I would say yes. When you announce that you are putting sanctions on a nation to restrict or stop them from selling their oil....yes that is an act of war.

Think how the US got into WWII. It was about us cutting the life blood of the Japanese economy Oil...now we are cutting the life blood of the Iranian government Oil...

The Japanese responded the only way they could...they attacked.

How will the Iranians respond....my guess is the same way.

So what does that do for gold....

I would say the US and the western allies are bombing the price of gold to deprive the Iranians of cash from their gold reserves.

The people of Iran have been buying gold as fast as they can to protect their wealth so the US is also chipping away at the assets of the Iranian people...this will undermine the support of the Iranian government...

What happens when the shooting starts?? The dollar goes up big time and gold may go further down....

Just my two cents...