Straits closed again . . .

The world's economy will find a way...

Actually the WSJ editorial board article is hard to ignore….every point is spot on. The only leverage that worked was the blockade. Take Kharg island, establish a 200 mile demilitarized corridor next to the Strait administered by the US and finally change the ME. Taking Kharg Island would demonstrate to the Iranian people that the regime has been defeated. Ninety percent of Iran’s crude exports originate in Kharg. Until it’s clear that Iran has been defeated regime change is a pipe dream.

The dream of changing the Iranian regime is a fantasy.

Iran is a religious theocracy that will just replace one regime with a carbon copy regime. Maybe one day Iran will not be religious, but it is not this day. Regime change belongs to the Iranian people. If they can't even unite against the current regime due to religious factions, that is not going to happen anytime soon.

But they are also a police state so knowing where the majority stand is hard. They can’t unite because people who do get killed. The notion of them rising without on the ground help was fatally flawed. Even the Kurds who are predominantly Sunni haven’t risen against the Shia majority. Twenty first century people with twelfth century beliefs

From chatting with many Iranians online, it seems the younger generation isn’t buying into the rhetoric promoted by the religious hardliners. Still, they endure quietly, knowing even a murmur of dissent can result in arrest, beatings, or execution. The regime maintains an ironclad grip with a vast, far-reaching infrastructure and has zero tolerance for opposition.

WTI Crude 11 mins

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You are being dismissive.

It's not only oil that's been impacted, it only starts there......what about Farmers who desperately need fertilser, the negative impact of that is that there'll be a shortage of food adding to its cost.

My pension fund has lost 15% and I've lost 20% on my stock market investments.

Several small businesses are struggling and several have closed up.

The poor are suffering even more, charities are not being supported.

In the meantime Trump's two sons have become overnight multi millionaires.....funny that one Huh?

"My pension fund has lost 15% and I've lost 20% on my stock market investments."

How on earth?

Do tell, what have you invested in to have lost 20% while these are the average annual returns on the US stock market?

1. 2021: +28.7%
2. 2022: ?18.1%
3. 2023: +26.3%
4. 2024: +25.0%
5. 2025: +17.9%
6. 2026 (year-to-date): Positive (around 8–10% as of late June).

Haha please do tell us what stocks you own. I need a good laugh.

I need a good laugh.

It's rather simple ButtPlum.....all you need to do is look in the mirror.

Still waiting for your response to my question........the one about your bi-sexuality

Remember???

"You are being dismissive.

It's not only oil that's been impacted, it only starts there......what about Farmers who desperately need fertilser, the negative impact of that is that there'll be a shortage of food adding to its cost."

"The Strait of Hormuz is approximately 1,750 square kilometers (676 square miles) in area. Given that the Earth's total surface area is about 510 million square kilometers, the strait constitutes roughly 0.0003% of the world's total area.

This calculation is based on the strait's dimensions of approximately 167 kilometers long and a width varying from 39 to 95 kilometers, making it a strategically vital but geographically tiny portion of the globe"

If access to vital resources which has a major influence on the economy of the world, are controlled by a rouge state like Iran, the world has a serious problem and it's totally rediculous that Israel and the US are the only 2 countries in the world trying to do something about it... totally rediculous that Iran has been getting away with this blackmail for close to 50 years... I'm starting to believe the conspiracy of a evil group of rich people controlling the world...how was this allowed to happen? Can't by by chance.

25% of the worlds oil and 35% of the worlds fertilizer are shipped through the strait of Hormuz, 0.0003% of the worlds area...and Iran are allowed to keep the world hostage by threatening terrorism on anyone using it if they don't get their way? And the whole wide world except for America and Israel is OK with it? If they get away with it now, what's next?

"According to 2024 official data from the World Bank, Iran's GDP represents 0.41 percent of the world economy. Other estimates for the same period place the figure at 0.43 percent, with nominal GDP valued at approximately $436.91 billion to $475 billion.

2024 Share: 0.41% – 0.43% of global GDP.

Historical Context: In 1960, Iran's share was significantly smaller at 0.31 percent.

2026 Projections: Trading Economics expects Iran's GDP to reach $425.99 billion by the end of 2026, which would maintain a similar relative share of the global economy depending on worldwide growth rates.."

