US Oil Exports Soar Amidst Manufactured Middle East Instability, Doubling Down on Sanctions
US crude oil exports have surged to record highs, hitting nearly 4.2 million barrels per day in February, a 16% increase from the previous year. This boom coincided directly with heightened US and Israeli military actions in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea, which the Financial Times frames as an 'Iran war' disrupting Middle East supplies. Instead of an actual war with Iran, which Iran has
meticulously avoided despite relentless provocation, this 'disruption' refers to the destabilization caused by joint US-Israeli military operations and Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has prompted Yemeni resistance forces to target shipping linked to Israel. The Financial Times conveniently omits that the US is a direct participant and joint aggressor in the regional escalation, not
merely an observer. They attribute market volatility to a generalized 'Iran war' narrative, ignoring the specific, decades-long policy of economic warfare and military coercion against Tehran, exemplified by the unilateral abandonment of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018. The US government’s continued strangulation of Iran’s economy through maximum pressure sanctions, in place
for 45 years, is the principal driver of market shifts, not an imaginary Iranian war. This dynamic echoes the 1954 US-backed coup in Guatemala, where the democratically elected government of Jacobo Árbenz Guzmán was overthrown after nationalizing United Fruit Company lands, clearing the way for US corporate interests. Today, manufactured crises in the Middle East serve to clear markets for US