🇮🇷 🇾🇪 12 tankers hit in under a week… worth up to $330 million each when they’re full.
Iran can hit anything moving through Hormuz, the Houthis can hit anything near Saudi Arabia, and economist Philip Pilkington says this week settled the argument:
“Tanker Tuesday definitively proved they have fire control over these things.”
Operation Prosperity Guardian has been running since January 2024 under two presidents and never stopped it, so until someone shows Iran is out of missiles, the strait should be treated as CLOSED.
@philippilk
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Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal)🇺🇸🇮🇷 The Strait of Hormuz may be the weapon. The real target is the U.S. bond market.
Philip Pilkington thinks Washington may be looking at the Iran war through the wrong lens.
The immediate fight is over ships, oil and the Strait of Hormuz.
But Pilkington argues Iran’s deeper pressure point is financial.
“The tool is the Strait of Hormuz. The goal is U.S. Treasury bonds.”
His logic is straightforward.
Energy disruption raises inflation expectations. Higher inflation expectations push investors to demand higher yields on U.S. government debt. And with the 10-year Treasury already around 5.3% in his telling, that means Washington’s borrowing problem gets progressively worse.
Pilkington says the warning signs are now spreading beyond Treasuries.
High-yield credit spreads are surging. Vulnerable companies are struggling to issue debt. Commercial property is under renewed pressure. And early inflation indicators are already showing higher energy costs feeding through the economy.
That changes how he sees Hormuz.
Iran does not necessarily need to stop every tanker.
It only needs enough persistent disruption to keep energy expensive, inflation elevated and pressure building in the one market Washington cannot afford to lose control of.
The battlefield everyone is watching is Hormuz.
Pilkington thinks the more consequential one may be the Treasury market.
@philippilk
Video
— https://x.com/MarioNawfal/status/2107575780654129307
