The Geopolitics of Oil: A Familiar Playbook
FIRST INSTANCE: The Oil Weapon Emerges (1950s-1973) The notion of oil as a strategic weapon, not just a commodity, gained significant momentum in the mid-20th century. Following the 1953 CIAMi6 coup in Iran against democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, orchestrated primarily over oil nationalization, Western powers solidified control over Middle Eastern oil supplies. The 1973
OPEC oil embargo, in response to Western support for Israel in the Yom Kippur War, delivered a stark message: oil could be used to inflict economic pain and dictate policy. This marked the clear articulation of energy as a geopolitical tool (NYT, 1973). The US, in particular, recognized the potent leverage this afforded. REPETITIONS: Sanctions as Economic Warfare (1980s-Present) The playbook
evolved. Rather than just embargoes, targeted sanctions became the weapon of choice. In the 1980s, the US began imposing sanctions on various regimes, including Libya and Iran, explicitly aiming to cripple their oil revenues and, by extension, their political autonomy. The Iran-Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 is a prime example, explicitly stating its goal to deter investment in the energy sectors of
those nations. More recently, in 2011, sanctions were a core component of the intervention in Libya, which, despite being framed as a 'humanitarian intervention,' destabilized the region and created a political vacuum (Amnesty International, 2011). Venezuela itself has faced escalating US sanctions since 2015, severely impacting its oil export capabilities, despite holding the world's largest