Daniel Yergin

Here's a war in which the United States, the mightiest military, was at war with the country.

I heard somebody remark the other day, half the GDP of Belgium, but with a lot of missiles and a lot of drones, and kind of leading to a standoff.

And it was a moment for Iran to pounce.

Even though the very senior leadership was destroyed right at the beginning of the war, clearly they had decentralized.

This was a war.

When you look at the amount of drones and missiles they had and they continue to have, this is a war that they had prepared for for a long time, the struggle with the United States.

And they seized the moment.

And, you know, maybe it was the advent of drones that was able for them to pull off

saying that we control the strait and when you send your ship through the strait, you'll follow the route that we tell you.

And by the way, it's actually a canal and you're going to pay a toll and the toll is going to go to the IRGC.

Maybe it was the capability of drones that enabled that.

Yeah, I was thinking, you know, the beta test for World War II was the Spanish Civil War.

And in a sense, the beta test for the new world of warfare is Ukraine.

And now we've seen it played out in the Gulf with what Iran does.

And I think it introduces a sense of risks that wasn't there before.

I remember I was in Kuwait in January when they were announcing new policy for investment, international investment in their oil and gas industry.

And it felt very optimistic time.

And you've had that excitement, you know, really the optimism around in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Vision 2030 in Saudi Arabia.

Well, it's not going to be as optimistic now.

And I think there is going to be deeper thought about energy security and diversification.