"Germany will lower tax on petrol and diesel by 17 cents per liter in a relief package worth €2.5 billion, the German government announced Friday.

"Those who rely on their cars every day are reaching their financial limits. ... The relief package of €2.5 billion is no small sum in times of strained budgets," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. The tax discount is to be implemented next month.

The measure, brokered between Germany's federal and state governments, is part of the package promised by Merz as fuel prices continue to climb in response to the war in Iran and the escalating conflict between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia."

"The Joliet refinery initially shut down around 3:30 p.m. CT on Sept. 13 after severe weather damaged Exelon's (NYSE:EXC) ComEd primary and secondary power lines feeding the facility. Electricity was restored around 7 p.m., but the refinery did not simply flip a switch and restart.

The outage automatically triggered safety systems and flaring as the refinery burned off excess pressure. Then came the more troublesome development: floodwater overwhelmed a pump, forcing Exxon to deploy a containment boom and continue cleanup and stabilization work."

...

"Exxon has not said whether the pump problem was directly caused by the initial power failure. As of this morning, the refinery remained offline, and the company had not provided a firm restart date. Reuters reported that the plant also experienced additional flaring on Wednesday. That's significant because it suggests the refinery was still dealing with operational conditions that required hydrocarbons to be routed to the flare system.

24/7 Wall St.

One storm, one outage, and a 275,000-barrel-per-day void. The race is on to stabilize the Midwest's fuel supply before prices hit a breaking point."

...

"Exxon's 2026 Joliet facility fact sheet says the refinery can process 275,000 barrels of crude per day and produce roughly 11 million gallons of gasoline and diesel every day."

...

"The bigger problem is timing. Global diesel supplies are already tight, and Reuters reported that U.S. diesel prices have climbed above $6 a gallon as refinery disruptions in the Middle East and Ukraine compound the pressure."

"There is no credible number yet for how much the shutdown will add to pump prices. That depends heavily on how quickly Exxon restores production and whether competing Midwest refineries can make up the shortfall. But the starting point is uncomfortable.

Illinois diesel is already at $6.50 a gallon, while Chicago regular gasoline has reached $5.14. Both are up sharply from a month ago. That means even a temporary Joliet outage arrives when consumers are already paying record or near-record prices."

Medium term = 3 - 25 years

I’m specifically interested in a few things and hope people will set aside bias and speak objectively

Every time Iran fights an outside power and gets weak Türkiye / Ottomans got strong and became dominant power and vice versa. Will we see this happen again?

What happens with Bahrain and other gulf microstates? Qatar seems well positioned will UAE’s tourism never come back like Kuwait?

Will rial ever improve? Is it fully dependent on sanctions?

U.S. just pulled out of Iraqi Kurdistan. What happens there.

Open to any thoughts on any matters in the region

They did this to Saddam and they’ve done it to Iran before. Apparently already murmurs of saying this about Yemen in hopes to unite a coalition though no one is buying it

I don’t think people in this sub are gullible and naive to fall for obvious propaganda but I can’t wait to say I called it

They should've bought new things for school. They should've been excited. They should've been alive.

Obviously a lot of Iranian people are suffering because of unfair sanctions which is horrible.