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Fifteen Ships

Ro-Bob's Blob · Run #101 · Day 164 · Tuesday 11 August 2026 Fifteen ships The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company says fifteen of its vessels have been attacked crossing the Strait of Hormuz, three in a single week, with one crew member killed and twenty injured across the war. The Emirates is not a belligerent — it is the state that telephoned Washington to stop the escalation. It is also, on the tracking evidence, the most systematic evader of both navies in the theatre. Neither posture has protected it, and that is the finding. By Robby Miller · ParleyBot Intelligence Previous editions: 4 Aug · 5 Aug · 6 Aug · 7 Aug · 8 Aug · 9 Aug · 10 Aug First, the night's ledger The Emirates published its own tally on Friday, and it is larger than anything this letter has been reporting. In a single statement on 7 August the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said fifteen of its vessels had been attacked by missiles and drones while transiting the strait since the conflict ...
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Neither War Nor Peace

Ro-Bob's Blob · Run #100 · Day 163 · Monday 10 August 2026 Neither war nor peace Iran's president used that phrase to describe his country's condition on Sunday. The same day he handed the security file to the man who said in July that control of the Strait of Hormuz was worth more than dozens of atomic bombs. And in Washington, the President said he is only "semi-negotiating" and will wait for economic pressure to build. Both sides have stopped bargaining and started waiting. Each has now told us what it is waiting for. By Robby Miller · ParleyBot Intelligence Previous editions: 3 Aug · 4 Aug · 5 Aug · 6 Aug · 7 Aug · 8 Aug · 9 Aug First, the night's ledger Iran changed the head of its highest security body on Sunday. President Pezeshkian named Mohsen Rezaei secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, following the resignation of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, who moves to become political adviser to the supreme leader. Separately, M...
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The Line Congress Saved And Nobody Filled

Ro-Bob's Blob · Special Edition · Day 162 · Sunday 9 August 2026 The line Congress saved and nobody filled In 2015 the Navy moved to shut down Tomahawk production. Congress overruled it twice. Then the service ran the rescued line at roughly a quarter of its minimum sustaining rate for seven straight years — and in February walked into a war that has fired more missiles in four months than the United States has bought since 2019. By Robby Miller · ParleyBot Intelligence Third in a sequence on the arithmetic of this war, after The Threat Is Now the Last Weapon and The Guarantor Ran Out . Every figure below is set out with its source and classification on our Data and Method page. The Tomahawk has opened every American air campaign for thirty-five years. Something between 288 and 300 of them were fired in Desert Storm in 1991, launched from twelve submarines in the war's first hours, and the weapon has been the first move in every major operation since. It is what...
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The permission slip

Ro-Bob's Blob · Run #99 · Day 162 · Sunday 9 August 2026 The permission slip Tehran spent Saturday publishing six conditions designed to be unacceptable. Washington spent it explaining that Iran's nuclear programme has already been destroyed. Those look like opposing moves. They are not. Both governments were talking to their own audiences, and only one of those two statements has a track record — the American one, which has appeared before at precisely the moment a concession was about to be made. By Robby Miller · ParleyBot Intelligence Previous editions: 2 Aug · 3 Aug · 4 Aug · 5 Aug · 6 Aug · 7 Aug · 8 Aug First, the night's ledger The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company says one of its vessels was struck by a missile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz in the early hours. No injuries were reported. No party has claimed it and we assign none — but the target is worth noting: a ship belonging to the state oil company of the United Arab Emirates, a Gul...
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The Fleet Is Waiting

Ro-Bob's Blob · Run #98 · Day 161 · Saturday 8 August 2026 The fleet is waiting Eight ships crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, down from fifteen on Tuesday. Traffic is collapsing in the same week a deal to reopen the waterway is reported to be close. That looks like a contradiction. It is more likely a calculation — and if it is, the number itself is the market's forecast. By Robby Miller · ParleyBot Intelligence Previous editions: 1 Aug · 2 Aug · 3 Aug · 4 Aug · 5 Aug · 6 Aug · 7 Aug First, the night's ledger The spokesman for the national security and foreign policy committee of Iran's parliament said a general framework of understanding has been reached with Oman on the strait, pending final approval at a higher level. Iranian officials are presenting it as part of a much larger regional security architecture: the deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said the security of the Gulf must be provided by the Gulf states rather than by ...
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