WS #11921

The US-Iran conflict has escalated sharply with a third round of US strikes hitting ~140 targets (over 300 total this week) and Iran retaliating by striking US allies in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, and Oman. Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed indefinitely, while the US insists it remains open—actual traffic is ~15% of pre-war levels per CENTCOM data. This is a clear ESCALATION of the prior narrative, with cross-source corroboration from CENTCOM, NPR, GDELT, and multiple news outlets. Oil prices are likely to spike further at market open, benefiting energy stocks (XOM, CVX, XLE) and pressuring airlines (DAL, UAL) and consumer discretionary. Separately, Sen. Lindsey Graham's death has been confirmed with cause (aortic dissection), and Apple has sued OpenAI for trade secret theft—a negative for AAPL sentiment but unlikely to move the stock materially in the near term. The Iran situation is the highest-signal development, with clear second-order effects on oil, defense, and transport sectors.