Jamie Dimon has never been one to soften a warning. In his annual letter to JPMorgan Chase shareholders, released Monday, the most influential banker in the world offered a full-throated, if measured, defense of the U.S. war on Iran, even as he made clear that the conflict is driving the global economy into genuinely uncharted territory. Dimon’s warnings have been growing in alarm on geopolitics since the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022, and on dire economic threats since 2024, and this year’s edition somehow marries both of them.
In 2022, Dimon invoked Ukraine as a potential catalyst for the “restructuring of the global order.” In 2023, he was consumed by the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) crisis, warning that its repercussions would be felt “for years to come.” In 2024, he issued his most economically alarming letter yet, warning of stickier inflation, unprecedented liquidity drains, and interest rates “higher than markets expect.” Each year brought a new crisis to center stage. This year is different: The U.S. is an active combatant in an ongoing war, and Dimon isn’t looking away.
