Iran Sanctions Escalate: Oil, Gold and Crypto Diverge

The U.S. Treasury just did something markets have seen dozens of times this year and, on the surface, one thing they have not: it widened Iran sanctions under a new banner, "Operation Economic Outcast," on Monday, August 24 into Tuesday, August 25, while separately warning commercial mariners that Iranian-linked groups are demanding safe passage payments through the Strait of Hormuz, in digital assets among other forms. That second piece is the tell. This is not another paperwork update to the SDN list. It is Washington telling shipping companies, in writing, that extortion attempts against tankers transiting one of the world's most important chokepoints are happening right now. And yet gold…