While the United States expends billions of dollars and American lives prosecuting the war against Iran, the primary geopolitical beneficiary of this conflict is not an American ally. It is Russia. Bloomberg reported on April 7 that Russian Urals crude hit $116.05 per barrel at the Primorsk port, a 13 year high. Russia’s mineral extraction tax on oil is set to double to approximately 700 billion roubles ($9 billion) in April alone. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Russia pocketed an estimated $3.3 to $5 billion in additional oil revenue in March alone, representing approximately $150 million per day in windfall profits.
The Sanctions Paradox
In one of the most striking policy contradictions of the conflict, the US itself suspended Russian oil sanctions through General License 134A to ease the global supply crunch created by its own military campaign. This waiver effectively allowed Russian crude to flow freely to India at premiums of $5 to $15 above Brent. CFR analyst Roxanna Vigil observed that by starting this war, the administration created a supply shock that forced the United States to provide temporary sanctions relief to Iran, the country it is fighting against, and to Russia, the country whose war machine it is supposed to be constraining.
Putin Is Winning Without Fighting
Retired Gen. Richard Shirreff, former NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, warned that the Americans fired off approximately four times as many Patriot missiles in the first four days of the Iran war as they supplied to Ukraine in four years. Sergey Vakulenko of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center noted that Putin was previously pawning the country to fund his war. Now, he doesn’t have to. Every barrel of Russian oil sold above $59 is pure profit for the Kremlin’s war machine. The American consumer pays for this paradox through higher gasoline, higher food prices, and the silent erosion of every dollar denominated asset in their retirement account.
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Gold Does Not Fund Adversaries
Physical gold and silver are the only assets in your portfolio that cannot be weaponized against you by a foreign power, cannot be diluted by sanctions waivers that enrich your adversaries, and cannot lose value because your government chose to fight a war that made its enemies richer. Gold is up 50% year over year precisely because it stands outside the geopolitical chess game. Merchant Gold Group provides a secure, transparent path to convert your vulnerable retirement capital into the permanent neutrality of physical precious metals. Contact our specialists today to shield your wealth from a conflict that is enriching America’s adversaries at your expense
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