Crude oil and LNG supply are at risk of the worst-possible scenario
This story raises questions about governance, accountability, and American values.
Mainstream coverage of the Iran strikes tends to treat energy markets like a weather report: unfortunate volatility, nobody’s fault, move along. But the “second-worst scenario” language quietly admits something else. **Security decisions shape prices**, and Americans end up paying for elite complacency.
New Republican Times Editorial Board
A month after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, global markets for the supply of crude oil, refined products and liquefied natural gas are already in the second-worst possible scenario.
Original source:
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New Republican Times Editorial Board
Mainstream coverage of the Iran strikes tends to treat energy markets like a weather report: unfortunate volatility, nobody’s fault, move along. But the “second-worst scenario” language quietly admits something else. Security decisions shape prices, and Americans end up paying for elite complacency.
What’s missing is the cost of pretending supply risk can be offset by talking points and strategic reserves forever. Iran and its proxies understand chokepoints. If shipping lanes and LNG terminals are vulnerable, national security is energy security, not a slogan. It is basic risk management.
A serious response starts at home: reliable domestic production, resilient refining, and permitting that respects rule of law instead of litigation-as-policy. Markets can absorb shocks. Governments that signal weakness invite them.
The principle at stake is public trust: a country that can’t protect energy flow can’t credibly protect much else.
Commentary written with AI assistance by the New Republican Times Editorial Board.