The shitshow continues.

And there's no end in sight.

We depart from our healthcare focus to briefly describe what’s happening in Iran and what it means for us.

TL/DR -

• Oil prices are skyrocketing,

• Gas prices in the US will exceed $4 a gallon this week.

• Diesel is way over $5 a gallon.

• Inflation is spiking.

• Farmers are desperate as fertilizer prices double.

• The Iranians and their allies are in control of almost a quarter of the world’s oil and gas flow.

• The Trump Administration has no idea what to do.

In Yemen, the Houthis - allies with the Iranians - control much of western Yemen. They have sent rockets into Israel and threatened to attack vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (which they did two years ago). These are critical transit points for the Suez Canal which connects the Mediterranean Sea with Eastern Africa and South Asia as well as the Straits of Hormuz.

About one tenth of the world’s oil flows thru the Bay al-Mandab Strait…and a fifth used to transit thru the Straits of Hormuz. (which are now closed due to Trump’s War)

So, more than a quarter of the world’s oil and about the same portion of natural gas is at risk.

The Iranians have doubled down, their allies on the other side of Saudi Arabia have entered the war and the incredibly naive and downright ignorant Trump Administration and its enablers in Congress have no idea what to do.

Our options are awful and worse.

• Do we send in ground troops knowing that will cause an escalation and likely do little to increase energy flows?

• Do we back down, agree to Iran’s demands for future guarantees of no attacks AND pay reparations (we pay them hundreds of billions for the destruction we’ve caused)?

• Do we just keep bombing and hope something changes?

• Does Trump nuke Iran?

Think Iran will back down?

Study your history. The Vietnamese didn’t. Neither did the Taliban or the Mujahideen.

The Iranians are playing the long game.

Death means entering paradise.

We murdered Iran’s leader’s wife, father, mother, and child.

Would you back down?

PS - if you want to know how this affects healthcare, here you go.