In the waters where oil and power have long intertwined, the United States and Iran exchanged strikes against each other's maritime assets in September 2026, with American forces targeting three Iranian tankers in response to Iranian attacks on U.S. naval vessels. What began as a military-to-military confrontation has widened into the domain of commerce and energy, where the consequences of escalation are felt far beyond the ships themselves. History reminds us that cycles of retaliation rarely end where they begin, and the world now watches to see whether this spiral finds a floor — or a ceil