The energy politics in recent wars
The world today is observing the aftermath of the Israel-Iran conflict, while the war in Gaza rages on. While numerous columns have delved into both these conflicts, the intricate association between energy politics and these conflicts has received little attention. The powerful impact that fossil fuel energy sources have had on international geopolitics, particularly in the Middle East, since the 20th century is not only undeniable, but entrenched within the domestic and international political economy.
Fossil fuels, particularly oil and gas, lie at the heart of the contemporary global economic system. Thus, it is hardly surprising that control over oil resources not only became critical for national economies, but also deeply intertwined with geopolitics. This has the potential to incite violent competition among multiple entities, including governments and oil corporations, as a result of which armed conflicts become almost inevitable. A vast majority of all oil-rich regions and their neighbouring countries which have oil or gas pipelines passing through them have been centres of long-drawn out bloody conflicts. Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Ukraine are prime examples, and of course, Iran and Palestine.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Ever since oil was first extracted there in the early 20th century, Iran's history throughout the world wars and the ensuing eras has revealed the consequences of aggressive political behaviour by foreign powers with regard to petroleum resources. Today, Iran holds about 24 percent of the Middle East's and 12 percent of global oil reserves, producing about 3.3 million barrels of crude oil per day. Its proven natural gas reserves are second in the world, estimated at 1,200 trillion cubic feet (34 trillion cubic metres), accounting for 16 percent of global reserves. These vast reserves of oil and natural gas have enticed governments and oil corporations who are desperate for cheap, valuable fuels for their industries.
The beginning of the foreign exploitation of Iran's oil can be traced back to the start of World War I. Decades later, following the end of World War II, the conflict between the Soviet Union and the West for Iran's petroleum was a big part of the Cold War. A few years later, in 1953, the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh was overthrown by the combined efforts of the Western coalition after he demanded a larger share of the oil profits for the Iranians. The Western powers then provided full ruling authority to Shah Reza Pahlavi who was far more accommodating of the West's oil demands.
However, following the Shah's ouster in 1979, the subsequent regime took back control of its petroleum and natural gas reserves. This could be pinned down as the main underlying cause of the present conflict between Iran and the West. It is for this reason that the West endorsed and supported Israel's execution of Operation Rising Lion against Iran. While the narrative spread by the Israeli and Western authorities centred on the allegation that Iran was developing nuclear weapons, this was undoubtedly done with the clear objective of weakening the regime, and paving the path for a regime change, just like 1953 and for the same reasons.
While the West's interest in Iran's oil has always been quite straightforward, Israel's energy politics with regard to Iran is deeply connected with its unrelenting military campaign in Gaza. Charlotte Dennett, an investigative journalist covering the Middle East, pointed out in a 2023 column that the campaign was likely influenced by the discovery of oil and natural gas off the coast of Gaza, Israel, and Lebanon in 2000 and 2010, worth nearly $500 billion. Following the talks on drilling in the Gaza marines by the Palestinian authorities and Israel's subsequent intervention, Operation Cast Lead was launched against Gaza at the end of 2008. This marked the beginning of a long series of military onslaughts, finally culminating in the ongoing war that started on October 7, 2023. In this case, the overt narratives centred around the political issues of uprooting Hamas and getting back the hostages they had kidnapped, but the covert objective is presumably linked with, among others, Gaza's location in the Mediterranean coast along the potential militarised energy corridor.
Iran is geo-economically linked to this energy corridor through the trans-Israel pipeline that extends from the Eilat port on the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea to Ashkelon on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. This pipeline was originally built to transport crude oil from Iran to Europe, via Israel. Unfortunately for Israel and the West, Iran stopped using the pipeline after severing relations with them in 1979.
Thus, it is natural to contend that a regime change in Iran would result in the reopening of the pipeline. If that were to happen, Israel's position as the main energy corridor in the Middle East would be solidified, bypassing Russia to become the main energy provider to Europe. Additionally, the Ben Gurion Canal Project, which will connect the Saudi Arabian city of Noem to Israel's Haifa, is also underway. Once completed, this would ensure the West's and Israel's complete control over the oil and gas reserves and all the critical pipelines in almost the entire Middle East.
Throughout the decades, the unrelenting demand for cheaper and accessible fossil fuel resources has claimed thousands of innocent lives in this region. Within an economic system that is built on maximising profits by any means possible, with little space for ethics or empathy, this is to be expected. As Dennett contends, the Israel-West coalition is likely taking the "long view," convincing themselves that the world will forget the atrocities in Gaza and Iran once economic development takes off in the Mediterranean coast and Israel emerges as a new powerful, strategic energy hub. But will the world truly forget or forgive the brutal mass killings in exchange for an industrialised zone and luxury resorts? As long as the collective conscience of humans does not disappear, the answer would be no.
Furthermore, it is time for global society, from individual level up to the ruling class, to reflect on the true cost of this global neo-liberal economic system and the pervasive culture of consumption. Especially when this system and model of economic development is driven by limited supply of fossil fuels, the stakes reach much higher than violent, genocidal competition for oil and gas. In addition to human lives, there is a massive environmental cost in the form of global warming and large-scale toxic pollution that results from wars. Energy politics of petroleum is thus not only a grave danger to the conflict-ridden nations but also the planet itself.
Ujjayini Ahir is a computer engineer and researcher.
Views expressed in this article are the author's own.
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