The Iran war has exacerbated the failure of European energy policies

The Spectator ^ | 03/07/2026

[SeekAndFind]

The history of the global trading system is a story of narrow and vulnerable waterways: the Suez and Panama Canals, the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Straits of Dover and the Skagerrak, which defends the entrance to the Baltic. But none has the power to seize up the global economy as much as the Strait of Hormuz.

Barely 30 miles wide at the narrowest point and bounded on one side by the state of Iran, this passage is used for a quarter of the world’s oil supplies and a fifth of its liquified natural gas (LNG). As we have now discovered, the consequences of disruption are severe: on the day that Qatar suspended its LNG production – partly because of the closure of the Strait and partly because of Iranian attacks on its infrastructure – the price of LNG spiked by 50 percent in a matter of hours.

In a speech to the International Energy Agency last month, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivered a remarkable statistic: fossil fuels account for 83 percent of global primary energy supply – the same as they did when he began his career. But the global energy market has changed little in another important respect: the world remains almost as dependent on the Middle East for those fossil fuels as it did at the time of the Yom Kippur. In 1973, the region accounted for 36.8 percent of global crude oil production. In 2024, it was still 31 percent. That overall figure conceals a vast difference in the energy policies of the US and Europe.

Successive US administrations have made a priority of national energy security. By contrast, Europe – inasmuch as it has pursued energy security at all – has tried to achieve it through renewables. The result is that, even before the current crisis, US consumers paid only around a third as much for their gas as their counterparts in Britain and Germany. It is a similar story with electricity.

The war on Iran has exacerbated the failure of European energy policies. Sun and wind account for only a sixth of overall energy consumption. Fossil fuels supply most of the rest. Yet Europe has acted as if the end of fossil fuel is imminent. Oil and gas fields in the UK sector of the North Sea are being prematurely shuttered. The Netherlands has closed gas fields that were still productive. The EU has all but banished the exploitation of shale gas and made the choice to rely on imports instead.

Until four years ago, much of Europe’s gas supply came from Russia – a folly that Donald Trump pointed out when he attended the 2018 NATO summit in his first term, only to be ignored. Then came the war in Ukraine.

In energy as in defense, Europe has pursued a policy of unilateral disarmament – and looks to America to fill the gap. It took the President threatening to withdraw from NATO to jolt European countries into funding their own defense. Will the war on Iran now do the same for energy, pushing Europe to abandon its policy of winding down its fossil fuel industry?

That, sadly, seems doubtful. While Trump is often accused of being in the hands of the oil industry, European leaders fail to recognize that their energy policies are every bit as much driven by vested interests. Green-energy lobbyists are not going to give up as a result of the current Middle East crisis. On the contrary, they are already attempting to use current events to push harder for renewable energy as a form of security – conveniently ignoring the fact that fossil fuels will remain part of every country’s energy mix for decades to come.

There is little chance of a swift resolution to the Iranian crisis. Ayatollah Khamenei may be gone, but the mullahs remain in power. Access to the Strait of Hormuz could well be limited for months. Iraq, Syria and Libya – all major oil producers – remain tinderboxes. The US can ramp up oil and gas production to try to help fill the gap, but not in sufficient quantities or rapidly enough to alleviate the immediate crisis.

In a highly interconnected world, America cannot be immune to great shocks to the global economy. But Americans can be thankful that their energy supplies are less vulnerable than Europe’s. Both worlds

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; europe; iran; itistolaugh

[rellic]

What is it that North and South America need from Europe?
The only thing I can think of is peace.

[WhiteHatBobby0701]

Here in our state, we are prone to Virginia laws on carbon neutral. They could blow up Lake Murray to build new solar factories, which are prominent in areas Dominion serves to meet the state law.

[SeekAndFind]

The US has 50 states, in a way like independent countries in Europe. In fact, we have more states (50 ) than the EU has countries (28 including the UK ).

There are states that have very European-like policies on energy ( like California ).

[BobL]

Europe is TOTALLY HOSED due to the war with Iran. And, even though Europeans are too brainwashed to understand, this is the BEST THING that could happen to them as it may FINALLY lead them to jettison their ‘mainstream’ parties that they keep voting for and elect (or otherwise choose) leaders that will put their countries first, particularly with regard to the Repopulation Program underway.

We’ll see how this works out, but the longer the war goes, particularly with Cutter no longer exporting LNG, the worse (meaning better, in the long-term) it will get for Europe.

[rellic]

I had to scramble to figure out the connection of SC to VA.
I’m in HI(Hawaii). Believe it or not, it is a state.
Since I spent most my life on the mainland (born and raised) It was easy to figure your issue out.
Maybe let every one else the geography know next time.

[Yolanda]

What does America need from Europe? Cooperation would be nice. The U.S. and Israel are trying to destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities, destroy its navy, destroy Iran’s ability to attack with missiles, drones and other weapons, and prevent its ability to fund terrorism. We have gotten no help from our French, British and Spanish allies. It is truly disgusting.
The EU has implemented green energy policies that are unable to provide necessary energy to power their homes, factories and basic necessities. They need to purchase energy LNG from foreign countries. Because of the situation with Iran product is not available from the Middle East. I hope the EU will not be knocking at Americas door for help.

[ConservativeMind]

Germany is one of the most stupid EU countries on this,

It’s beautiful to behold.

[UnwashedPeasant]

Oil futures are way up over the past week. If you expect the Iran war to end within weeks, then this is a great investment opportunity.