The next 72 hours are critical for the world.
If the United States succeeds in imposing control over Venezuela, and by extension over the world’s largest proven oil reserves, it will mark a major shift in global power.
Such a move would not be about restoring democracy or protecting human rights, but about reasserting strategic dominance over energy, trade routes, and regional alignments.
In that case, Iran would likely move to the forefront of Washington’s strategic priorities.
Securing control over Venezuelan oil would reduce U.S. vulnerability to energy disruptions in the Gulf and provide a buffer against supply shocks in the event of a confrontation with Iran.
With a reliable alternative source of heavy crude under its influence, Washington would be better positioned to absorb or offset the destruction or shutdown of energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf during a war.
This would lower the economic cost of escalation and make military pressure against Iran more politically and economically manageable.
At the same time, such control would strengthen the United States’ ability to shape global oil flows and pricing, reinforcing the central role of the dollar in energy markets and helping preserve the petrodollar system that underpins U.S. financial power.
Venezuela would thus become more than a regional issue.
It would become a strategic precedent, a demonstration that economic pressure, political engineering, and, if necessary, force can be used to restructure sovereign states and realign the global balance of power.
However, if the United States becomes entangled in Venezuela and faces sustained resistance, the outcome shifts dramatically.
A prolonged crisis would drain political capital, stretch military and economic resources, and weaken Washington’s capacity to project power elsewhere, including in the Middle East.
That would also complicate Israeli strategic planning, which is closely tied to U.S. regional leverage.
What happens in Venezuela will not stay in Latin America.
It will shape the future of energy control, the limits of American power, and the direction of geopolitical confrontation far beyond Caracas.
to the Roundtable, please.
