Trump boasts Iran blockade is ‘unbelievable’ as oil tops $90 and US reserves near danger. Inflation-proof your nest egg

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President Donald Trump is celebrating the economic pressure his administration has placed on Iran.

"The blockade has been unbelievable," Trump said during an Aug. 30 interview with Fox News (1), adding that financial pressure was hurting Iran "very badly." He described the country as a "failing nation."

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However, the conflict is also testing America's defenses against another energy crisis.

Renewed U.S.-Iran attacks sent Brent crude above $90 per barrel (2)on Aug. 31. The news came even as American drivers had already paid an average of more than $4 per gallon every day in August, making it the most expensive August at the pump on record, according to AAA Fuel Prices (3).

Meanwhile, the Strategic Petroleum Reserve that presidents can tap during severe supply disruptions is approaching levels some experts consider dangerous.

America's oil shock absorber is wearing thin

The reserve holds approximately 289.7 million barrels of crude, its lowest level since 1982, according to Reuters (4).

It could soon fall further. If the Trump administration releases the final 39 million barrels promised under a March agreement, Reuters projects the reserve will decline to approximately 243 million barrels.

That would leave it 7 million barrels below the practical operating minimum identified by Siddharth Misra, a petroleum engineering professor. It would also sit 9.4 million barrels below the level at which federal law generally prohibits routine, small drawdowns, although presidents can still authorize releases during major emergencies.

The oil is stored in 60 underground salt caverns along the Texas and Louisiana coasts. Excessive drawdowns can damage cavern walls, wells, pipes and pumps. A May Government Accountability Office report (5) also warned that aging infrastructure, maintenance needs and construction could increasingly limit the reserve's ability to receive or release oil reliably.

Clayton Seigle from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a bipartisan policy research organization, called the reserve "precariously low," according to Reuters.