Like many Americans, I was riveted to the news as the United States went to war with Iran. After 47 years of listening to “Death to America” and the ayatollahs sponsoring terrorism across the globe, I’m glad to see a president who said enough’s enough.
In less than a week, America’s military might leveled Iranian targets and the rogue nation’s fanatical leadership was annihilated. Pundits can spin all day long about what comes next, but the fact is Iran’s nuclear bomb ambitions and ability to threaten its enemies are gone.
I remember in the late 1970s when Iran held U.S. hostages for 444 days and the oil crisis that followed. We waited in gas lines for hours and felt our prestige as a superpower slipping away. The hostages were released the day Ronald Reagan took office, driving home the message that who sits in the Oval Office really does matter.
With memories of gas rationing in my head—sales restricted to odd-even days based on your license plate—I took a keen interest in the business of oil during this latest conflict. The cost of gas shot up as Iran targeted the lifeblood of the world’s economy. They fired missiles at refineries and threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s oil passes. Tankers idled as insurance companies declined to cover them.
The price of West Texas crude surged to $119 a barrel overnight on Sunday and then dropped to $88 after President Trump took to the podium for an update on the war and a promise that the U.S. military will make sure that whatever’s left of the Iranian military won’t be able to attack ships passing through Hormuz. He promised military escorts if necessary and a $20 billion reinsurance plan to keep the tankers moving.
The president also said the United States is not hurting for oil. The nation leads all other countries in petroleum production and has locked down Venezuela’s oil reserves after arresting its narco-terrorist leader and building a relationship with its new president.
Oil is the queen in President Trump’s international chess match. Losing Venezuela as its financial benefactor and chief source of oil, Cuba’s communist dictatorship is feeling the pressure of democracy. Witnessing the moves of a decisive president, Russia is feeling the heat to end its war against Ukraine, and China, with its Belt and Road plan to take over the world, has lost a key source of energy and a long-time American antagonist.
Petroleum has driven wars and economics since the days it replaced whale oil, and it’s high time we had a president willing to play the cards necessary to keep America on top.