Analysis of: Brent crude rises after Trump says he wants to ‘take the oil’ in Iran and Yemeni Houthis launch second attack on Israel – business live
The Guardian | March 30, 2026
TL;DR
US-Israel war on Iran drives oil to $116/barrel as Trump openly covets Iranian oil fields while working-class Europeans face crushing energy costs. The mask slips on resource imperialism while workers worldwide absorb the economic shock.
Analytical Focus:Material Conditions Contradictions Interconnections
The cascading economic effects of the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran reveal the stark material realities of contemporary imperialism. With Brent crude surging nearly 60% in March—the largest monthly rise on record—and Treasury Secretary Bessent openly discussing US military control of the Strait of Hormuz, the article exposes how geopolitical violence directly translates into economic extraction from working-class households. UK petrol prices hitting 28-month highs, German inflation jumping to 2.8%, and half of British households struggling with essentials demonstrate how imperialist adventures externalize their costs onto ordinary people. The contradiction between Trump's stated desire to 'take the oil' and the rhetoric of 'freedom of navigation' illuminates the ideological cover for resource appropriation. Bessent's casual framing of US military control as restoring 'freedom' inverts the actual dynamic: Iran's closure of the strait was a defensive response to military aggression, yet the discourse naturalizes American military dominance over global energy chokepoints as a neutral restoration of order. Meanwhile, the ECB and Bank of England contemplate interest rate hikes that would further squeeze workers, treating the inflation caused by imperial warfare as an ordinary economic phenomenon requiring ordinary monetary policy. The pharmaceutical negotiations buried in this business roundup—Eli Lilly demanding higher NHS drug prices in exchange for 'investment'—reveal how crisis conditions enable capital to extract concessions from states. The convergence of energy shock, inflation fears, and corporate leverage demonstrates how crises cascade through the capitalist system, with each stage presenting new opportunities for accumulation while the costs flow downward to those who labor.
Class Dynamics
Actors: US state/military apparatus, UK and European states, Energy corporations (Shell, BP, Centrica, Equinor), Financial capital (HSBC, Goldman Sachs, Lloyd's), Pharmaceutical corporations (Eli Lilly), Working-class consumers/motorists, Iranian state, Houthi forces
Beneficiaries: Energy corporations seeing record commodity prices, Mining companies (Rio Tinto up 3.6%), Financial institutions managing crisis capital flows, Pharmaceutical companies leveraging crisis for price concessions, Military-industrial contractors supplying Middle East operations
Harmed Parties: UK households (14 million struggling with essentials), German workers facing largest monthly price increases since 2022, Global South populations dependent on oil/gas imports, Iranian civilian population under military attack, NHS patients facing higher drug costs
The article reveals a hierarchy where US state power directly shapes global commodity prices and trade routes, European states scramble to manage resulting crises, corporations leverage instability for profit extraction, and working-class populations absorb costs through inflation with no meaningful agency in determining outcomes.
Material Conditions
Economic Factors: Global oil deficit of 10-12 million barrels/day, Strategic reserve releases of 4 million barrels/day (insufficient), Strait of Hormuz controlling 20% of global oil/gas, Aluminium supply shock from Iranian strikes on Gulf smelters, Consumer credit rising as households borrow to cover essentials
The crisis exposes how energy production—concentrated in specific geographic chokepoints and controlled by state-corporate alliances—determines the material conditions of workers globally. The base of physical energy infrastructure shapes the superstructure of financial markets, central bank policy, and household budgets. Workers have no control over production decisions yet bear the full cost of supply disruptions.
Resources at Stake: Iranian oil reserves and Kharg Island export hub, Strait of Hormuz transit control, Middle Eastern aluminium production capacity, European and UK strategic petroleum reserves, NHS drug budgets being redirected to pharma profits
Historical Context
Precedents: 1990 Gulf War oil price surge, 2022 post-Ukraine invasion energy crisis, 2003 Iraq invasion and oil infrastructure seizure, Historical US/UK interventions to control Middle Eastern oil (1953 Iran coup, etc.)
This represents a continuation of over a century of imperialist competition for hydrocarbon resources. The phase of neoliberal financialization means the shock transmits instantly through global markets, while decades of deindustrialization leave European workers with no buffer against price volatility. The comparison to 2022 is telling: workers barely recovered from that crisis before the next arrives, revealing how permanent crisis conditions characterize late capitalism.
Contradictions
Primary: The contradiction between social production (global interdependence on energy flows) and private/state appropriation (US seeking to 'take' oil through military force) creates instability that undermines the very accumulation it seeks to enable.
Secondary: Freedom of navigation rhetoric versus military seizure of trade routes, Central banks raising rates to fight inflation caused by war (treating political crisis as monetary phenomenon), Pharmaceutical 'investment' demands during health system crisis, Consumer borrowing rising while interest rates increase
Short-term: workers absorb costs through reduced living standards and increased debt. Medium-term: potential stagflation creates political instability as governments cannot simultaneously appease capital (low taxes, high pharma prices) and workers (affordable essentials). Long-term: accelerating climate crisis makes hydrocarbon dependency increasingly untenable while renewable transition remains captured by same capital interests.
Global Interconnections
This crisis demonstrates how imperialism, financialization, and domestic class relations form an integrated system. US military action in the Persian Gulf instantaneously affects German inflation, UK household budgets, and ECB monetary policy. The Strait of Hormuz functions as a chokepoint not just for oil but for working-class economic security globally. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical negotiations reveal how transnational capital uses crisis conditions to extract concessions—Eli Lilly's demands for higher NHS prices come precisely when the UK government is weakened by managing energy chaos. The aluminium supply shock from Iranian strikes on Gulf smelters illustrates how military conflict cascades through global commodity chains. Workers in construction, transportation, and manufacturing worldwide will face higher input costs, while mining corporations like Rio Tinto see share prices surge. The article's mention of Lloyd's of London at Starmer's crisis meeting is significant: insurance capital determines which ships can sail and at what cost, giving financial institutions effective veto power over global trade during crises.
Conclusion
The article inadvertently reveals the class content of geopolitical crisis: Trump openly states his desire to seize Iranian oil while workers from Birmingham to Berlin pay £10-20 more per tank of fuel. The convergence of state violence, corporate profiteering, and monetary policy tightening demonstrates how capitalist crisis management systematically transfers costs downward. The possibility space for working-class response remains constrained—the RAC advises using apps to find cheaper petrol, not collective action against the war driving prices. Yet the material conditions creating shared suffering across national boundaries also create potential for internationalist solidarity against both the wars that cause crises and the class that profits from them.
Suggested Reading
- Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by V.I. Lenin (1917) Lenin's analysis of how capitalist powers compete for control of resources and markets directly illuminates Trump's open desire to 'take the oil' and US plans to control the Strait of Hormuz.
- The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (2007) Klein's framework explains how crises enable capital to extract concessions—visible here in Eli Lilly leveraging the moment for NHS price increases and central banks treating war-caused inflation as requiring worker-harming rate hikes.
- The New Imperialism by David Harvey (2003) Harvey's concept of accumulation by dispossession clarifies how military control of energy chokepoints and resource seizure function as mechanisms of capital accumulation in the contemporary period.