Economic reasoning of United States/Israel - Iran Conflict 2026
A brief overview to help understand the economic reasons behind the Israel - USA /Iran conflict.
The United States of America and Israel have entered into conflict with Iran that has been going on for the last 3 weeks. The rationale from Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu is that the Iranian regime is violent – they should not be allowed to fund jihad, kill protesters, and attain advanced weaponry. Or is this war purely economic?
If we look at another recent conflict, Venezuela, Donald Trump recently initiated military action another oil country. He went so far as to dictate that oil companies in the United States will be building the Venezuela infrastructure.
Let us start by looking at the proven top crude oil and natural gas reserve jurisdictions on our planet:
China buys around 90% of Iranian oil exports:
| Rank | Country | Share of Total Exports | Estimated Volume (Bpd) |
| 1 | China | ~90% | 1.38 – 1.4 million bpd |
| 2 | Syria | ~3.3% | ~53,000 bpd |
| 3 | United Arab Emirates | ~2.0% | ~32,000 bpd |
| 4 | Venezuela | ~1.2% | ~19,000 bpd |
China has been buying around 90% of Venezuela oil exports in recent history. [1]
"Before sanctions came into effect in 2012, Europe was the second-largest regional importer of Iranian oil after Asia." [2]
China is also the largest customer of Russian oil. [3] Clearly this conflict affects China the most. However, the oil market is global, and a price change of oil impacts the entire world. Donald Trump is playing a chess game to restrict Chinese ability to purchase oil from Iran, Venezuela, and Russia.
Now, take a look at the oil price, it has surged from $60 dollar level to as high as $115, a 91% rise.
It is helpful to know that the Iranian regime is discounting the market price of their oil. [4] An interesting recent development is that Iran will guarantee safe passage of ships if the oil is settled in Chinese Yuan. [5]
This conflict resembles a reserve war, preventing monopoly of oil production by BRICS. BRICS is an economic movement of major countries with alternative finance systems. World finance is heavily dollar denominated to this day, current leader of BRICS is India in 2026. China has history of miscalculating reserve assets, such as their inability to adapt to the gold standard, they remained on the silver standard. They likely have learned this lesson very astutely and are playing a strategic game against Donald Trump, the Federal Reserve, and international dollar bankers.
A great read that was shared by a gentlemen I follow, Lawrence Lepard, analyzes the current financial dynamic in the world finance. In the shared article by Credit Bubble Bulletin:
Trump continued with his confounding post: “The Hormuz Strait will have to be guarded and policed, as necessary, by other Nations who use it — The United States does not! If asked, we will help these Countries in their Hormuz efforts, but it shouldn’t be necessary once Iran’s threat is eradicated. Importantly, it will be an easy Military Operation for them.” [6]
While Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump say this war is about jihad and violence from Iran, it is evident that this is primarily an economic war to prevent petrodollar collapse and a gain in market reputation for BRICS.
Happy Eid Mubarak, and happy 72 degrees Fahrenheit in my area!
References:
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynsCt9jBbbo
[2] https://www.gisreportsonline.com/r/iran-oil-market-influence
[5] https://asiatimes.com/2026/03/irans-hormuz-yuan-play-a-direct-hit-on-the-petrodollar/