The United States’ war against Iran has triggered a shortage of a critical resource, one so crucial to the economy that one expert predicted a “horrendous” and imminent “collapse,” while another said that President Donald Trump would bear the blame.

That resource is Helium, which plays a critical role in applications ranging from semiconductor manufacturing to medical equipment. Shortly after Trump first authorized strikes on Iran late last month, Qatar, which supplies a third of the world’s helium, was forced to halt production of the critical resource.

Helium is critical for the function of MRI machines, a technology widely used in medical facilities across the country, including at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington, D.C. where Trump received an MRI scan last year that raised questions surrounding his health. It’s also used in the space, defense and scientific research sectors.

Helium’s applications are so far spread that financial crises and geopolitical expert Tuomas Malinen issued a bleak prediction for what might be in store for the United States in the near future.

“I keep warning you that the collapse will be horrendous,” Malinen wrote in a social media post on X in response to reports of the growing helium shortage......

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