IIME Daily Brief — 2026-11-13

Saudi Arabia is pressing the EU to designate the Houthis as a terrorist group. A French survey ship has begun work on the Greece–Cyprus power cable. President Trump tells Vice President Vance to shift his focus away from Iran.

Saudi Arabia is pressing the EU to designate Yemen’s Houthis as a terrorist group after weeks of attacks on the kingdom. Some European governments fear a listing would close channels to the Houthis, according to European officials. The UN Security Council unanimously renewed its Yemen sanctions on Thursday and tightened enforcement of the arms embargo (Reuters / UK Foreign Office).

President Donald Trump said Thursday that the U.S. did not need a deal with Iran and directed Vice President JD Vance to focus on domestic matters. Vance had been considering direct talks with Iran’s security chief, Mohsen Rezaei. Qatar has been trying to broker an interim agreement (Financial Times / Reuters).

A French-flagged survey ship began work near the Greek island of Kasos on Thursday for the Great Sea Interconnector, the planned power cable linking Cyprus to the European grid via Crete. A Turkish frigate radioed Ankara’s claim to the area. The survey continued (Kathimerini / Financial Times).

Eight lenders, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Société Générale, signed a letter backing financing for two solar plants that Saudi Arabia’s Acwa plans to build in Turkey. The €1.6 billion projects would add two gigawatts of generating capacity in Sivas and Karaman. Acwa expects both plants to open in 2029 (Acwa / pv magazine).

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Friday that it had targeted a U.S. early-warning radar in Bahrain in retaliation for a strike on a telecommunications tower in southern Iran. The Guard separately said a tanker carrying liquefied natural gas hit a mine in the Strait of Hormuz (Reuters on Bahrain / Reuters on Hormuz).

The International Energy Agency now expects the world to produce 1.7 million barrels of oil a day more than it consumes in the fourth quarter. The agency reversed its forecast of a deficit after Gulf exports recovered faster than expected, despite continued attacks on shipping (International Energy Agency / Reuters).

Jordan will present more than $15 billion in investment opportunities at a Nov. 19 conference with the EU. The projects include a freight railway, an inland customs and container hub serving the port of Aqaba, and an upgrade to Jaber, Jordan’s main operating border crossing with Syria (Petra / Jordan–EU Investment Conference).

UN peacekeepers said they were still observing daily Israeli military activity on the Lebanese side of the Blue Line, including construction of military positions and roads. The UN mission, whose mandate expires at the end of December, also asked Lebanon to investigate after a patrol came under fire near Wadi Jilu on Tuesday (United Nations).

Israel barred France Unbowed leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon and parliamentary group leader Mathilde Panot on Thursday. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot criticized the decision. France had refused entry last week to Yossi Dagan, a West Bank settlement leader (LCP / L’Orient-Le Jour).

DP World brought forward the phased opening of two terminals in Fujairah by six months. The terminals sit on the Gulf of Oman, outside the Strait of Hormuz. The company says it moved more than one million standard container units by road and rail from UAE east coast ports to Jebel Ali and other domestic destinations between March and October (Emirates News Agency / Gulf News).

India has received more crude from the Gulf than from Russia so far in November, the first time since the Iran war began. Shipments to India through the Strait of Hormuz have averaged 2.1 million barrels a day this month, compared with 1.8 million from Russia, according to Kpler (Bloomberg via Business Standard).

India, Oman and the UAE agreed to set up a committee to address flight disruptions caused by regional airspace restrictions. India announced the agreement Thursday after talks with the UAE in Visakhapatnam. The International Civil Aviation Organization’s Middle East and Asia-Pacific offices are due to discuss the disruptions later this month (The New Indian Express).

The IMF confirmed Thursday that it had sent a team to Lebanon for talks on restructuring the country’s banks. Lebanese Finance Minister Yassine Jaber said a proposed law dividing losses among the government, the central bank, commercial banks and depositors remained the main obstacle to an agreement (L’Orient Today / Reuters).

Iraq and Azerbaijan agreed to continue talks on shipping Azerbaijani gas to Iraq via Turkey. Iraq’s oil ministry said it was looking for additional sources of gas for the country’s power plants (Report / Azernews).