It’s not clear what further tools President Donald Trump has to keep global oil prices from surging in the near term – other than fully reopening the strait.

The situation is even more extreme in liquefied natural gas. The Strait of Hormuz typically accounts for about a fifth of global supply...The US is the world’s biggest LNG exporter, and its domestic gas market is relatively insulated from the war due to its massive production.

So...why would Trump want to reopen the Straight? Keeping oil in short supply keeps the petrodollar dominant. And it increases the value of domestic oil/natural gas.

In short, Trump has no reason to ease gas prices. The effects on the upper class are minimal, and he's shown that he absolutely does not care about the economic impact of his policies upon the working class.

A very informative article, but (as always seems to be the case with major news outlets) a bit short on analysis and clarity.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 hour ago

It's not that simple. Iran is now demanding that oil tankers that pass through Hormuz are settling in Yuan, which directly attacks the petrodollar hegemony. On top of that, US economy depends on trade with other western aligned economies. If they go down, then the US will be dragged down as well. And people in the US can't exactly afford stratospheric increase in gas prices either. Another problem is that fertilizer exports are now collapsing, and that affects the US as well. If fertilizer isn't in the ground by May, then the harvest will be lost with yields collapsing. All of this is very bad news for the US.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 10 points 5 hours ago (2 children)

traders are assuming that Trump will abandon the conflict before the economic toll of a prolonged war reaches extreme levels.

They don't seem to realize that Iran gets a vote on when this war ends. They assume that Trump can end this whenever he gets bored, but nothing stops Iran from continuing to hit US+ally assets in the region while continuing to restrain Strait traffic.

[–] yogthos@lemmy.ml 10 points 5 hours ago

Right, that's the elephant in the room. The US can certainly pack up and go home, but Iran can keep Hormuz closed until their demands are met. And that makes it pretty much impossible for the US to spin this as some sort of victory. So, I full expect the US will just keep doubling down on escalation here.

[–] flandish@lemmy.world 4 points 5 hours ago

they should keep pummeling us/israel bases until they closed down and the rest are out of range. the US does not need bases outside of US soil.