Donald Trump puts American strategic oil reserves at risk of depletion just to support his illegal Iran war policy that drove up energy costs

Echo opinion letter published in The Mercury News, a California newspaper.

Consequences will outlast Trump’s illegal Iran war
Re: “How the war in Iran is complicating Trump’s agenda at home” (Aug. 8).

America is burning through its oil insurance policy. 

For the first time since 1983, America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve have fallen below 300 million barrels. 

That should be a flashing warning⚠ light, not another statistic to shrug off. In fact, the corrupt Trump administration repeatedly tapped the reserve to soften the consequences of an energy crisis intensified by its own policies and confrontation with Iran. That may provide temporary relief, but it exposes a troubling inability to understand second-order effects: actions abroad disrupt supply, disrupted supply raises prices and Washington responds by draining the emergency stockpile meant to protect us from the next crisis.

The SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserve) is national insurance, not an endless political pressure valve. With oil above 💲80 and gasoline above 💲4 a gallon (💲6 in California), America now has less strategic cushion precisely when geopolitical risk is elevated.

Trump's failed policies have consequences. Eventually, the reserve runs out before the consequences do.

From Akeem Mostamandy in San Jose, California