European Union nations have discussed a proposed release of additional diesel reserves amid U.S. pressure to ease fuel prices, a source with knowledge of the discussion told the news agency on Friday. In a Friday call, various EU governments debated a French proposal for a joint release of 50 million barrels of diesel, the source told , and for International Energy Agency member countries to release 50 million barrels of crude oil. The countries also discussed the idea that any agreement on diesel reserve releases should include a commitment from the U.S. to not unilaterally ban diesel exports, the source said.
G7 leaders may discuss the proposal further on Friday on a call, reported. The Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said Thursday that the Houthis struck an electricity distribution station in Medina, Saudi Arabia, a city that is home to the second holiest site in Islam. The alleged attack drew strong condemnation from the Muslim world.
Fighting has intensified significantly in Yemen in recent weeks, with government forces reporting multiple airstrikes on Houthi targets overnight and journalists hearing explosions in the Houthi-held capital Sanaa. The Saudi-led coalition said the Houthi drone struck Medina's Taibah electricity distribution station, which provides power to the Prophet's Mosque, Islam's second holiest site. The Houthis denied any involvement.
Saudi-led coalition spokesman Maj. Turki al-Maliki said a drone struck the Taibah electricity distribution station early Tuesday morning. "The investigation and evidence gathered by the competent authorities have confirmed the involvement of the Terrorist Houthi Militia in planning and executing this cowardly terrorist act, based on after-action review and the wreckage of the drone used," he said in a statement.
The coalition said one transformer was taken out of service without affecting the wider electricity network. Speaking in Denton, Texas, Thursday night at the Peterbilt Motors facility, President Trump said Iran "is ready to fold up." He said he believed the U.S. would win the war "right after the election," referring to the U.S. midterm elections in early November. "I'm ensuring that Iran will be very quickly ended," the president said, promising that U.S. energy prices, which have soared due to the war, would be "rapidly, rapidly coming" down.
Trump said the U.S. was "trying to be nice" to Iran's current leader, but "we don't know who the hell to deal with, to be honest with you. Nobody wants to be president." The USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group and the USS Makin Island Amphibious Group are headed to the Middle East, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News on Thursday. That could mean a total of three U.S. carrier strike groups and two amphibious ready groups being deployed to the region at the same time, at least unless and until one of the groups is rotated out of the region.
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