“You want oil to live above $60, but below $90.” This line is uttered by Tommy Norris, the character played by Billy Bob Thornton in the popular TV series Landman. One of Paramount’s most successful productions, it’s based on the adventures of oil workers in Texas. “But don’t get me wrong,” Thornton continues, “we’re still printing money at $90, but [when] gas gets up over $3.50 a gallon, it starts to pinch.”

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Does it make sense to block a strait that has already been blocked for six weeks? That seemingly contradictory question takes on a very different hue in the ever-complicated mind of U.S. President Donald Trump, who on Monday carried out the threat he had voiced just hours earlier. A new gambit that has baffled analysts and investors. The Strait of Hormuz would have — indeed, according to the Pentagon, already has — a double lock: that of Tehran, aware that it is its greatest defence against U.S. and Israeli aggression; and that of Washington, for now a strategy as vague as it is potentially destabilising. A bold move that is difficult to put into practice.

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The consequences of the war in Iran are unavoidable. Inflation is resurging as missiles fall on Tehran, and the specter of a new price crisis is rekindling fears among central banks. Inflation climbed to 3.3% in March in the United States — the highest level since April 2024, during the comedown from the price surge triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which compiles these figures.

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In an era overflowing with historical events, few dates are etched in the annals of history. April 2, 2025, is one of them. On that day, Donald Trump shook the global geopolitical landscape, altered trade rules built through carefully cultivated diplomatic relationships since World War II, and triggered a shift in global supply chains. The president of the United States rattled the world with across-the-board tariffs of 10%, and up to 50% for those countries with which the United States had the largest trade deficits. “For decades, our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike,” the Republican leader declared to justify the trade policy shift. The day dubbed Liberation Day changed the world, but not in the way the head of the world’s leading power had anticipated.

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