Oil Markets Fail to Respond to Geopolitical Escalations

Ten days ago, the Biden administration expanded sanctions on Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors in response to Iran’s October 1 attack on Israel, its second direct attack on Israel this year. According to the White House, Iran’s oil exports are enabled by a network of illicit shipping facilitators in multiple jurisdictions which, through obfuscation and deception, load and transport Iranian oil for sale to buyers in Asia, China in particular. The new measures essentially mean the U.S. can target any part of Iran’s...