If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported٫ neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf. Iran will regard any country’s participation in or support for America’s economic war against the Iranian people as an act of war.

Iran has attacked a ship every single day for the last 19 days. If the Oman lane flows continue, it is obvious that targeting ships have not had the immediate effect Iran is desiring. This leaves Fujairah as the only remaining option.

Iran’s SNSC Secretary, Mohsen Rezaee: • Trump wants to start a new game called "economic warfare," and we will hold him accountable. • If countries surrounding Iran join the US in an economic war against us, we will harm their interests. We’ll first warn them, and if they continue, we’ll target theit interests. • If the economic siege continues, we will target American economic entities in the region. • If they hold any meetings with anti-Iran groups in the region, we will strike there as well. • Currently, we have only restricted the flow of oil through the Strait of Hormoz, but in the event of an economic war, we will not allow any oil to leave the Persian Gulf, even through other means. • Iran reached an agreement with Oman regarding a route through the Strait of Hormoz, which is a middle ground, only on paper. Strait of Hormuz will only open when the Americans fulfill their commitments.

Ok, fine, let’s do this. I knew of Bessent when he worked in the London office at Soros & heard pitches for each one of his subsequent ventures listed below & for his last venture, a FoF w/ Jeff Tarrant, not included below. In short summary, his claimed valor for the famed British pound cross trade is a myth. Soros managed his own principal positions & risk…always. There were other “investing teams” that also traded currency crosses, including the one Bessent was a part of in London, but to be clear that was a semi-autonomous group w/ its own capital & risk budgets allocated by Soros internally. They had nothing - NOTHING - to do w/ George’s massive bet against BoE interventions. Full stop. Like many who stayed in the business after Soros wound up in 2000-early 2001, Bessent’s team at Soros broke off to do their own fund w/ a capital allocation from Soros’ family office. They bled to death being short oil & long US equity volatility in 2003-04, which introduces my point about Bessent which has always held up through the years. Scott Bessent is a contrarian. Being a contrarian caused his group to bleed out at Soros in early 2000, his first fund to fail in the mid 2000s, his second fund to fail in the mid-to-late 2010s (at one point he took the other side of the yen carry trade in 2017…really). And so on… The problem with contrarians is the dogma “I’m not wrong, I’m just early” which leads to hubris “market still wrong, have to stay with it”…until the lights dim & losses compound to the point where the business is no longer viable. Scott Bessent did that death spiral THREE times before becoming a marketing guy at a FoF. For a career trader that’s like going from starting for the New York Yankees to being the Kenny Powers tv series character trying to make it happen on a low rung minor league team in Myrtle Beach. It’s glib to criticize his experience: that’s not the real issue now. The real issue is Bessent is a serial contrarian & that is the worst bad thing if you are a financial speculator in the markets. That’s it. @RickPetree @NastyOldWomynII @GordonJohnson19