The Winners and Losers of the Iran Energy Shock
Key takeaways
- BRADLOW is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Princeton University and the author of the forthcoming book The Climate Hinge: Green Industrial Transitions in the Global South.
- How the War Created a New Geopolitical Divide
- For the Middle East, the war in Iran has been another tough lesson in how divisions and competition can yield brutal conflict.
BENJAMIN H. BRADLOW is an Assistant Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Princeton University and the author of the forthcoming book The Climate Hinge: Green Industrial Transitions in the Global South.
How the War Created a New Geopolitical Divide
For the Middle East, the war in Iran has been another tough lesson in how divisions and competition can yield brutal conflict. But for most of the world, the war has been a lesson in something else: the political pitfalls of energy dependence. When the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed in early March, choking off roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas, countries everywhere began to face spiking oil and gas prices. On March 24, the Philippines became the first state in the world to declare a national energy emergency. Zambia has suspended fuel levies for three months, costing its already debt-laden government $100 million. Slovenia is rationing fuel. Other governments have taken similar measures. Some have negotiated directly with Tehran for safe passage of their tankers.