Iran has currently shut off more than 10 percent of the world’s oil supply. If that goes on for a lot longer — or if the war escalates to include more strikes on energy infrastructure in the region — the price of oil could go through the roof, and the damage to the global economy could be catastrophic.
So what would that look like? What tools does the United States have to avert it? And how is this crisis already reverberating in countries around the world?
Jason Bordoff is the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and a founding dean of the Columbia Climate School. He served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for energy and climate change on the National Security Council.
In this conversation, Bordoff answers all my questions about the crisis so far and how things could spin out from here, the strategic positioning of the United States, Europe, Iran, Russia and China, the developing countries likely to suffer the most and the lessons the world might take from this.
Mentioned:
<a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/03/17/trump-oil-iran-gas-prices-consumers-crude-energy-taxes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“Making the U.S. More Resilient to Oil Price Shocks</a>” by Jason Bordoff and Spencer Dale
“<a href="https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/return-energy-weapon-bordoff-osullivan" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Return of the Energy Weapon</a>” by Jason Bordoff and Meghan L. O’Sullivan
Book Recommendations:
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/703268/material-world-by-ed-conway/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Material World</a> by Ed Conway
<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/more-and-more-and-more-jean-baptiste-fressoz?variant=43719184416802" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">More and More and More</a> by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz
<a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/647205/deliver-me-from-nowhere-movie-tie-in-by-warren-zanes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Deliver Me from Nowhere</a> by Warren Zanes
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.
Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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