Iran has launched an asymmetric counterattack against the U.S.-Israeli military campaign by weaponizing energy supplies on a scale unseen in decades. Tehran has effectively paralyzed the Strait of Hormuz - a passageway through which a fifth of global oil supplies normally transits - and struck Qatar's Ras Laffan, the site of the world's largest liquefied natural gas plant.
The escalation amounts to a "new phase in the 21st-century competition for global power" defined by control of critical raw materials and energy, The Wall Street Journal reported in an analysis of how physical resources are reshaping geopolitics, "Hvylya" notes.
The conflict has unleashed havoc in global markets. Oil prices have surged around 50% since the start of hostilities, while European natural gas prices have roughly doubled. The strike on Ras Laffan prompted President Trump to call for de-escalation.
Alice Gower, a partner at Azure Strategy, a political-risk advisory firm in London, argued that energy, critical minerals and industrial capacity now function as "leverage, not just economic assets" - tools of coercion rather than mere inputs for growth.
Edward Fishman, director of the Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of "Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare," said the crisis exposed a central irony: the U.S. has achieved energy independence on paper, yet remains vulnerable to a single maritime bottleneck.
The risks extend well beyond oil. Last year, China used its control of roughly 90% of the world's rare-earth magnet supply to force the U.S. to soften its trade demands by cutting off access to metals used in cars, weapons and electronics. Nations that lack control of such resources face soaring inflation, economic downturns and potential disruption to AI development and military modernization.
Also read: Trump Issues Trillion-Dollar Ultimatum to Gulf States Over Iran Conflict.