Trump's Iran Sanctions Pushed Oil Prices Up and Shut Out European Companies

When Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 and blocked Iran from selling oil, the price of crude jumped. About 2.5 million barrels vanished from the global market daily. European firms in energy and aviation lost money. The key: the U.S. blocked these companies from using dollars for payments—a threat bigger than any EU law could counter.