Less than half a percent of the world's economy is holding the whole world hostage...and almost the whole globe seems to be content with leaving things the way they are... there's a much more sinister agenda at play here and Iran is just a pawn in a bigger game.

Never mind nuclear weapons, Iran can't be allowed pover over a quarter of the world's energy and more than a third of it's food security...this has to be stopped...thank God for Donald Trump.

Draad, if you were born Iranian, what would your position be?

You can only ever see things from your tribe mentality, much like the Muslims

There were no problems until your hero attacked Iran. If Iran had other means, perhaps it would use them.

The Strait is their Trump card. They have limited other options. No one supports them attacking another country, but they are in an existential threat. (E.g Trump has even threatened to nuke Iran). Destroy their civil energy, water, take them back to the stone age etc)

Do you suggest they just give up and allow Trump and the American consumer to take their oil?

Trump invaded Iran to try to limit the sale of oil to China. Much of America's international policies are geared towards reducing China's influence. Yes, China are cheating the global system, but they have not invaded countries (yet), or threatened to nuke a country, etc.

The Trumpanzees just don't get it, no matter how many times you try explain it to them.

They're still squeaking indignantly about the naughty Iranians and how they're blocking the Straits of Hormuz . . . as if it's anyone else's fault other than their clown hero Bozo.

The Straits weren't being blocked before Operation Epic Fail and the fact that Iran is now blocking them is 100% on Bozo, no-one else. Bozo was warned this would happen but the pathological liar is still saying things like "who knew they might do this?"

Iran can't compete from a military point of view so they're using the only leverage they have . . . and why wouldn't they? They're the ones who were attacked and they've got Bozo going apopleptic with rage because they don't want to deal. They know he's running out of time and they know he's going to get humiliated in the mid-terms if this continues They're in no hurry. They know Bozo's approval rating has gone through the floor and is still plunging.

This is all after Bozo tore up a perfectly good deal that allowed for inspections of Iran's nuclear capabilities and prevented them using enriched uranium for the production of weapons . . . but being a narcissistic fool, Bozo tore the deal up for the single reason that it was Obama's deal and not his. Now the incompetent buffoon is sending his equally incompetent son-in-law and his billionnaire real estate buddy to try and get an improved deal and he's getting all irate because they're getting their useless arses handed to them by Iran's negotiators.

The MOU that is on the table is far better for Iran than the original JCPOA deal and yet they're holding out for even more . . . because they have all the cards.

"This has to be stopped", the Trumpanzees bleat. Well, they should be asking themselves why it started in the first place. The Straits are only being blocked because of the short-sighted and poorly-planned actions of the clueless, self-serving and terminally stupid idol they worship. No other reason.

"Draad, if you were born Iranian, what would your position be?

You can only ever see things from your tribe mentality, much like the Muslims"

Nonsense, I don't care what they believe, but it's rediculous to allow less than .5% of the world economy to dictate the rest of the world's economy...and that threat has covertly been there for 45 years for every sensible person to see...Trump just exposed it for the fools too blind to see what's right before their eyes.

The penny still hasn't dropped. Were the Straits being blocked before Operation Epic Fail, Draad? Yes or No?

"Do you suggest they just give up and allow Trump and the American consumer to take their oil?"

No, America has enough oil of their own, but Iran, Russia and their other cronies are fcking up the oil markets to the benefit of China and some other direct competitors at the expense of the west, while taking advantage of western markets...

"The penny still hasn't dropped. Were the Straits being blocked before Operation Epic Fail, Draad? Yes or No?"

"

No, the Strait of Hormuz has never been truly closed prior to 2026, although Iran frequently threatened to do so and shipping was disrupted during past conflicts. The most significant instance of disruption before 2026 was the "Tanker War" in the 1980s, where Iran and Iraq attacked oil tankers during the Iran-Iraq War, prompting international naval forces to intervene and guarantee safe passage.

While Iran occasionally threatened to close the strait and undertook preparations to mine it in the decades leading up to 2026, the waterway remained open for extended periods despite Middle East conflicts. It was not until the 2026 Iran war that the strait faced a near-total closure due to Iranian blockades and military actions. "

The threat has always been there if they didn't get their way. They held the world at ransom until their bluff has been called...blackmail is blackmail, you only make things worse of you give into it...the problem was always their, just dorment.

If Iran had just closed the Strait for no reason, NATO would have reopened it.

