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The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran, and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East

Andrew Scott Cooper

4.09 · Rating details · 659 ratings · 82 reviews

struggling with a recession . . . European nations at risk of defaulting on their loans . . . A possible global financial crisis. It happened before, in the 1970s .

Oil Kings is the story of how oil came to dominate U.S. domestic and international affairs. As Richard Nixon fought off Watergate inquiries in 1973, the U.S. economy reacted to an oil shortage initiated by A struggling with a recession . . . European nations at risk of defaulting on their loans . . . A possible global financial crisis. It happened before, in the 1970s .

Oil Kings is the story of how oil came to dominate U.S. domestic and international affairs. As Richard Nixon fought off Watergate inquiries in 1973, the U.S. economy reacted to an oil shortage initiated by Arab nations in retaliation for American support of Israel in the Arab- Israeli war. The price of oil skyrocketed, causing serious inflation. One man the U.S. could rely on in the Middle East was the Shah of Iran, a loyal ally whose grand ambitions had made him a leading customer for American weapons. Iran sold the U.S. oil; the U.S. sold Iran missiles and fighter jets. But the Shah’s economy depended almost entirely on oil, and the U.S. economy could not tolerate annual double-digit increases in the price of this essential commodity. European economies were hit even harder by the soaring oil prices, and several NATO allies were at risk of default on their debt.

In 1976, with the U.S. economy in peril, President Gerald Ford, locked in a tight election race, decided he had to find a country that would sell oil to the U.S. more cheaply and break the OPEC monopoly, which the Shah refused to do. On the advice of Treasury Secretary William Simon and against the advice of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Ford made a deal to sell advanced weaponry to the Saudis in exchange for a modest price hike on oil.

Ford lost the election, but the deal had lasting consequences. The Shah’s economy was destabilized, and disaffected elements in Iran mobilized to overthrow him. The U.S. had embarked on a long relationship with the autocratic Saudi kingdom that continues to this day.

Andrew Scott Cooper draws on newly declassified documents and interviews with some key figures of the time to show how Nixon, Ford, Kissinger, the CIA, and the State and Treasury departments—as well as the Shah and the Saudi royal family— maneuvered to control events in the Middle East. He details the secret U.S.-Saudi plan to circumvent OPEC that destabilized the Shah. He reveals how close the U.S. came to sending troops into the Persian Gulf to break the Arab oil embargo. The Oil Kings provides solid evidence that U.S. officials ignored warning signs of a potential hostage crisis in Iran. It discloses that U.S. officials offered to sell nuclear power and nuclear fuel to the Shah. And it shows how the Ford Administration barely averted a European debt crisis that could have triggered a financial catastrophe in the U.S. Brilliantly reported and filled with astonishing details about some of the key figures of the time, The Oil Kings is the history of an era that we thought we knew, an era whose momentous reverberations still influence events at home and abroad today. ...more

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Published (first published August 9th 2011)

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May 10, 2013 Aloha rated it it was amazing

Shelves: a-audios, 2013-book-safari-to-the-middle-east, b-iran, a-own, 1-favorites, b-middle-east, genre-history-middle-east, b-saudi-arabia, genre-economics, a-ebooks

The premise for Andrew Scott Cooper’s book debut The Oil Kings is how oil has affected the shift of power, with an underlying cautionary note that it can still do so. He noted that the events at the time the book was published in 2011 reflect the events over thirty years ago that caused the toppling of the Shah of Iran’s government. The similarities were that there was a global financial crisis, an increasing dependence on oil, and the tumultuous political and economic atmosphere in the Middle E ...more

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Mar 13, 2016 Trish rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: history, america, nonfiction, unutterably-painful, audio, foreign-affairs, mideast, politics

It seems a pity, when a person is so involved with a subject, that they cannot convey a better understanding of the issues with which they are so entranced. We get every flicker of the eyelash of persons ensconced in the Nixon White House conducting foreign policy with regards to the Shah Pahlavi of Iran. Considering this is some fifty years ago now, I’ll bet Cooper has difficulty finding many folks who share his enthusiasm for minutiae.

That said, I did become interested in reading more about I It seems a pity, when a person is so involved with a subject, that they cannot convey a better understanding of the issues with which they are so entranced. We get every flicker of the eyelash of persons ensconced in the Nixon White House conducting foreign policy with regards to the Shah Pahlavi of Iran. Considering this is some fifty years ago now, I’ll bet Cooper has difficulty finding many folks who share his enthusiasm for minutiae.

That said, I did become interested in reading more about Iran, largely as a result of the kind of spending the Shah did at the height of the oil crisis, only one-third of the way through this magnum opus:

”For the Shah, thinking big meant that nothing was off-limits. The Shah unveiled a $3 billion plan to bulldoze Tehran’s city center and replace it with a grand plaza bigger than Red Square in Moscow. The 2.5 mile border around the proposed Shah and Nation Square would include six hotels, forty thousand parking spaces, 55 million square feet of office space, housing for fifty thousand residents, and the new Pahlavi National Library. Upon completion, Iran’s national library would comprise one of the great scholarly wonders of the world, boasting a staff of five thousand and more than 5 million books, a hotel for visiting scholars, and the most advanced cataloguing system in the world. Iran’s Persian heritage would also receive a boost from a ten-year, multimillion-dollar project to rebuild the seven fluted columns of Xerxes in Persepolis. Oil money would meld Iran’s past to its glorious future.

