the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jun 23, 2025
This article is translated from the June 20 issue #2968 of Lutte Ouvrière (Workers Struggle), the paper of the revolutionary workers group of that name active in France.
The price of a barrel of oil jumped 10% as soon as Israel began bombing Iran. War brings destruction and anguish to populations. But it gives speculators a chance to get rich.
Capitalism is an inherently unstable system, based on war of all against all. And it regularly experiences periods of heightened military tensions, like now. Israel’s attacks on Iran provided an opportunity for speculative trading on the oil market.
Even before an Iranian oil site was hit by Israeli bombing, speculators anticipated the risk that such facilities would be destroyed, which would reduce the supply of oil on the world market, and therefore increase the price per barrel.
Iran is the world’s seventh-largest oil producer, and the Strait of Hormuz, which it borders, is a strategic route for Middle Eastern cargo to Asia and Europe. Last year, JPMorgan estimated that blockage of access to the Persian Gulf could push the price of crude oil to $130 a barrel.
The speculators who anticipate this risk are not concerned for the populations who will suffer the price increases at the gas pump. In their language, “risk” means a way to get rich. Betting on a rise in the price of oil, they buy it in quantity. The increase in demand on these markets pushes up the price per barrel, allowing these speculators to resell oil at the higher price.
Happy are the speculators who take advantage of war to make good moves on the stock market!