The United States has become the world’s largest producer of both crude oil and natural gas, giving the White House a strong set of cards as it thinks about its foreign policy. But even so, Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is driving up the global price of oil, which also hurts U.S. consumers. Why is energy becoming a foreign-policy cudgel, and what can countries do to protect against it? How does growth in clean energy impact policymakers’ calculations?
Meghan L. O’Sullivan is a professor of international relations at Harvard University and the author of Windfall: How the New Energy Abundance Upends Global Politics and Strengthens America’s Power. She has previously served as deputy national security advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan in the George W. Bush administration. O’Sullivan joined FP Live’s Ravi Agrawal to discuss the latest in the war in Iran and how countries should think about the energy shock it is causing.