Europe have some some military capabilities that the US does not, such as clearing mines out.

War must only be about self-defence. if Iran throws the first punch NATO would finish the fight/

Poor Donnie, led by Netanyahu, had no strategy beyond unleashing the world’s most powerful military on Iran, then, in desperation, offering a $300B golden handshake with extra perks, as the world cringes while Iran is playing him. With no off-ramp and no get-out-of-jail card, the midterms loom ahead. Who knows—chances are Iran will drag it out until then. I fear Iran will be an even bigger pain after the golden handshake, the dropping of sanctions and the unfreezing of Iran's much needed funds.

He knows that if he loses both houses the Dems will be coming after him, he also knows that he faces an unpleasant retirement behind bars. Desperate Donald is down to buying a deal so as not to end up behind bars.

And OBTW what happened to 'Iran is desperate for a deal'?????

The threat has always been there if they didn't get their way. They held the world at ransom until their bluff has been called...blackmail is blackmail, you only make things worse of you give into it...the problem was always their, just dorment.

This absence of thought is so warped. There is nothing, it makes no sense.

It is a work of wonder, it is so contradictory.

And indeed, one may understand why liberals do not want Iran to have nuclear weapons. Because as per liberals' standard, calling a bluff means forcing to execute a threat that is known to be concrete. It is no longer exposing people to reveal the threat does not exist.

Iran will have some fun with Trump in September and October.

"This absence of thought is so warped. There is nothing, it makes no sense."

There is no thought with the Trumpanzees. They're so brainwashed that thinking has become secondary.

Perhaps but with the Woke set thinking was always secondary…let me try and help.

1 Iran is a nation that supports world terrorism.The horrible attack on Israel would never have happened without Iranian support of Hamas and they knew it was going to happen

Advanced Knowledge: Secret Hamas documents recovered by Israeli intelligence and analyzed by outlets like The New York Times indicate that Iranian leadership had advanced knowledge of Hamas’s plans to attack Israel. [1, 2]

2 Iran has clearly been working to enrich Uranium to purposes only suitable for nuclear weapons. Concede the argument they weren’t planning that before Trump blew up the Obama agreement….which is naive….but even if true, after that they were hell bent to enrich uranium.

Now look at N Korea, fundamentally untouchable because of Chinese sponsorship and the fact they have nukes. Imagine a nuclear Iran, which has already attacked its neutral neighbors without provocation. Will that Iran not use nuclear weapons as a threat in future disagreements….would the West risk a nuclear event to stop them.

3 America has never taken assets from any country for its own benefit without paying for them. It doesn’t need Iran’s oil. And companies like SpaceEx are working on technologies to give it a further lead….and beside that if solar and wind work in Europe, how much better would they work in Texas. Taking Iran’s oil is not a motivation.

4 Iran is a police state that tortures and incarcerates its political enemies. The kind of State the League of Nations and the United Nations were formed to prevent. But in the modern world unprincipled countries like Russia and China, police states themselves, are quite happy to support rogue nations

……..

This is an action the USA took to prevent the primary sponsor of terrorism from going nuclear and it was supported by most countries on both sides of the ME divide.

The argument against it is primarily selfish in the case of those benefitting from Iranian oil and preserving a comfort zone for those in Europe….no rocking of the internal political boat, anger at the cost of doing the right thing. Everything was fine….for the moment.

And the whole issue has been caught up in the Trump resistance. Anything the man does can’t be supported, rather see the Mullahs win. And America has to be taken down a peg.

This is the kind of European thinking that gave the world the disgraceful Boer War and two tragic world wars. Where 110 million people died, not just 180 school children disgracefully housed next to a military target,

The right course was to support the Iranian people’s rights, to prevent a dangerous nuclear proliferation and to stand united as a world based on the principles of democracy, not a brutal theocracy. How soon Europe has washed its hands of their complicity in the Holocaust whether by action or inaction.

I wish you Trumpanzees would stop banging on about nuclear weapons. That wasn't the reason Bozo started this war. Bozo told us around about this time last year that he had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilty. He thought he'd effect regime change with this stupid war based on what his pal Bibi told him. It has nothing at all to do with any kind of nuclear threat. That's just where he arrived after winging it.

Besides, if you haven't worked out yet that the USA uses alleged nuclear threats and claims of "weapons of mass destruction" as an excuse for waging their oil-grabbing wars then you're stupid even by Trumpanzee standards.

