Trump's energy policy rewards Iran and Russia
SkimNews Take
Layered pressure on multiple oil-producing adversaries compounds the price effect rather than canceling it—curbing Iran's exports lifts the global benchmark that enriches Russia by default.
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- Trump and Israel launched a war against Iran on Feb. 28, 2026, which the author says is sharply driving up global prices for gasoline, diesel, heating oil, natural gas, and electricity.
- Iran has halted most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway carrying roughly 20 percent of the world's oil consumption and LNG shipments, with disruptions threatening to worsen.
- Russia has been receiving about $150 million a day in increased oil sales since the Middle East war began, and Trump has temporarily lifted some U.S. sanctions on Russian oil exports originally imposed after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
- Russia is also helping Iran target attacks against nearby U.S. forces and diplomatic facilities, according to the author, while continuing its war against Ukraine.
- Trump has taken nearly 300 actions to reverse Biden-era clean energy advances, including blocking wind and solar projects, eliminating EV purchase subsidies, and weakening anti-pollution regulations on vehicles and the oil and gas industry.
- Biden's Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 provided hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy and electric vehicle programs, progress the author says Trump is now dismantling.
Why it matters: Even though the U.S. is now a net exporter of oil and natural gas, global pricing means American consumers still pay the cost of Middle East disruptions — and the author argues the $150 million-a-day Russian windfall and sanctions relief directly contradict Trump's stated goal of weakening adversaries. The piece frames the clean energy rollback not just as climate policy but as a national security vulnerability, citing the 1973-74 Arab Oil Embargo as a precedent for what dependence on hostile-region fossil fuels can cost.
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