Iran Strike on Key Aluminum Producer Threatens Global Supply Chains

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published Mar 28, 2026 at 12:42 PM EDT updated Mar 28, 2026 at 02:29 PM EDT


United Arab Emirates (UAE) enterprise Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) said Saturday that an Iran strike hit the company's facilities, with the extent of damage still unknown. In a statement issued on the company website, company leadership said the Al Taweelah site "sustained significant damage during the Iranian missile and drone attacks at Khalifa Economic Zone Abu Dhabi," adding that "assessment of the damage is ongoing."

Why It Matters

The Iran war has lasted for nearly a month after joint U.S.-Israel strikes on Tehran killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several dozen other high-ranking officials in the country. Over the course of the war, 13 U.S. military service members have been killed and many others injured. An Iran strike, a mixture of missiles and drones, on the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on Friday injured 10 service members and damaged several American aircraft as the most recent example.

However, the conflict's toll has reached far beyond the battlefield as Iran leans on every lever of economic power it has, including the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's strikes have also hit major industrial infrastructure across the Middle East, prompting several major oil producers to declare force majeure as they struggle to produce and export oil.

Gas and oil prices have continued to climb since the strait's closure, with the national average price for gas remains close to $4 a gallon, with some states, mainly those on the West Coast, already nearing $6 a gallon, according to AAA. Oil has crossed $100 a barrel again as of Saturday.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/iran-strike-key-aluminum-producer-threatens-global-supply-chains-11751726

[groundloop]

1. Operation Epstein Distraction is working wonderfully.

[PufPuf23]

5. What is happening now in Middle East is more likely Operation Epstein Objective

sans Epstein.

[AmethystMoon2025]

12. IDK if it's working perfectly

I mean, Trump did recently register the domain aliens.gov.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. I had no idea Al was produced on such scale in that area. Most smelters are close to hydropower or nuclear plants.

"The damage to one of the largest producers of aluminum in the world will add further strain to an already precarious industry. Aluminum producers in the Gulf, which is responsible for about eight percent of the global supply, already halted shipments or declared force majeure in several cases, causing prices to climb."

I have this horrible feeling that these electrolyzers are powered by electricity from natural gas.

[WestMichRad]

16. Electrolyzers there are powered by natural gas

Exactly right. Natural gas is so abundant there, virtually cost-free to them, that they import alumina powder and electrolyze it to produce aluminum.

[Old Crank]

3. Doesn't Trump have a fat tariff on Canadian Al?

That will just add to the costs of producing lots of stuff in the US unless he drops it.

[BumRushDaShow]

4. "Joe 6-pack" won't be amused.

(interesting how that term has disappeared from the discourse as I expect many of them are 45 voters)

[Old Crank]

13. Perhaps we should use it more

He won't like that half his beer money goes for me the can....

[Justice matters.]

14. The dumbest tariffs ever imposed.

Over the last decade, the US has imposed a layered, global tariff wall on aluminum & aluminum products. Imports predictably declined, yet they're still 60% of US consumption and US smelters have kept closing - even with blanket tariffs of 50%!

This isn't because of “unfair trade”; it's because aluminum needs tons of electricity, and US power prices (plus fierce competition for electricity from AI, etc) have made US smelting uneconomical vs. regions with abundant power. Only 4 US smelters are now open, just 2 at full capacity. And one new US facility under development in power-rich OK won't start until at least 2030. In the meantime (and likely after), the US need imports, and tariffs will impose major costs.

Most obviously, prices have skyrocketed, harming consumers (especially for food & beverages). US manufacturers have also suffered. Aluminum is a critical input for automotive, aerospace, defense, food, etc. production. Today, US firms pay much more for the metal than do their overseas competitors, and their supply chains are more fragile (see, eg, Ford).

And maybe worst of all, the tariffs have pushed Canada, a massive aluminum producer (former close ally and member of the US defense industrial base) to sell less to US firms and more to others, making America more reliant on Middle East producers now hit by the Iran war.

Overall, aluminum tariffs have raised prices, hurt US manufacturers & consumers, alienated a top producer & former close ally, and weakened the DIB. Old smelters keep closing, and any new ones will take years to come online and divert resources from better uses if/when they do.

They're truly the dumbest tariffs ever. (What corruption can do to the US...)

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2026-03-27/the-tariff-on-aluminum-is-the-world-s-dumbest

[sakabatou]

6. It just keeps getting worse

[Igel]

7. I wonder if Ukraine's thinking of targeting an alumina manufacturer in Ireland.

Guardian ran a report on it recently.

It processes ore to an intermediate compound, alumina (aka Al (III) oxide), and Russia's a chief purchaser of its wares.

Aluminum is really energy intensive to extract from even alumina. If there's one thing to recycle, it's aluminum.

Ferrous metals are much easier for assembly-line recycling processors to extract, so it's easier to recycle. Less energy per pound, but density matters.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. Finding a "cheap" way to extract and process aluminum

was always the dream of the industrialists! The damn element is so reactive!!

[Deminpenn]

9. I'd bet there is a ton of aluminum

just waiting to be mined out of landfills and recycled. Afaik, it takes a lot less power to recycle aluminum than to make it from ore as well.

[cbabe]

10. I suggested landfill mining to a nephew as a career. He rolled his eyes.

[Deminpenn]

11. You'll have the last laugh

nt

[Envirogal]

17. I work in recycling

Most states, the recycling rate is mid-20% at best. So you can imagine how much ended up in landfill.

It should be noted that there are 10 states that have a nickel or dime deposit on beverage container and their recycling rate is in the high 60s. Placing an economic value is the most effective recycling incentive ever and it’s a damn shame that the 40 other states didn’t pass their own “bottle bill” deposit legislation because we would have captured so much more aluminum, Glass, and plastic bottles.

[Prairie Gates]

15. They also hit Aluminum Bahrein (Alba)

It's a shitshow.