BRICS communication starts today, but so far, there haven’t been any effective results. That said, China has stepped up and expressed hope that Iran and the U.S. can return to negotiations. After all, the Hormuz blockade has already caused oil prices in China to rise, with a premium of over 10% compared to Brent. Not to mention, China is the largest buyer of Iranian crude oil. Oil prices have now reached a point where the market is starting to panic. Iran’s current stance is basically a 'if I go down, I’m taking everyone with me' attitude. Honestly, I don’t even know how to comment on this anymore. But this approach is making everyone, including Chinese citizens, foot the bill. The extra costs are essentially coming out of the pockets of every single person globally affected by the Hormuz situation. As an individual, I’m against the U.S. and Israel launching this war, but I also dislike using innocent citizens and commercial ships from unrelated countries as leverage. I can understand Iran’s desire to retaliate to force the U.S. to stop its attacks and lift the blockade, and I can understand why Iran doesn’t want to make unilateral concessions. But ordinary people, who are now burdened by rising energy costs, have no power to decide the outcome of this war. Shifting the pressure onto everyday citizens is just not right. Ranting aside, life goes on. I’ll continue shorting oil, and dual-currency investments are back on today. $75,000 seems pretty stable to me, and who knows, maybe next week’s meeting between Iran and the Gulf states will yield some results. That could help boost market sentiment too. @Gate Crypto, U.S. stocks, Hong Kong stocks, Korean stocks, gold, CFDs, prediction markets—all-in-one trading platform.