Previously (10 points, 4 days ago) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47665582

hardly after getting their leaders killed

Yet they hold the world economy hostage via Hormuz, and likely the Red Sea if they choose to.

Nothing is held hostage. Some costs go up, that’s it. The world can also build alternative energy sources. This is at best, temporary.

they got the POTUS to beg in the middle of the night on social media to open something so yea, they have us by the balls now

Pretty much all prices go up because oil is up 50% and is involved in so many things. It's not just oil and energy, there are other resources that go through Hormuz and the Red Sea. They saw TACO tuesday play out again and have been emboldened.

Also should be considered that some of the facilities that produce these resources are down for months to over a year. Hormuz being "open" does not mean traffic goes back to normal either.

The other thing most people don't understand is there are several attributes of oil, and sweetness isn't interchangeable. Oil abundance doesn't imply abundance of all types for all purposes. Plus, demand in many categories from consumers is inelastic such that minor supply chain issues greatly affect prices globally. Furthermore, the petrochem supply chain is deep and long such that some effects are felt immediately but others take 30-90 days to realize at the end consumer level.

> And the US could easily just keep destroying every asset in Iran

Could — and even more so: could easily — in an "if ifs and buts..." sense or materially? Wouldn't they run (weren't they running) out of resources? And having reached the point in which progressing with the destruction of assets requires killing the people encircling those buildings, standing on those bridges, wouldn't a new leadership be committed to revenge nevertheless?