Middle East Wars Driven by US Imperial Control of Oil Resources and Regional Power
Source: Gilbert Achcar. "Middle East Wars Are Still About Oil and Empire." March 9, 2026. jacobin.com
The Gist
The author argues that wars in the Middle East happen because powerful countries, especially the US, want to control the region's massive oil wealth. Since oil gives you economic power over other nations, America keeps intervening militarily to make sure it stays in charge of who gets access to Middle Eastern oil and money.
Conclusion
The prevalence of war in the Middle East is fundamentally driven by the region's central role in the global oil economy and great powers' strategies to control it, with the US using military intervention to maintain imperial dominance over oil resources and regional influence.
Premises
- The Middle East holds the world's largest and most profitable oil reserves, making it strategically crucial for global economic control
- The US has maintained imperial interest in the region since 1945, exemplified by Roosevelt's 1945 meeting with Saudi Arabia's king and subsequent military base construction
- Controlling Gulf oil means controlling access to over $3 trillion in sovereign wealth funds and significant purchasing power for US military-industrial complex
- Control of Middle Eastern oil serves as leverage over other powers, particularly China which imports half its oil from the Gulf region
- US interventions have consistently increased since the USSR's collapse, with Russia following similar patterns of regional military involvement
- The current conflict with Iran fits this historical pattern, as Iran's regional influence threatens US control over Gulf resources and regional allies
Assumptions
- Economic control of resources translates directly into geopolitical power and influence
- US foreign policy is primarily driven by imperial economic interests rather than humanitarian or democratic concerns
- Regional conflicts are primarily externally driven by great power competition rather than internal dynamics
- Military intervention is an effective tool for maintaining economic and political control over resource-rich regions