Friends, as you may have noticed, tensions have escalated once again between the U.S. and Iran. Iran has "closed" the Strait, and we have reimposed a blockade on Iran. What's more, President Trump briefly demanded that any ships passing through the Strait should pay a 20% surcharge to the USA, since we're so kindly securing the Strait for them. Of course, that "security" is apparently rather shaky, as very few ships are currently transiting the Strait anyway. Now, in any case, Trump has decided against the surcharge, which I feel is a smart move. Sure, there's no good reason why we should solve the world's Iran problem for free, but then again demanding payment makes us look...distinctly bourgeois. We can't have that. All of this is fairly academic unless we can secure the Strait effectively and get large numbers of ships comfortable about running the Iranian gauntlet. Here's hoping the indomitable U.S. Navy can achieve that objective, which alas it has not up to now.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy0608wy8pro
In other news, the (temporary?) cessation of hostilities between the U.S., Israel, and Iran was warmly received by stock markets, and it caused oil prices to decline and inflation to cool. That's all very nice, but it's an achievement that won't last unless we can keep that shipping channel open.
https://apnews.com/article/inflation-trump-food-prices-gas-53d221aa918c466172af494ba7debc00
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