Imminent Silver Squeeze Amid Iran Escalation _ Alasdair Macleod

"Silver lease rates spiked to nearly 40% last October. The world's most authoritative silver survey just confirmed why—and why it will happen again."In this urgent episode, Alasdair Macleod—head of research for GoldMoney and a 40‑year veteran of the London Stock Exchange—returns to break down the rapidly escalating Iran conflict and why the Strait of Hormuz blockade could trigger the most violent silver squeeze in history [citation:1][citation:10].We analyze the World Silver Survey 2026, which confirms five consecutive annual deficits and a record low free float in London vaults—just 136 million ounces available at the end of September 2025—representing less than one‑third of a single average day's OTC trading turnover [citation:9]. When Indian demand surged last October, lease rates exploded to 39% and spot silver briefly hit $121.67 [citation:9].Macleod explains why Western investors misread the oil shock: their logic is "higher oil → higher inflation → higher rates → gold and silver must fall." But he argues Asia sees it differently—higher oil means collapsing currency purchasing power, so they buy physical metal. COMEX open interest in silver has collapsed to 15‑year lows, creating the perfect condition for a massive short squeeze that could shock the entire market [citation:7].With the Section 232 deadline of July 13, 2026, looming—which could trigger new tariffs and drain London vaults a second time—and a sixth consecutive deficit projected at 46.3 million ounces, Macleod warns that "the era of virtually unlimited silver liquidity is gone" [citation:9]. Press play for the most critical silver analysis of 2026.