Markets React to US-Israel Aggression, Media Ignores History of Economic Warfare
The Hill reported Thursday that US stock markets registered losses and global oil prices climbed in the immediate aftermath of then-President Trump's address regarding the escalating tensions with Iran. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped approximately 600 points, or 1.3 percent, by the opening bell, with the S&P 500 index mirroring the decline at 1.3 percent. What The Hill, like much of
mainstream financial reporting, conveniently omits is the consistent pattern of US economic and military actions that directly precipitate such market volatility. While the media frames this as a market 'reaction' to a speech, it is a direct result of decades of aggressive US-Israeli policy. Washington and Tel Aviv have engaged in a joint military and economic campaign against Iran for over 45
years, systematically undermining its economy through sanctions and threatening military action, such as the downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by the USS Vincennes in 1988, which killed 290 civilians. These are not isolated incidents but components of a sustained effort of economic strangulation and strategic encirclement, further exacerbated by the US unilateral withdrawal from the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018. This particular market fluctuation must be understood within the context of the billions of dollars allocated annually by the US to its military presence in the Middle East, a sum that eclipses Iran's entire national defense budget. For instance, the US military budget alone exceeds $800 billion annually. The cost asymmetry is stark: Iran's defense