The argument of America is a mediator, and the good guys all fall apart when Trump, only just months before, announced he was going to colonise Greenland and Canada. Then he announced the terrorist Donroe Doctrine, which considers the Western Hemisphere American. Then he invaded Venezuela to install a puppet leader, and then there was the Cuba oil blockade. Trump says he will invade Cuba, but that appears to be delayed because of the botched attack on Iran.

America democratically elected Trump, someone with the potential to be the next Hitler. No one believes their stories - the pretext for attacking Iran. This was all about restricting the flow of oil to China and making Iran trade oil in dollars.

America fear China. They know that the average IQ in America is in decline, but China is growing.

They know that capitalism, combined with an effective communist government, is a threat.

Accordingly to Pete Hegseth, America is in a 24-7 ready mode to go to war with China.

The Thucydides Trap: the idea that war becomes more likely when a rising power threatens to displace a dominant one. The term is commonly used for China-US tensions.

A related framework is power transition theory, which makes a similar argument about major war being most likely during a challenger’s rise against a declining hegemon.

Besides, if you haven't worked out yet that the USA uses alleged nuclear threats and claims of "weapons of mass destruction" as an excuse for waging their oil-grabbing wars then you're stupid even by Trumpanzee standards.

Okay document the oil the US has stolen….I wait with bated breath.

Bozo told us around about this time last year that he had "obliterated" Iran's nuclear capabilty (Sic).

Nuclear capability….not historical capability in terms of enriched uranium already in existence. Nor the intent to resume the moment they had the chance.

America fear China. They know that the average IQ in America is in decline, but China is growing.

American IQs are falling but the country keeps building a bigger lead in technology and the sciences,And China keeps copying us…,most recently ….

Chinese AI companies have been accelerating their capabilities by harvesting outputs from advanced U.S. frontier models using a process called "model distillation". By creating thousands of automated, fraudulent accounts, these firms query Western models millions of times to copy their logic, reasoning, and tone, which significantly lowers their own development costs and timelines

And this is the country you think is ready to lead the world, you can’t be serious.

So you agree that Trump's about the worst POTUS in the USA's 250 year history ?

Okay document the oil the US has stolen….I wait with bated breath.

Probably less about that.

https://www.ruckersforum.com/forum/mikes-gripes/trade-and-trade-routes/61265/

Liberals have this deep leaning they can get out of anything by redefining things. Which is very funny.

Stealing oil has never been about stealing oil, it is about stealing the control over oil trade (or any other goods)

It is very funny because the world is in the middle of a crisis that is big.

The US trade offer is crushed by China trade offer on a global scale. The US have nothing to trade.

So the US force trade deals on other nations and they force the dismantling of trade deals contracted with China.

It is happening right now and liberals can not face the very situation they are creating.

They must lie about it.

""This absence of thought is so warped. There is nothing, it makes no sense."

There is no thought with the Trumpanzees. They're so brainwashed that thinking has become secondary."

You're the one not able to think further than your nose into the future...short term short-sightedness will be the end of the West...Trump scrambled your brains 10 years ago and you can't recover...shame, you used to be a bit sharper...

China can't even make proper microchips...lol...Trump got them by the balz.

"67.68 -1.31%Graph down

Brent Crude

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Strait still closed?

AAAHHH we know don't we, same old.....your Messiah can do no wrong(sigh)

Sure thing!

And your demon can do nothing good... perspective...

NEW: Donald Trump suggests ceasefire with Iran “is over” after it came under strain with new US strikes overnight.

“I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them any more. They’re scum. You know what scum is? They’re scum," he told reporters in Ankara.

“They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people and they’re vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they’d use it.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s over. I’ll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate… But they have to come back to me. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them.”

Ummm . . . what happened to "they're desperate to make a deal" and "we're so close to a deal"?

Just more lies I guess. Either that or the incompetent buffoon didn't have a clue what was going on.

Probably both.

Trump knows this is a disaster. At least it is keeping him busy until the mid-terms. A good distraction if anything. Iran knows that high oil prices will hurt Trump in the mid-terms

Not sure what legacy he has left behind. The Obama deal was functional, and Trump ended it.

Now, Trump is threatening once again to nuke Iran. He claims he wants to prevent Iran from having nukes while threatening to nuke them. This is just creating problems for future generations.