{"id":1580,"date":"2026-08-20T21:37:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:37:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1580"},"modified":"2026-08-20T21:37:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:37:40","slug":"bessent-says-he-doesnt-understand-oil-price-spike-after-trump-war-escalation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1580","title":{"rendered":"Bessent Says He Doesn\u2019t \u201cUnderstand\u201d Oil Price Spike After Trump War Escalation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expressed confusion as to why crude oil prices rose on Thursday, hours after Donald Trump threatened yet another escalation against Iran nearly six months into the war that has thrown global oil markets into chaos.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters, Bessent brought up the rise in oil prices as he discussed the muted effect of the Treasury Department\u2019s surprise bond buyback announcement yesterday, saying that the department is \u201ctrying to bring the market back into equilibrium.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a spike in oil prices today that I don\u2019t really understand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur announcement is for economic action, and I think that the economic action will mean that oil prices will come down sooner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bessent was referring to Trump\u2019s threat, issued Thursday morning, of imposing an \u201cECONOMIC D-DAY\u201d on Iran \u2014 yet another escalation that had no immediate effect on Iran\u2019s obstruction of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am announcing the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY! This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,\u201d Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.<\/p>\n

He pledged to take action against any country whose institutions \u201cprovide any type of lifeline to Iran,\u201d without specifying what such action could look like. The U.S. already has a wide-ranging economic sanctions regime against Iran that has hardened in recent months, as Trump administration officials search for an exit route for the war.<\/p>\n

Oil prices rose by 3 percent after Trump\u2019s announcement, reaching a three-week high. Bessent told CNBC<\/em> in separate comments that he thinks the rising prices are a response to a misinterpretation of Trump\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m not sure why oil has popped up on this, because this \u2014 for now, for now, and it is at the president\u2019s discretion \u2014 if we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart,\u201d Bessent told CNBC<\/em>. \u201cBut I would emphasize that is for now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The secretary further said that the U.S. is hoping to \u201ccollapse\u201d the Iranian government, in what he called the \u201cgreatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oil prices rose a further 2 percent after Bessent\u2019s own pledge to destroy Iran\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

The announcement came just three days after Trump threatened to \u201cbomb the shit\u201d out of Oman if the country \u201cgets in the way\u201d of negotiations to open the strait. Oman, a key strategic ally of the United States, is in talks with Iran about managing maritime traffic through the strait.<\/p>\n

The administration\u2019s economic threats, like his many similar prior sentiments, are unlikely to convince Iran to end the war or reopen traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. Indeed, traffic through the strait remained low on Thursday, and Iranian officials dismissed the threats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe so-called \u2018Economic D-Day\u2019 is a diversion from America\u2019s own crisis: unprecedented debt & surging interest costs,\u201d said Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. \u201cDoubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat \u2014 and enmity of Iranians. U.S. economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Democrats Probe Trump Administration\u2019s Fascist Persecution of Left-Wing Groups<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oil prices rose after Trump threatened \u201cECONOMIC D-DAY,\u201d then again after Bessent vowed to \u201ccollapse\u201d Iran\u2019s government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nBessent Says He Doesn\u2019t \u201cUnderstand\u201d Oil Price Spike After Trump War Escalation - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1580\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bessent Says He Doesn\u2019t \u201cUnderstand\u201d Oil Price Spike After Trump War Escalation - 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