A Decidedly Valuable and Dangerous Fuel

This issue of the Journal of American History focuses on the history of oil, and for good reason. Modern societies as we have known them could not operate without ample and diverse supplies of energy, suggesting that the story of our major fuels can hardly be ignored in any attempt to understand American history. Among energy sources, oil retains a special significance that argues for the special scholarly attention found within these covers. Reflecting oil’s unique strategic importance, Daniel Yergin aptly titled his influential industrial history of the topic The Prize. At the dawn of the twentieth century, coal towered above its rivals as the United States’ dominant source of energy. Ranking a distant second came wood. Until 1902, no American president had ever ridden in an automobile, the machine most closely associated with oil. It was not until midcentury that oil replaced coal as the country’s most used fuel. Over the last three decades of the century, oil jumped well ahead of natural gas, by then its closest rival. The ascendancy of oil involved more than just replacing one fuel with another. Growing consumption of the fossil fuel in liquid form was deeply intertwined with how Americans lived, how they conducted business, and how they fought wars. Thus studying oil is required to understand twentieth-century American history—whether the approach is social, economic, environmental, scientific, political, diplomatic, or military.

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Strait Of Hormuz, One Of the most Important Pathways Of The World's Oil.

The Pentagon, Wednesday (28/12), warned Iran not to make an effort to close the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most important pathways of the world's oil.
, This is not just a matter of importance to security and stability in the region, but is the economic lifeblood for the country in the Gulf, including Iran, "said Pentagon press officer George Little." Mixed-hand or in transit through the Strait of Hormuz shipping lines would not be tolerated. "
The statement was issued after a senior Iranian officials threatened to shut down oil shipments is an important pathway. I Vice-President of Iran Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Tuesday (27/12), said Iran would close the Strait of Hormuz if its oil export sanctions imposed by the West.
Once again, Iran's Navy Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said Wednesday that the country's naval forces be ready to halt oil shipments path if necessary.
In a separate statement, the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, Wednesday, stating, "Anyone who threatens to disrupt the freedom of international shipping in the strait clearly beyond the nation; any interference would be tolerated."
Tensions rose when the Iranian Navy launched a massive sea training for 10 days in international waters on Saturday (24/12). The naval training, codenamed Velayat 90, covering an area of ​​2,000 kilometers of the eastern Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf to the Gulf of Aden.
Despite the Iranian threat, Little said the Pentagon had no idea "about the aggressive hostile actions directed against U.S. ships in the Gulf or the Strait of Hormuz."
Tensions between Iran and the West has increased since October this year, when the U.S. accused Iran of supporting the planned assassination of Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington.
Soon after that, after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the report on Iran's nuclear program, U.S., UK and Canada announced new sanctions on Iran.
On 29 November, the angry protestors stormed the Iranian embassy in the capital city of England Iran, Tehran, so some European countries - including Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands - pulled their ambassadors.
Certain Western countries have also stated they were considering sanctions against the Central Bank of Iran, and Iranian crude oil exports.

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