[SpicyLemonZest]

The US is already a net oil exporter, and the EU mostly gets their fossil fuels from Russia. That's why anti-interventionist voices are so frustrated these days; it's increasingly rare to see any concrete justification for why regional conflicts in the Middle East are actually relevant to the US.

[doggodaddo78]

These are all true points.

I think there are other interests beyond oil also:

- MIC: weapon sales and US military budget justification

- Focal-point for US proxy conflict with global adversaries

- Monetize Iran - Saudi Arabia tensions; simultaneously stoking it and tempering it

Getting away from oil, normalizing relations with Iran, and bringing SA and Iran closer together would work against the above interests but would deescalate tensions and obviate a major pretext for regional imperial occupation.