizens described the prospect of a deal not as a path toward stability but as another political arrangement reached at the expense of ordinary Iranians.

“We no longer have hope in Trump… we will finish the job ourselves,” one citizen wrote. Another added: “Trump’s decisions should not matter to us. We ourselves must bring down the Islamic Republic from inside the country.”

The messages come amid continued economic pressure inside Iran, where inflation, unemployment and political repression remain key public grievances.

...........


Some viewers voiced direct opposition to any temporary ceasefire or agreement involving the Islamic Republic.

“We the people of Iran do not want a 60-day ceasefire or agreement,” one citizen wrote. Another described life in Iran as “impossible” and said they were waiting for “another call from the prince,” referring to exiled opposition figure Reza Pahlavi.

Several messages also urged US President Donald Trump not to strike a deal with Tehran, arguing that the Islamic Republic has systematically deprived citizens of the ability to organize or protest freely over the past decades.

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https://x.com/clashreport/status/205...977079892?s=20

A second battle-damaged KC-135 tanker has been spotted at RAF Mildenhall in the UK.

The aircraft, tail number 63-8028 from the Alaska Air National Guard's 168th Wing, arrived from Tel Aviv with extensive shrapnel repair patches on the tail, vertical stabilizer, flaps, and spoilers, and is missing its refueling boom entirely.

At least five KC-135s were damaged in the March 2026 Iranian strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.

Source: TWZ, Andrew McKelvey

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Another Battle Damaged KC-135 Tanker Seen Passing Through RAF Mildenhall

In another visible sign of the damage inflicted by Iran during the now-paused war, a KC-135 Stratotanker was spotted over the weekend at RAF Mildenhall in the United Kingdom peppered with temporary shrapnel damage repairs. The aircraft is at least the second to transit through the installation with damage from the war.

The photographs, from aviation photographer Andrew McKelvey, show the KC-135 heavily speckled with shrapnel damage to the tail, its vertical stabilizer as well as its flaps. It is also missing its refueling boom entirely.

It is unclear where this jet was struck. There were five tankers reportedly damaged in the Iranian long-range strike on Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) in Saudi Arabia on March 14. However, data from FlightRadar24 shows that the jet was taking off and arriving at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv Israel on the day before and after the attack on PSAB. In addition, that data shows it was still flying missions after that incident, which seems highly unlikely. The KC-135 could have been hit somewhere else or the data is wrong. We just don’t know at the moment.

“It’s still here and parked on the visitors ramps on the north side of the base,” McKelvey told us Monday morning EDT.

This jet, tail number 63-8028, belongs to the Alaska Air National Guard’s 168th Wing. It arrived at Mildenhall from Ben Gurion on Saturday, according to data from FlightRadar24.

As we have reported in the past, dozens of U.S. Air Force refueling aircraft now deployed to Ben Gurion Airport are expected to stay in Israel at least until the end of this year, Israel’s N12 News reported on X.

“The presence of the aircraft—not the U.S. military—is causing significant operational difficulties at Ben Gurion Airport, as they are parked almost everywhere possible at the port,” the outlet added.

As noted earlier, this is at least the second KC-135 that has visited Mildenhall sporting shrapnel damage and temporary repairs. Last month, McKelvey shared images with us of a KC-135 from the Ohio Air National Guard’s (OANG) 121st Air Refueling Wing covered from nose to tail with these repairs. However, additional ones could have transited to Mildenhall or other installations in Europe before flying to Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma for far more comprehensive repair work. Tinker is home to the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Complex, which performs programmed depot maintenance and modifications on KC-46, KC-135, B-1B, B-52, E-3 and Navy E-6 aircraft.......

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https://x.com/UKArmaments/status/205...177564216?s=20

RFA Lyme Bay has sailed from Gibraltar carrying state-of-the-art minehunting kit and 100+ specialist personnel, ahead of a potential mission to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

Here’s what’s on board...

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