This energy embargo has been going on for a decade

THERE are few things more calculated to strike fear into the world than an energy embargo.

The mere possibility of Teheran harassing shipping in the Strait of Hormuz – a narrow stretch of the Persian Gulf through which about a fifth of the world’s oil must pass – has sent commodities markets into turmoil since the US strike on Iranian nuclear facilities on Saturday (Jun 21). President Donald Trump then announced a tentative ceasefire between Iran and Israel on Monday.

The worries are understandable, because in the roughly 15 decades that have marked the modern petroleum era, crude has hardly ever had restrictions on commerce. Even the autarkic, self-reliant economies of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia never sought to impose a tariff on the black gold.