New threats to the global energy supply chain are emerging from Iran at the joint military assault by the U.S. and Israel wears on, according to a new analysis from The Bulwark, and they have President Donald Trump "completely freaked out," and rightfully so.
In a piece published Friday, Andrew Egger, The Bulwark's White House correspondent, wrote that "damage to the region’s actual energy production infrastructure had been minimal" this past week, despite threats from Iran. That was, until Israel struck an Iranian oil field, prompting the Middle Eastern nation to launch counterstrikes against energy infrastructure around the region.
"One Iranian missile managed to strike an oil refinery in northern Israel, although Israeli officials said the facility had escaped significant damage," Egger wrote. "Qatar wasn’t so lucky. Iranian strikes pummeled its liquefied natural gas infrastructure. Shell-shocked QatarEnergy officials emerged yesterday to quantify the damage: an estimated 17 percent of the country’s export capacity was knocked out, an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue until $26 billion in repairs can be made."
These escalating threats to major energy production sites have put Trump in "an extremely strange place," as he remains the "key driver" of the conflict that appears no closer to accomplishing its unclear goals, making him the direct cause of spiking energy prices worldwide. As Egger observed, the president is "is plainly growing more and more preoccupied with the war’s toll in spiking energy prices," expressing concerns about prices when pressed about sending troops to Iran in the Oval Office on Thursday.
“No, I’m not putting troops anywhere... And we will do whatever is necessary to keep the price low.” Trump said. “Everything was going great. The economy was great. Oil prices were very low. Gasoline was dropping... And I saw what was happening in Iran, and I said, ‘I hate to make this excursion, but we’re gonna have to do it.’”
"Trump is right to be worried. And he’s right in particular to be completely freaked out by the possibility of more attacks from either side on the region’s energy infrastructure," Egger wrote. "Putting [liquified natural gas] and oil production facilities on the legitimate-targets list would mean heavy long-term damage to the energy economy."
He continued: "Trump knows how little buy-in the American public has for this war even on its own merits, and how little pain people will be willing to suffer on its behalf. For him, the single most important thing he needs to accomplish in this conflict is a crisp end date—preferably very soon. Pretty much his worst-case scenario would be higher energy prices for the rest of his term because the Middle East’s energy infrastructure had been reduced to rubble. "
