Brent Holds Above $100 as US-Iran Tanker War Escalates
Is $100 oil the price of a war with no endgame or a temporary cost of stopping a nuclear Iran?
Above: Customers refuel their cars at a petrol station in London, England, July 23. Image credit: Leon Neal/Getty Images
The Spin
Government-critical narrative
Oil back above $100 a barrel is the price tag for a war nobody at the White House knows how to end. American drivers, farmers and small businesses are facing the cost of a conflict with no stated endgame, and markets can see it plainly. Calling triple-digit crude the new normal is an admission of failure.
Pro-government narrative
Letting Iran get a nuclear weapon would have been infinitely costlier than a temporary spike at the pump. Iran is being squeezed harder every single day and is only pumping up oil prices to swing an American election, which is exactly why caving now would be madness. With Venezuelan fields pried away from Iran, Russia and China, the West can finally break its dependence on Middle East crude.
