Maduro Appeals to OPEC After Trump Declares Venezuelan Airspace ‘Closed’

Great powers using force to secure hydrocarbons is nothing new: Britain and the CIA toppled Iran’s Mossadegh in 1953 after he nationalised Anglo-Iranian oil; Eisenhower imposed an air exclusion over the Suez in 1956; the U.S. declared Iraqi no-fly zones in 1991 before the 2003 invasion. Trump’s blanket air-closure echoes those precursors—often a prelude to kinetic action—and tests the post-1945 norm against resource conquest. The confrontation also exposes two long-term tensions: a century-old fossil-fuel security doctrine persisting even as the world pledges net-zero, and OPEC’s relevance as demand plateaus. If OPEC fails to rally, its collective leverage—already strained since Saudi-Russia deals—could unravel; if Washington proceeds, emerging powers may accelerate alternative payment and security blocs, eroding U.S. dominance. A hundred years out, historians may view this episode either as the last gasp of petro-gunboat diplomacy or as the pivot that normalised open force for dwindling resources in a warming world.