Hawzah News Agency- But the gamble did not pay off as Trump imagined it would. Iran not only did not collapse, but also proved that it was capable of attacking U.S. military facilities across the Gulf region and blocking oil traffic through the vital Strait of Hormuz, thereby accelerating the global energy crisis.
The United States “is being humiliated by the Iranian leadership,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz declared on April 27, speaking of Tehran’s continuing resistance to Trump’s demands.
Humiliation is, of course, the condition Trump most detests (for himself, that is, not for those he chooses to humiliate). He has sought retribution against all those members of Congress and public officials who, he believes, contributed to the public humiliation of being impeached—not once, but twice—or found guilty of assorted crimes.
Iran’s success in blocking tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has effectively shut down one-fifth of the world’s daily oil and LNG supply, causing severe energy shortages to develop in Asia and many other parts of the world.
In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has declared a “national energy emergency” and ordered government agencies to adopt a four-day week. Other Asian countries have closed schools and factories or shortened their working weeks, and some, like South Korea, have capped fuel prices to calm discontented consumers. The Strait’s closure has also blocked access to the Gulf’s vital supplies of jet fuel and chemical fertilizers, causing massive flight cancellations and rising food prices across the planet. Even the United States has experienced some consequences: Gasoline prices are now their highest in four years while rising jet fuel costs sparked the shutdown of Spirit Airlines, with the loss of 17,000 jobs.
A resumption of US air and missile attacks on Iran will surely result in increased human casualties, perhaps in far larger numbers than before. However satisfying this might appear to the denizens of the White House, it will turn the United States into a global pariah, much as Israel’s leveling of Gaza has produced that unwelcome outcome.
Any such move, moreover, is certain to precipitate a new barrage of Iranian drone and missile strikes on vital infrastructure throughout the Persian Gulf area, ensuring that the current energy crisis persists for an indefinite length of time, inflation rises worldwide, and global growth slows to a crawl—if not turns downward.
Source: The Nation
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