Netanyahu Finally Spills the Beans: The War’s Real Aim Is to Establish a New Oil Order via Israel

On March 19, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, during a press conference, announced that after the war, Israel aims to build a new pipeline project that would transport Middle Eastern oil directly to Israeli ports, effectively rendering the Strait of Hormuz obsolete. With this statement, Netanyahu revealed that the true purpose of the war, which he and the United States initiated against Iran on February 28, was to establish a new oil order in which Middle Eastern petroleum would be distributed through Israel.

In his speech, Netanyahu explained this plan as follows: “If you construct oil and gas pipelines stretching westward across the Arabian Peninsula directly to Israel and our Mediterranean ports, you permanently eliminate these narrow straits. I see this as the real change that will follow the war.”

The gas route Netanyahu described, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, was the energy corridor of the “India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC Project),” which had been shelved following the October 7 Al-Aqsa Storm. As we will explain later in this article, it became clear that the war had been launched to revive this project.

At the beginning of the war, both Israel and the U.S. declared military objectives: to eliminate Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, destroy its missile production capacity, and achieve regime change. However, by the third week of the conflict, both U.S. President Donald Trump and Netanyahu admitted that airstrikes alone would not likely bring about regime change. Deploying a few thousand U.S. troops on the ground was naturally insufficient to achieve this goal. Moreover, prior to the war, U.S. National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard submitted a report to the Senate Intelligence Committee stating that there was no evidence that Iran’s nuclear program, allegedly “destroyed” during the June 2025 attacks, had been rebuilt since then.

Even though all this was known at the outset, Netanyahu and a small group of Zionist elites in the White House (notably Senator Lindsey Graham, son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff, and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth) persuaded President Trump into what they framed as an easy war against Iran. Joseph Kent, head of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned in protest and in a letter to Trump wrote that Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the U.S., and that this war—serving neither American security nor interests—had been initiated under pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.

So why, then, was a war that has already cost the U.S. and Israel $20 billion launched?

Netanyahu’s statements on the 20th day of the war about bypassing the Strait of Hormuz and establishing a new gas pipeline under Israel’s control revealed that Israel’s real goal was not the officially stated objectives targeting Iran. The Iranian objective had shifted to maintaining a weakened regime compatible with U.S.-Israeli interests. In fact, on March 23, Trump stated that he did not want the new religious leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, to die, suggesting that the Strait of Hormuz could be managed together with the Ayatollah.

Multiple indicators suggest that the joint military operation—Pentagon’s ‘Operation Epic Wrath’ and Israel’s ‘Operation Lion’s Roar’—was aimed at creating global chaos that would force producers and suppliers to accept a new oil order under Israel’s control. Israel’s March 18 attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field and the Asaluyeh oil refinery, coupled with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ announcement that they would retaliate against petroleum facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar that refused to support the U.S.-Israeli side, sparked worldwide turmoil.

From the start of the war, Iran even targeted Oman’s Salalah and Duqm ports and the El Awahi Industrial Zone with drone attacks, despite hosting U.S.-Iran negotiations at its own request.

As retaliation for Israel’s strike on South Pars, the Revolutionary Guards attacked Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, the main center of the country’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) production, causing severe damage. Ras Laffan lies north of the South Pars gas field, which Qatar shares with Iran, and hosts numerous gas refineries and petrochemical complexes. Considering that Qatar supplies about one-fifth of the world’s LNG, the damage inflicted and the resulting global chaos were immense. Following the attack, oil and derivative prices skyrocketed, sending countries from Asia to Europe into panic.

The Qatar attack was a strange reprisal

Before the extraordinary summit, which convened the foreign ministers of 12 countries (Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and the UAE) in Riyadh to discuss Iran’s attacks on Gulf nations, Iran’s destructive strikes on Qatar’s civilian and energy infrastructure seemed symbolic—a warning to all 12 countries.

After the summit, Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan said: “The accuracy of the targets shows that this was premeditated, planned, organized, and carefully considered.” He added: “We made it clear to Iran from the start that Saudi Arabia would not participate in this war and would not allow its military to be used. Yet we have been targeted from the first day.” Farhan accused Iran of pursuing a “policy of blackmail” and expressed disappointment, stating: “We extended many hands of brotherhood to Iran, the last being the Beijing Agreement, but Iran did not reciprocate… Our trust in Iran has been shaken.”

Iran’s Ambivalent Statements

Before the Qatar attack, following missile and drone strikes targeting Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Oman, Iran’s top leadership claimed that the attacks were not conducted by Iranian Armed Forces or affiliated resistance groups, but rather were a false-flag operation orchestrated by the Zionist enemy to create divisions with Iran’s neighbors.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan highlighted the unreliability caused by Iran’s internal divisions: while the Revolutionary Guards threatened regional countries, official statements denied responsibility. Fidan stated: “We spoke directly with my counterpart Abbas Araghchi. They claim no ownership of the missiles and no involvement. We have technical data and other issues. We are frankly discussing this discrepancy. We are aware of being provoked. Our goal is to stay out of this war.”

Doubts remain whether Iran’s contradictory positions are genuine or part of a staged conflict. Historical patterns—from last year’s 12-day war to ongoing protests—have revealed factions within Iran linked to Israel carrying out attacks, assassinations, and espionage on its behalf. Internally, there is a stark divide between civilian political leadership under the President and the Revolutionary Guards regarding foreign policy, regional relations, and war objectives.

