Reactive: Trump’s Attack on Iran Threatens Lives and Bolsters Fossil Fuel Agenda

In response to US and Israel’s attacks on Iran, Matt Maiorana, Managing Director of Organizational Strategy at Oil Change International, said:

“Trump once again used illegal force to bolster his imperialist fossil fuel agenda. His attack on Iran threatens lives, adds to regional instability, and risks dragging the United States into another forever war. Working people in the United States demand affordable energy, healthcare, and economic security, not another war that costs millions of lives and trillions of dollars. 

“Trump’s strikes on Iran also threaten to entrench the fossil fuel system that drives the climate crisis. Iran is the fifth largest oil producer [1] and third largest gas producer in the world, and holds vast reserves of both. Non-Iranian oil companies have been mostly barred from access for decades due to nationalization and sanctions. A former national energy advisor in the George W. Bush administration told Politico recently, “You can imagine our industry going back there — we would get a lot more oil, a lot sooner than we will out of Venezuela. 

“Decades of repression and violence by Iran’s ruling authorities have devastated generations of Iranians, including the women, youth, labor organizers, democracy activists and environmental defenders who risk everything to fight for freedom. Their resistance deserves global solidarity. But Trump uses this history to push his own political interests. He has shown time and again that what he cares about most is profit and power and this action is most likely to benefit U.S. fossil fuel interests rather than the American or Iranian people.

“Iran’s future must be decided by the Iranian people, not by Trump, not by Israel, and not by fossil fuel executives.”

Note to the editor:

[1] This includes all hydrocarbon liquids, crude oil, condensate and natural gas liquids (NGLs). Figures based on average production in 2025 in Rystad Energy Ucube database. 

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