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By attacking Iran and threatening to seize its oil while taking extraordinary measures to block clean energy back in the US, Donald Trump has inadvertently highlighted the dangerous volatility of the fossil fuel era, critics say.

The US and Israel’s bombardment of Iran and southern Lebanon has caused a humanitarian and environmental toll, with threats of further escalation set to add to these casualties as well as add more planet-heating emissions and destroy drinking water supplies.

Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil is normally transported, has threatened economies around the world as energy costs have spiked, with consumers globally paying out more than $100bn extra to fossil fuel companies since the conflict began last month. In the US, the average national cost of gasoline has risen to nearly $4 a gallon.

“It’s quite a bet the president has made on fossil fuels and as of today it isn’t going so well,” said Alice Hill, an energy and environment expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“This is a very stark reminder that the green transition will have huge benefits for the long term security of the nation. Countries that have invested in clean energy like solar and wind will be better placed and will weather this. But president Trump has rejected that approach, which just makes us more vulnerable.”

Scientists have repeatedly warned that the world must urgently transition away from fossil fuels to avoid the disastrous consequences of an increasingly overheated planet. While carbon emissions are still not falling fast enough to avoid severe impacts, the plummeting cost of wind and solar power has prompted countries to invest in renewables at record levels.

However, Trump has instead sought to elongate the fossil fuel era, using incendiary language on Friday to dismiss those concerned about the environment. “The environmentalists, I mean, they are terrorists,” the president said. “They are terrorists. I call them environmental terrorists.”

Trump has previously called the climate crisis a “hoax” and a “scam” and has demanded that not only the US drill for more oil and gas, but that he seize the supply coming from other oil-rich countries – Venezuela and now Iran. “To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the US say: ‘why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,’” Trump told the Financial Times on Sunday.

The fossil fuel-infused nature of the Iran war has been further highlighted by Trump’s threat to attack Kharg Island, the 5-mile long strategic island where 90% of Iran’s oil is processed. The US president has said that if a deal with Iran is not struck that would reopen the strait of Hormuz shipping lane, the US would destroy “all of their Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!)”.

Destroying civilian infrastructure such as power and water facilities is illegal under the Geneva convention and would constitute a war crime.

It would also probably further raise global energy costs, including in the US. As well as promising to not start a war with Iran, Trump vowed prior to the 2024 election to lower costs for Americans – a pledge that he has so far largely failed to achieve.

“The president is locking us into 20th century energy systems when we have wind and solar that could loosen the chokehold on the strait of Hormuz,” said Hill. “That retrenchment is very striking when you see oil prices soaring and no clear strategy to end the war.”

The multiple dangers posed by an ongoing dependence upon fossil fuels have recently been made apparent both in Iran and the US. Missile strikes upon oil depots in Iran have caused toxic black smoke to shroud communities, causing environmental damage that could last for decades.

In the US, record heatwave in the western states this month was “virtually impossible” if it wasn’t for the human-caused climate crisis, scientists recently found. It also became clear that an oil spill, also spewing this month, spread across 600 km (373 miles) of the Gulf of Mexico.

March also saw a major oil and gas industry conference in Houston where Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, called on producers to drill for more. While the conference was underway, a Texas oil refinery located just an hour’s drive away exploded, causing a huge plume of black smoke and orders for nearby residents to stay indoors.

Despite such risks, however, the Trump administration has actively attempted to stymie clean energy projects by banning them from federal land and waters and removing their subsidies. Last week, the administration took the extraordinary decision to pay French company TotalEnergies $1bn in taxpayer funds to not proceed with its plan to erect a new offshore wind farm.

Endangered species laws have also been targeted by the administration in the desire to fulfill the mantra of “dill, baby drill”. On Tuesday, an unusual meeting of top administration officials will take place to sweep aside protections for rare marine species to facilitate more oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

The rarely used “God squad” provision in the Endangered Species Act (ESA) allows a president to convene a committee of agency heads empowered to effectively veto protections for species on the brink of extinction. The committee essentially weighs whether the benefits from a proposed project outweigh the continued existence of protected wildlife.

The Department of Defense has called for an exemption under national security grounds, which would remove protections for species such as the Rice’s whale, which is only found in the Gulf and has only around 50 individuals left. Other animals, such as whooping cranes and sea turtles, would also be left without ESA protection.

“This is completely illegal and it wouldn’t even release one more gallon of oil, it’s just a way to drive through this agenda without any possible oversight,” said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity, which is suing the government over the “God squad” meeting.

“There are these bare bones restrictions on boat speeds and whale monitoring that could be lifted and then the Rice’s whale could go extinct in five years. It will go extinct for no fucking reason.

“We need to transition away from fossil fuels to save our planet and our democracy. We are seeing the costs of fossil fuels right now – war, the overruling of democracy and the ignoring of laws. It’s not just global warming.”