The End of the Economy?

We've had skirmishes in the Middle East before and the Strait of Hormuz has been threatened by Iran before. 

So why are things so dire right now and looking into the future?

It's because European governments have abrogated their responsibilities to their citizens with respect to security.

They have reduced their armed forces to a point where they are pointless, they have followed a net zero ideology and made energy supply insecure. 

The UK has shut down all it's refineries, so we have to import petrol and diesel from abroad. We import LNG when we could get it from the north sea. We import electricity because we don't have the capacity to make enough ourselves. 

This is Trump's way of proving a point. You want petrol, go get it, secure it's shipment with your navy. Can't do that because you don't have the ships? Tough. Trump warned Europe, and now after the verbal warning, he's supplying a practical demonstration. 

He's treating European governments like the shallow-thinking children they are.