Edward Meir's week in review and thoughts for the week of Sept. 28, 2026

At this time last week, things looked shaky in the Middle East as there were reports of stepped-up US military activity following Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia. Late last Sunday, it was reported that the Trump administration was considering launching airstrikes against the Houthis after the leadership in non-Houthi controlled Yemen and the Saudi crown prince both asked President Trump to intervene. Trump was inclined to go ahead, but abruptly “called off the airstrikes at the last minute, even as troops were loading bombs onto aircraft,” the New York Times reported.

The about-face resulted in crude oil prices opening briefly higher last Monday in Asia trading, but prices sold off sharply over the balance of the day before closing $3.50/barrel lower basis Brent. There were additional losses on Tuesday on reports that the Saudis had reopened the damaged East-West pipeline. All this was occurring just as “UN Week” was getting underway in New York. Iran and the US met for three hours on Tuesday, with the talks described as “very good” by Trump. However, it quickly became apparent that the two sides remained far apart on key issues and did not even agree to meet again.