Welcome to the newly renamed “Fat Pipe’ report. It’s Friday, which means it’s been another four days of news and events to sort through. The purpose of these reports is to provide you with useful (and sometimes amusing) information to help you make better decisions and remain oriented in a rapidly changing world. Every word that is not quoted or linked material is written by me, and not AI.
Let’s get started.
Of Tankers and Oil Shortages
The war on energy (and food as a derivative) continues without break. We are heading toward tank bottoms and possibly worse (if Trump-Israel decides to attack again).
It was another full week of tankers being struck.
From just this morning (10/16/26):
BREAKING: Iran has published video footage moments ago of a vessel that was struck attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz along the Omani Route.It should come as no surprise to anyone at this point that the month of October has seen an ABSURD increase in the amount of…
— Brett Erickson (@BrettErickson28) October 16, 2026
The container ship JFS PRIDE struck a mine (I guess they weren’t ‘all cleared,’ eh CENTCOM?) and sank:
BREAKING: Iran announces a large UAE-owned container ship carrying more than 2,500 containers hit a naval mine, exploded and sank this morning in the US-backed southern Omani corridor of the Strait of Hormuz.It is the first vessel sunk by a mine in the war.Initial reports… pic.twitter.com/DB5uolTbhW
— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) October 14, 2026
What’s clear is that Iran has escalated from striking with drones, which do comparatively little damage, to anti-ship missiles and mines, which can cause catastrophic damage.
Naturally, this has massively impacted what flows of oil and products had returned to the Strait of Hormuz:
Trump says, “The war will end very soon. It will end when I want it to end.”
TRUMP SAYS IRAN WAR WILL END SOON"And the Iran war will end very soon. It’s going to end very soon. As soon as I want it to end, it’ll end." pic.twitter.com/IJqRsbljhD
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) October 15, 2026
Which raises the observation that Trump doesn’t want the war to end because he can end it any time he wants to, yet it still carries on.
But Trump has got to do something, because the clock is ticking down:
Oh my… pic.twitter.com/K30Ta8nrGQ
— HFI Research (@HFI_Research) October 15, 2026
Meanwhile, the U.S. is now strong-arming other
by the-end-of-suburbia 
