🌅 COMBATE Morning Roundup | September 13, 2026

• US strike hits Iranian ship in Hormuz; vessel later ablaze — Iranian officials said a US projectile struck a container ship near Hengam Island at dawn, killing one crew member and wounding four. Britain's maritime agency later reported the ship caught fire and its crew was being evacuated.

• IRGC Navy dares US fleet as Hormuz traffic collapses 97% — "If the strait is yours, bring a ship within 100 kilometers," the IRGC Navy's political deputy said. One Chinese tanker transited Friday against 31 a year ago; economist Steve Hanke calls Hormuz "effectively closed."

• Araghchi: Oman deal won't reopen Hormuz — Monday's Muscat meeting will unveil maps of a new Iran-Oman corridor, but reopening still requires US compliance with the Islamabad MoU. Reuters sees Iran-UAE thaw signs, and a Salalah meeting with Iraq and Gulf states begins Monday.

• Saudi Yanbu terminal halts oil loading after Yemen pipeline strike — Riyadh also preventively closed its main pipeline after the Ansar Allah drone attack, and oil climbed back above $100. Saudi jets hit Taiz and Saada as armed tribal columns headed toward Marib.

• Iraq reopens Iran borders; US exit date affirmed — Shalamcheh, Chazabeh and Mandali crossings resumed after two days. A Baghdad lawmaker said the US troop withdrawal by September 30 is certain; jets, reportedly Turkish, bombed a Sulaymaniyah village.

• BRICS wraps with Xi's open AI platform for the bloc — Putin said BRICS drives 49% of world GDP growth with $1.2 trillion in mutual trade built "without sanctions," and Modi and Xi offered Putin mediation on Ukraine.

• UAE to host Russia-US-Ukraine talks, possibly in October — Moscow accepts Abu Dhabi as venue. Russia took a Kharkiv-region village and struck railways carrying Western arms; Ukrainian drones burned a Taganrog fuel depot; Kiev hit diesel trucks at the Zaporozhye plant, drawing Rosatom's nuclear-incident warning.

• Russian drone hits truck 800 meters from Poland's border — The strike was confirmed after footage fueled claims the drone crossed into NATO airspace. Poland's foreign minister simultaneously demanded "more aggressive" NATO drills near Kaliningrad.

• Germany: 78% say Merz unfit to be chancellor — Söder still ruled out toppling him; Germany revoked AfD members' weapons licenses as 15,000 protested the far right across 20 cities.

• US sells Black Hawk helicopters to Argentina — The $140 million sale, a first, comes amid Malvinas tension after Trump declined to pledge defending London; Milei is reviving a Tierra del Fuego naval base project.

📖 Full report: https://telegra.ph/COMBATE-Digest---combate-20260913-1200Z-09-13

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