American Blockade of Iran

Trump's latest Middle-Eastern ploy is a take on the classic saying: "What's good for the goose is good for the gander." As you probably already know, talks between the U.S. and Iran broke down over the weekend with Iran insisting on keeping its nuclear weapons program. Up to this point, Iran's biggest point of leverage was to blockade the Strait of Hormuz to any ships that did not pay "protection" money to Iran. Trump has responded by imposing a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz on any ship leaving an Iranian port facility or which has paid Iran for safe passage. The U.S. Navy has also begun mine removal operations. Meanwhile, supertankers headed for the Gulf of Arabia have changed course for the United States--some even making literal U-turns. From the preceding post on X:

    American oil exports are approaching record levels. Gulf Coast refineries are running at 95% capacity. Supertankers that were mid-ocean on their way to the Persian Gulf literally turned around and headed to Texas. That's not a metaphor. Ship tracking data shows them doing U-turns in the Indian Ocean.

    Meanwhile China, which was getting 45% of its oil imports through Hormuz and paying basement prices for sanctioned Iranian crude, is now competing with Japan and Europe for the same expensive American barrels. Chinese manufacturers are already raising prices 20% on goods headed to the US.

    So to summarize: Iran played its biggest card and the main result is that the United States became the world's emergency gas station and China's cheap energy subsidy evaporated.