Japanese, French and Omani vessels cross Strait of Hormuz

Don't stop till you grift enough

And that's why they need to be slain in stories.

Does not get enough coverage. Sure Epstein is big but... that might be the biggest.

Half of objectives complete in one year is what it says to me

I'm loving all the Don Tzu memes. "Tariff, belittle and threaten to invade your allies. Nothing bad can happen, it can only good happen." - Don Tzu.

Yeah, but have you read the Art of the Deal? I am sure it is in there somewhere, bigly in there 100!

_And_ dropped sanctions on Russian oil...

It's simple: they have money, they start to spend it on cocaine and hookers, and when they wasted you attack them. They can't run away because all those gold chains are so fuckin heavy. That's how you get them. 4D chess

Thankfully they haven't really been able to take advantage because Ukraine blew up a load of their depots / docks and facilities lol.

If USA truly parts ways from NATO it will be yet another massive win for them. Even better than Brexit.

And another example if its safer if the oil had not been bought with USD, it's not going to be bought with USD. If Iran wants they can demand end of the Petrodollar because other countries would happily take the excuse that Iran 'made them do it'.

And forcing Europe to focus on renewables and nuclear energy production. He's come closer to stopping oil than the whole Just Stop Oil movement.

Is this the 4D chess of great dealmaker that so many maga are talking about? Strategic early game sacrifices so you can lose the lategame?

Well if he's working for the russians then I suppose he could still call it a win just not for America.

I'm shocked at how many have no concept of how the oil market works; I wondered what the point of Trump's nonsense was regarding his claim that America does not need the strait to be open; I realise now that it's entirely for domestic consumption. He's relying on his supporters not knowing any better. Which is what Putin does, or kim jong un, or the ayatollah. If they don't understand that then they certainly don't understand the petrodollar. I thought Americans were reasonably well informed.

As an American, I can assure you that we are extremely proud of our willful ignorance. So many of us either are dangerously f****** stupid or extremely passive in understanding actual power dynamics to fight for our interests. It’s hell 🙃

We should always refer to his bigly f*** ups to rub salt in the wound.

Which country?

That's a condition the Iranians can start imposing. But they don't really need to. The Petrodollar was based on the agreement that the GCC would sell oil in USD *in return for* the US protecting the Gulf. Now if Trump runs away in fear, or asks countries to go get their own oil, why should the buyers agree to buy in USD? And why would the sellers want to sell in USD if they aren't getting the protection that was promised. Unless Trump can fix the mess he's made, the petrodollar will make progressively less sense.

Also worth pointing out just because ships can get out, it doesn't mean countries are willing to send them back in for more in the current state, guarantees or not. And if you do, the calculus on the cost changes because of the added risk (high or no insurance, higher crew pay, any costs iran imposes, etc. If I'm Iran i want to let JUST enough supply through to keep outright shortages at bay in countries that are on the fence. Enough so their hand isn't forced to open the straight, while at the same time keeping prices high so everyone remains pissed at america and puts pressure on them.

If they charged $2mil for every ship that passes through the Strait that would be over $100billion a year, based on the upper number of 150 ships passing through each day.

it's true that it's also bad for the aluminum market, but the amount of aluminum that goes through the Strait is less than half of the amount of oil as a share of the market; 10% of the global aluminum market goes through compared to 25% of the oil. Keep in mind that most canadian aluminum still goes to the US, too. [90% of canadian aluminum production is from Quebec, and 80% of Quebecois aluminum exports goes to the US. That's down significantly from the usual 95%](https://financialpost.com/commodities/canada-aluminum-floods-europe), but *most* American aluminum imports are still coming from Canada -- [the US imports 60% of its aluminum usage; about 20% of the imports are from the gulf (the majority coming from Canada), meaning that about 13% of total US aluminum usage is affected](https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-blows-hole-in-us-aluminum-supply-chain-with-strikes-on-gulf-smelters/). In any case, the aluminum market is a less acute problem for the President because Americans don't feel it at the pump. The disruption to aluminum supply is enough to raise the price, but not enough to cause a strategic shortage, and it's less of a political problem for him domestically. Helium is interesting because it's actually more exposed than oil is, about 1/3 of the global helium supply comes from Qatar. But similarly to aluminum, it's less of a political problem for Trump than oil is. The US is also a helium exporter, so it won't experience a strategic shortage. As with a lot of decisions Trump makes, a global helium shortage will be bad for pretty much everyone, but won't really hurt him personally. Iran's biggest weapon here is really their ability to choke the global oil supply given how much of it moves through the Strait. They can allow a few ships through symbolically, but allowing any significant amount of oil through is essentially taking the bullets out of the only gun that they have.