Trump’s Real Goals: Get Iran’s Energy, Geopolitically Hobble China, Russia. But Big Shifts Rarely Happen Smoothly
Washington’s calculus in Iran runs deeper than missiles or rhetoric. Energy corridors, great-power rivalry and the architecture of Eurasian influence may matter far more than the language of freedom.
First, energy. Iran possesses the world’s second-largest natural gas reserves and one of the largest oil reserves. Sanctions have kept those hydrocarbons largely outside Western markets. A reintegrated Iran would not merely sell oil; it would redraw the global energy map. Iranian energy supply, once politically unthinkable, now sits in the realm of strategic possibility. Opening Iran’s fields to Western capital would not simply be commercial – it would be geopolitical.