Quote Originally Posted by bourbon View Post
It’s a global commodity so the US would still have to pay hundreds of dollars a barrel. Moreover, the countries that do get the bulk of their oil from the Middle East are going to be pissed off; and since China would be financing said military adventurism anyway, the Iranians would have a lot of leverage playing that card. Modern blockades are not about literal survival in the siege warfare sense, but rather the leverage derived.


How? Our country was strangled at $150 bbl in 2008; we are talking about $200-300 bbl, minimum. Our economy cannot function without oil; our society cannot feed itself without oil.
Oil would rise, but it wouldn't go that high. You are right, 80% of the world's exports go through the Persian Gulf. Guess how many Persian Gulf countries are in the list of top 15 countries where the US imports its oil. The answer: 3 (Saudi Arabia is number 3, Kuwait is number 12, and Iraq is number 7). People forget that Canada (which is where we most of our petroleum from) and Mexico (which is number 2 on the list) have large amounts of oil. 66% of the US's oil comes from 5 countries and only one is in the Persian Gulf.

Source: (http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/p...nt/import.html)

So go for it Iran, try pushing us around by cutting off the Strait. Not only will you really hurt your friend China and yourself, but you'll also anger our allies in Europe which will result with them taking a more aggressive stance.