Friends, we're now less than 24 hours from President Trump's deadline for Iran to accept a deal to end the war -- a deal that must include the opening of the Strait of Hormuz to traffic from all nations. If Iran demurs, Trump has pledged to destroy all the country's bridges and power plants, rendering its military even more impotent and life for civilians close to unbearable. Will Iran blink? Will Trump back down? Who can say...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj8ep9w1pno
There's an important caveat, however: the Strait of Hormuz isn't really "closed", at least not as much as many people assume. Quite a few ships are transiting the Strait, and quite a few countries have been promised safe passage by the Iranians. Needless to say, the U.S. and Israel aren't targeting anyone's commercial vessels. Even Iran is still exporting oil! This renders a lot of the handwringing over the global oil market somewhat phony, mind you. Prices are high, but they haven't skyrocketed, in part because the supply shortage isn't nearly as severe as it could be -- and perhaps will be, if Iran's civilian infrastucture is obliterated, and the mullahs take the gloves off and try to close the Strait completely. If I had to bet, I'd wager that the Strait will be more open a month from now than it is today, but I could be wrong. Stay tuned.
Dr. Waddy from Jack: I don't fully understand why our gas prices have streaked(unless there has been a coincidental emergence of mass nostalgia for two infamous phenomena of the 70s).Are the gasoline producers really shook about perceived possibilities of shortages or are they cynically taking advantage? I believe we are mostly independent of the Middle East for oil thanks to President Trump's mitigation of our dynamic energy industry's far left environmental oppression. I don't understand the economics of this precipitate rise.
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