The oil spike everyone feared never showed up

When the United States and Israel conducted strikes on Iran on February 28, Tehran responded by restricting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway carrying roughly one-fifth of global oil and refined products. Trading desks issued alarming forecasts, with some predicting crude prices could reach $150 or even $200 per barrel—numbers that would have devastated household budgets nationwide.
Those catastrophic projections did not materialize. Brent crude futures peaked arou