The industrial city of Ras Laffan in Qatar, the main site for the production of liquefied natural gas and liquefied gas, managed by Qatar Petroleum, located about 80 kilometers north of Doha, on Feb. 6, 2017. (Credit: Karim Jaafar/AFP)
When the United States and Israel launched their bombing campaign against Iran, the Trump administration promised a swift, contained operation. Three weeks later, not has the conflict reached an impasse, but it has also fundamentally changed in nature. Behind the strikes and tactical gains, another and far more decisive front has emerged: energy. By targeting Gulf infrastructure and de facto blocking the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran has shifted the conflict’s center of gravity to a lever where it can offset its military inferiority. Oil, gas, and maritime routes have thus become not only targets, but instruments of strategic pressure with immediate repercussions for the global economy and for the calculations of its adversaries.Energy as a strategic weaponEnergy infrastructure was targeted from the very initial strikes. But this dynamic...
When the United States and Israel launched their bombing campaign against Iran, the Trump administration promised a swift, contained operation. Three weeks later, not has the conflict reached an impasse, but it has also fundamentally changed in nature. Behind the strikes and tactical gains, another and far more decisive front has emerged: energy. By targeting Gulf infrastructure and de facto blocking the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran has shifted the conflict’s center of gravity to a lever where it can offset its military inferiority. Oil, gas, and maritime routes have thus become not only targets, but instruments of strategic pressure with immediate repercussions for the global economy and for the calculations of its adversaries.Energy as a strategic weaponEnergy infrastructure was targeted from the very initial strikes. But this dynamic...
