US President Donald Trump has vowed to maintain a naval blockade on Iran, reiterating that the policy is depriving the Islamic Republic of much-needed oil revenue. West Texas Intermediate, the main US crude marker, rallied toward $111 a barrel on Thursday, while Brent, the global benchmark, topped $126. Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei cast doubt on the prospects of a deal, vowing not to give up the Islamic Republic’s nuclear or missile technologies, and signaling Tehran would keep control of the Strait of Hormuz. The American Automobile Association says in California, the average statewide price for regular gasoline rose to $6.01, the highest since October 2023. Skyrocketing pump prices are a major political risk for President Donald Trump’s White House, especially ahead of the midterm elections. Bloomberg's Charlie Wells explains on "The Pulse with Francine Lacqua." (Source: Bloomberg)

The libertarian president is stretching the boundaries of what voters will take.

No region of the world produces more oil and gas than the countries straddling the Persian Gulf, and most of it needs to travel by tanker via the Strait of Hormuz.

Eyck Freymann on the biggest flashpoint of them all.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has highlighted the potential for long-running theoretical chokepoints to turn into reality, with dramatic results for both geopolitics and the global economy. But the hypothetical scenario that policymakers have arguably been losing the most sleep over for decades is the prospect of a major conflict between China and Taiwan. So how likely is it, and what would such a conflict actually look like? On this episode, we speak with Eyck Freymann, author of the new