Trump hit Iran — but he’s really got China in his crosshairs

Mosher is spot on. A few months ago, critics were whining that the ramp of Venezuelan oil would depress US oil prices and hurt our producers. Nope, it's a backstop to what we just did to Iran.

We now control the world supply of energy, which puts China for the first time in decade sto play fair or get its bare bottom spanked.

BTW, the attack drones that have allowed Putin to stick it to Ukraine's military are almost entirely supplied by Iran. Those facilities like Iran's only oil export point are in ruins.

USA USA USA!

BTW: I've included a brief overview of the recent damage to Kharg Island, Iran's singular oil export point below (Claude Ai)

Trump hit Iran — but he’s really got China in his crosshair

By Steven W. Mosher, NY Post

Published March 2, 2026

With Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil-export terminal, in flames after Saturday’s US-led attack, China’s energy lifeline is going up in smoke.

Ignoring international sanctions, oil-thirsty China had long been the Ayatollah Khamenei regime’s main buyer.

To be sure, China was a cheap customer, paying well below the going market price for Iran’s bootleg oil.

Not only that, it insisted in paying in Chinese yuan, not dollars, ensuring the money would flow back to China.

Beijing’s slick sales pitches convinced the Iranians to spend their oil billions buying China’s military and telecommunications equipment — like the “state-of-the-art” radar systems that now lie in smoldering ruins after failing to detect the incoming American air strikes.

But the decapitation of Iran’s leadership and the destruction of its Chinese-made defense arsenal aren’t the worst of Beijing’s Middle East woes.

Iran’s reckless missile barrages have united the entire region against it — causing an enormous loss of face for its chief international backer.

Two years ago, China was riding high in the Arab world.

In March 2023 it brokered a normalization agreement between Shiite Iran and its longtime Sunni adversary, Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih praised the new Middle Eastern power broker.

With close allies Iran and Venezuela in crisis, China is scrambling to save energy — and face

A multipolar world had emerged, he declared — and cooperation between the Gulf states and China would be “a significant part of the new order.”

A year into President Donald Trump’s second term, China’s role in that new order seems to be shrinking by the day.

It’s not just that Iran, the anchor of China’s Middle East ambitions, is now an international pariah.

That’s only the latest in a long series of recent geopolitical setbacks for America’s chief adversary.

China’s woes began soon after Trump returned to office, as his tariffs took a huge bite out of Beijing’s predatory trade profits.

Then Trump took aim at China’s inroads into Latin America, starting with the Panama Canal.

He put the government of Panama on notice: If it didn’t secure this vital strategic waterway, Trump would.

The Panamanian Supreme Court has just terminated the leases of the Chinese company running the Atlantic and Pacific ports, ending China’s ability to shut down the Panama Canal at will.

Venezuela was next.

The famous raid that captured the country’s drug kingpin also cut off China’s supply of cheap Venezuelan oil from that country.

On top of that, it obliterated billions in Chinese-made military equipment — and effectively ended China’s influence over the rump regime.

Then came Greenland, toward which China was already making overtures.

Asserting that control of the giant island was vital to the defense of the United States, Trump shrugged off the alarm of European elites that tiny Denmark would be dispossessed of its colony.

His heated rhetoric got what he wanted all along: effective sovereignty over the parts of the island needed for missile defense or resource development.

This will surely encompass any areas that China might now, or in the future, cast envious eyes upon.

Time to retire TACO — Operation Epic Fury’s crystal-clear message to Putin, Xi

With the US cutting off oil supplies to the island nation of Cuba, the liberation of another key client state of China’s has just begun.

It’s almost inevitable that this story will end not with an invasion, but with a compliant Cuban regime eager to cooperate with the United States — if only to keep the lights on.

And, by the way, with another geopolitical setback for China.

See the pattern yet?

From Panama to Venezuela, from Greenland to Iran, the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.

Trump is thinking very bigly.

As US energy production ramps up, China is not only deprived of cheap oil from Venezuela and Iran, but also the ability to pay for it by printing renminbi.

Beijing will be forced to pay full price for its oil to US-owned refineries, in US dollars.

The effort led by China and Russia to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency is dead.

As Trump strengthens alliances with Japan and other Asian countries, China is losing allies that can cause the US problems — and losing control of vital sea lanes, too.

Iran is not the opening act in the larger contest against China: Trump is already in the fourth or fifth round of dismantling Beijing’s strategic architecture wherever it exists.

His goal is to transform the global order to America’s advantage — which necessarily means greatly reducing the malign influence of Communist China.

“Winning without fighting is the acme of warfare,” the ancient Chinese strategist Sunzi famously said.

And where China is concerned, it seems that one of Sunzi’s best students is a yangguizi — a “foreign devil” by the name of Donald J. Trump.

Steven W. Mosher is president of the Population Research Institute and the author of “The Devil and Communist China” (Tan Books).

This is a massive and rapidly developing situation. Here's what's known:

Kharg Island specifically: Blasts were reported near Kharg Island, the terminal through which about 90% of Iran's crude exports normally flow, although shipping data suggests Tehran had transferred most of the oil stored there onto tankers in recent days. gCaptain A battle damage assessment describes a near-total incapacitation of Kharg Island as a worst-case scenario — the island handles nearly all Iranian crude exports, featured seven main loading jetties, remote mooring points, and tens of millions of barrels of storage capacity. Substack

The bigger picture: On February 28, 2026, the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on Iran under Operation Epic Fury, targeting military facilities, nuclear sites, and leadership, resulting in the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran responded with missile barrages on Israeli cities and U.S. bases in Gulf states. Wikipedia

Strait of Hormuz: Tanker traffic dropped approximately 70% initially, with over 150 ships anchoring outside the strait to avoid risks, and traffic eventually went to near zero. This disruption affected about 20% of the world's daily oil supply. Wikipedia

Broader regional damage: Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura refinery (550,000 bpd capacity) halted operations following a reported drone strike, and Kuwait's Mina Al Ahmadi Refinery was also affected. Qatar's LNG export facility was shut down. The National

Oil prices: Brent crude rose by up to 13% to $82 per barrel, with analysts forecasting potential rises to $100 or higher if disruptions persist. Wikipedia

Iran's economic hit: Iran faces an annual revenue shortfall potentially exceeding $50 billion, as oil export revenues historically accounted for 25–40% of the government budget. Substack