Iran’s attacks on civilian infrastructure in neutral neighboring states, effectively pushing them toward the Israeli-American camp, seem designed to create an environment conducive to Israel marketing its alternative oil distribution order via the IMEC project. Netanyahu’s 2018 UN General Assembly statement echoes this strategy:

“This may surprise you, but the P5+1 Agreement strengthened Iran, bringing Israel and many Arab states closer together in a proximity and friendship I had never witnessed… Soon, Israel will be able to extend peace beyond Egypt and Jordan to other Arab neighbors.”

Alternative to the Qatar-Syria-Turkey Gas Pipeline

If the war’s real purpose is to establish a new oil order under Israeli control, its timing and rationale must be scrutinized.

Before 2009, the “Qatar-Turkey Gas Pipeline” project was planned to transport gas from Qatar’s Ras Laffan region—the largest gas reserves, ironically targeted on March 18—through Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Syria to Ankara, then connecting to the Nabucco line to supply Europe. The goal was to provide a secure alternative to Russian gas for Europe.

However, Syria’s Assad regime, protecting Russia’s interests—the dominant European gas supplier with roughly 40% market share—refused passage in 2009, leaving Russia unchallenged as Europe’s main supplier. Meanwhile, Iran promoted its “Shia Gas Pipeline,” passing through Iraq and Syria, to bypass Qatar and prevent Turkey-Qatar influence in Syria. Both projects stalled due to the 2011 Syrian civil war, leaving Russia as the main beneficiary.

After Assad’s fall and Iran’s removal from Syria, the Qatar-Turkey Gas Pipeline was revived in 2025, aiming to become a major European gas supplier.

Israel’s Alternative: EastMed Project and IMEC Corridor

Seeking to establish control over the East Mediterranean gas market and export to Europe without passing through Turkey, Israel actively blocked the Qatar-Turkey Gas Pipeline. From 2010, it spearheaded the East Mediterranean Gas Forum, aiming to export gas via the EastMed pipeline through Cyprus and Greece. Economically unviable, the project was neutralized by Turkey’s Blue Homeland strategy, and U.S. support was withdrawn in 2022.

Israel then embraced the IMEC Project, positioning itself as the benefactor to neighboring countries while bringing them under its influence. During the G20 Summit in India on September 9–10, 2023, then-U.S. President Joe Biden announced the IMEC Project agreement, signed by the U.S., EU, France, Germany, Italy, India, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. The corridor had two main components: an eastern maritime link between India and the Gulf, and a northern railway connecting the Arabian Peninsula through Jordan and Israel to Europe. IMEC aimed to redraw trade and energy routes, altering the region’s geoeconomic balance for generations.

In his 2023 UN General Assembly speech, Netanyahu described IMEC as a promised boon: “We will not only remove barriers between Israel and our neighbors. We will build a new corridor linking Asia to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Israel, and Europe through maritime, rail, energy pipelines, and fiber optics. This is extraordinary change, monumental change, another turning point in history.”

Designed as a competitor to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), IMEC centered on Israel and bypassed Turkey. It also undercut Turkey-Iraq-Qatar-UAE partnerships planning alternative development routes for the Silk Road. President Erdoğan criticized the bypass: “A corridor without Turkey is impossible.” Following the October 7, 2023 Al-Aqsa Storm, the IMEC project lost its feasibility and was shelved.

Conclusion

Reviving the Qatar-Turkey Gas Pipeline, which has been blocked since 2009 and caused the Syrian civil war, would undermine regional strategies for both Iran and Israel.

Consequently, Israel rushed to revive the IMEC Project to invalidate the Qatar-Turkey Gas Pipeline. The U.S. Zionist lobby and Israel persuaded President Trump into a war with Iran to implement IMEC. Netanyahu’s March 13 statement that “The unprecedented cooperation between Israel and the United States has altered the balance of power in the Middle East, even beyond, and this war has made Israel a regional, and in some domains, a global power” shows that the war serves Israel’s ambition to assert itself as a global power.

The war, while officially framed around the Iranian threat, is fundamentally aimed at generating global energy chaos to force acceptance of a new oil distribution order under Israel’s control, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.

However, previous tactics using the Iranian threat to draw Arab countries into the Israeli-American orbit are unlikely to succeed this time. Gulf states and other Muslim nations are demonstrating vigilance and restraint, while a new alliance centered on Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan is emerging. The outcome will also depend on which internal Iranian faction prevails. Either a U.S.-Israeli-compatible regime model will emerge—as suggested by the Venezuela-style proposals—or Iran will align with a new axis within the Islamic world.

In any scenario, the IMEC Project, which Israel seeks to use to cement its role as a global power, is poised to fail once again.

Sources:

Sinan Tavukcu, Netanyahu’s Middle East Design Project Through the Concepts of “Blessing and Curse”
https://www.sde.org.tr/sinan-tavukcu/genel/netanyahunun-nimet-ve-lanet-kavramlari-uzerinden-ortadoguyu-dizayn-projesi-kose-yazisi-55796

Sinan Tavukcu, A Success Story: “Development Path Project”
https://www.sde.org.tr/sinan-tavukcu/genel/bir-basari-hik-yesi-kalkinma-yolu-projesi-kose-yazisi-54699

Sinan Tavukcu