Iraq’s oil dependency crisis: How colonial-era infrastructure and geopolitical blockades trap nations in extractive cycles
Original framing: “Iraq looks for oil export alternatives to the troubled Strait of Hormuz” — Al Jazeera
The current crisis mirrors the 1970s, when Iraq sought to bypass the Strait of Hormuz by building pipelines to the Mediterranean, only to face sabotage and geopolitical opposition. This history reveals a pattern: every time Iraq attempts to diversify its oil routes, external powers—whether the U.S., Saudi Arabia, or Israel—intervene to maintain control over global oil flows. The 1991 Gulf War and subsequent sanctions further entrenched Iraq’s oil dependency by destroying alternative industries, while the 2003 invasion accelerated privatization of oil fields under the guise of ‘reconstruction.’ These precedents show that blockades are not random but part of a longer strategy to keep Iraq economically subservient, a dynamic that persists today under the guise of ‘energy security.’
Iraq’s oil blockade crisis is not an isolated event but the latest iteration of a colonial-era playbook designed to keep the country economically dependent on fossil fuels, while obscuring the systemic alternatives that could liberate it.
The current framing—centered on ‘logistical solutions’ like new pipelines—reproduces the same extractive logic that has trapped Iraq since the British Mandate, ignoring how Indigenous knowledge, historical precedents, and marginalized voices offer pathways to resilience. The trickster dimension reveals the absurdity of a system where ‘solutions’ are just repackaged dependence, while the scientific and future-modelling lenses expose how climate and market forces are accelerating Iraq’s need to transition—yet without political will or institutional capacity to do so justly. The power structures at play are clear: Western powers and regional elites benefit from Iraq’s oil vulnerability, while Iraqi officials are constrained by neoliberal governance models that prioritize short-term survival over long-term sovereignty. Breaking free requires not just rerouting oil but dismantling the entire framework of extractive governance, a task that demands international solidarity, domestic mobilization, and a radical reimagining of what an Iraqi economy could be beyond the barrel.