At the start of this week, following Iran's missile attack on Israel, oil prices inched up. The key word here was "inched". The attack was a first; it came from the fourth-largest oil producer in OPEC, and it targeted a country notorious for its military prowess. Yet prices only inched up rather than soaring. One could argue this was because the situation was apparently defused quickly, with neither of the sides willing to engage in an escalation, but this may only be part of the reason for oil prices' lukewarm reaction. The other reason is U.S.…
