Will the Iran Crisis Push the World to Rethink Oil and Gas?

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March 31, 2026, 3:52 p.m. ET

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Climate Forward

Will the Iran Crisis Push the World to Rethink Oil and Gas?

A growing energy crisis could push countries to burn more fossil fuels in the short term, experts say. Plus more climate news.

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Demonstrators chanted on Tuesday outside the Interior Department, where the God Squad meeting was held.

Credit...

Carolyn Van Houten for The New York Times

March 31, 2026,

3:28 p.m. ET

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the latest

The ‘God Squad’ waives environmental rules for offshore drilling

A powerful panel of Trump administration officials

voted unanimously on Tuesday to exempt oil and gas drilling

in the Gulf of Mexico from measures to protect endangered whales and other imperiled species.

The panel, the Endangered Species Committee, a high-level group that is often called the God Squad because it essentially holds the power to decide whether a species lives or dies, adopted the move during a brief, closed-door meeting. Until Tuesday, the God Squad had convened only three times, and never in the past three decades.

— Maxine Joselow

Read more

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The energy transition

Will the Iran crisis force the world to rethink oil and gas?

By

David Gelles

The war in Iran continues to rattle energy markets around the world,

sending oil and gas prices higher

this week. In the United States, gasoline

crossed an average of $4 a gallon

on Tuesday,

the highest price since August 2022.

In the Persian Gulf, a Kuwaiti

tanker loaded with oil

was hit in an Iranian attack near Dubai early on Tuesday. No oil leakage was reported.

Countries around the world are continuing to ration energy. In Australia, the government halved its fuel tax and is

offering free public transportation

. Asian countries are

bracing for the cutoff of liquefied natural gas

from the Middle East, a fuel that underpins much of the modern economy. The European Union’s energy commissioner is pushing the bloc to cut back on energy use.

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