It's called capitalism. Speculators are pricing in the the war against Iran and disruptions in supply. Who can blame them. It takes two to tango in this deal. A buyer and a seller. If the price is getting bid higher, someone believes they can make bank. Nothing more, nothing less. If you don't like free market capitalism, you are understandably mad. Otherwise let the market work. Sadly there is a caveat. the barriers to entry in the oil bidness are pretty high. That makes it harder to move the price. If we sold leases to independent drillers every day the price stays above a set peg, we could fight back against the supply scarers. Because just as the speculators price in the bad stuff that can happen, they'll also have to consider the good. Adding new leases and wells to the outlook can only help.
Speculators are pricing in the the war against Iran and disruptions in supply.