🇦🇪🇮🇷 Iranian missiles fell into Emirati waters and the Gulf's biggest trading hub cut Tehran off entirely, all before Washington announced there are no talks at all
Two ballistic missiles from Iran splashed down near Abu Dhabi today, and the UAE's assessment says they were aimed at shipping.
The response wasn't military.
The foreign ministry halted every trade exchange and financial transaction with Iran until further notice, closing the Dubai channel Tehran has relied on to move money around sanctions for years.
Then Trump posted that no talks are scheduled or happening, the blockade stands, and shared an image labeling the strait as new US territory.
Joe Kent's read on the region's second shock is the sharpest thing on the board. Israel struck a disused Syrian airbase hours after Turkish officers inspected it, and Washington's own envoy called it an unnecessary escalation.
Joe's decode: Ankara installed Sharaa and brought America along, but the moment Damascus reaches for an actual air force, the runway gets cratered, leaving him squeezed between his patrons, the Israelis, and a base that didn't fight a civil war to take orders.
Trump's instinct in December was to wish the new Syria well and stay out.
Joe thinks that instinct was right.
@joekent16jan19
