The face-off between Donald Trump and whoever is actually leading the Iranian regime entered a new phase this week. Tehran initially rejected the administration's 15-point peace plan, then said it might eventually respond to it, and American paratroopers and Marines are on their way to the Middle East. The prospect of U.S. troops setting foot on Iranian-claimed territory is growing by the day.
Gulf oil and gas is still largely bottled up by Iran's threats to international shipping, and prices are ticking up around the world. Donald Trump's hints at negotiations and other market-calming gambits are demonstrating his usual flair for drama and improvisation, but demands for the war to end are rising in line with energy costs. These calls are misguided: The higher costs are painful, but the only sure way back to prewar prices is to defeat the Islamic Republic.
Iran's rulers have correctly identified how to inflict the most damage on the global economy and, they hope, on the United States. Blocking commercial ships from transiting the Strait of Hormuz has cut off nearly one-fifth of the world's supply of oil and natural gas. Brent crude, the global benchmark for oil, has jumped from $70 per barrel to over $100 in the past month.
Blocking the Strait will cause further pain to people around the world, particularly the poor in neutral countries. Many Gulf states export agricultural fertilizers too, and Iran has stopped their exports as planting season begins in the northern hemisphere. Those prices have shot up, and this fall's crop yields will likely decline commensurately. Having already unleashed conquest and war on their neighbors, the butchers of Tehran aim to release upon the world the last horsemen of the apocalypse, famine and death.
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