I never heard whether any of that was completed but it sounds like a good start to an informed public.

Anyway, Kissinger has remained silent in his books and writings about the Shah of Iran, but he was one most intimately involved in propping up his government when Pahlavi wildly overspent on military equipment in the seventies, before his fall in 1979. I am disappointed I could not thrash my way through the thicket of detail in this book to get a decent look at the situation from a greater distance.

P.S. I neglected to mention that we, the U.S. that is, sold Iran nuclear technology in the 70s. Iran's stores of oil was less than the other Arab oil-producing countries, and the Shah had a tendency to crank up production (and prices) to increase income so as to allay rising debt (he overspent wildly, and not wisely). To meet energy needs he saw coming down the pike, we generously provided the nuclear wherewithal. Is there a lesson there? Just asking...

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Mar 19, 2020 Maryam Alsaegh rated it really liked it

I enjoyed knowing how the oil price changed the political map for the Middle East in the 70s. but reading this book was quite overwhelming, there is so much to absorb, had to go back to past events to link the ones i read and so on...

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May 10, 2020 FAIZAN KHAN rated it it was amazing

Shelves: politics

With All The Oil Talks Nowadays, This Book Has Been A True Eye-opener For Me. Like It Or Not Oil Is A (And Will Be) Controlling Factor In The Economic World And You Can Learn More From This One Book Than You Could Learn In School Of 4 Years Of International Economics (Exaggerated, But Yes If You're Good At Connecting The Dots There's Great Amount To Learn Here)

I Have Always Wondered Why Don't They Teach You This Sort Of Stuff At The School, And Now I Exactly Know Why.

With All The Dirty Politics ...more

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Jun 19, 2021 Suhailk rated it liked it

The book has several interesting facts and details, however, it is not well written. The book has so much minute details which aren’t very much relevant or critical hence leading the reader to get confused and sometimes becomes boring. Also, in general the information laid out in the book is not in a chronological order.

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May 27, 2013 Love rated it liked it

Despite the title this is really a book about US-Iranian relations during the 70's.

As a bankrupt Britain left the Middle East it created a power vacuum. To prevent the Soviets from expanding southward in to the oil rich region upon which the free world depended, Cold War politics dictated that America had to act. Unwilling to shoulder the burden itself, the US instead built up Iran to defend the region from the communist threat and a Soviet backed Iraq.

The American arms necessary to match the ...more

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Mar 10, 2020 Weiwei rated it it was amazing

Finished reading it on the way back from London. A very informative account for those who wants to know the behind-the-scene details on power balance in the Middle East.

I have not been very familiar with geopolitics of the Middle East yet. It helped answer a few questions:
1. What makes Iran and the US enemies while Saudi and the US allies?
2. What role does oil play in the geopolitics calculation and what actual effect it had in history?(esp. 1974)
3. How does the negotiation and deal making wor ...more

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May 24, 2017 PRINCESS rated it really liked it

Shelves: history, 2017

YESTERDAY:

How America’s unappeasable thirst for cheap oil led to foreign-policy bungling in the Persian Gulf?!
Once upon a time, United States of America was the world’s number one oil importer with Iran as his foremost ally in Middle East. To Americans, The Shah was the guardians of the Gulf. It was with United States of America’s approval that Shah raised the price of the oil and that kept America’s on top of richest countries in the world.
“I like him, I like him and I like the country. And so ...more

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Apr 20, 2013 Jim Gallen rated it it was amazing

“The Oil Kings” is an in depth study of the labyrinthine relationships that existed between the Shah of Iran, the Saudi Royal Family and the United States during the Nixon and Ford administrations. The story line is so involved that I can only begin to summarize the contents. A few examples will have to suffice to give you a taste of what is in store for the reader. Some of us remember the day when Iran was America’s ally in the Persian Gulf. Here we get a glimpse of what went on behind the scen “The Oil Kings” is an in depth study of the labyrinthine relationships that existed between the Shah of Iran, the Saudi Royal Family and the United States during the Nixon and Ford administrations. The story line is so involved that I can only begin to summarize the contents. A few examples will have to suffice to give you a taste of what is in store for the reader. Some of us remember the day when Iran was America’s ally in the Persian Gulf. Here we get a glimpse of what went on behind the scenes. On these pages we read that the close relationship between the Shah and President Nixon, lubricated perhaps by inebriation on Nixon’s part, led to a promise to sell the Shah any military equipment “short of the atomic bomb.” We are introduced to the Shah’s insatiable appetite for military equipment that retarded development of his nation and ultimately led to his downfall. We are reminded of the oil shocks of the 1970s that so disrupted the economies of America and Europe that fears of revolution and Communist takeovers were realistically entertained. We read here of actions within OPEC that gave the House of Saud the opportunity to use the price of oil to undercut its rival for Middle Eastern supremacy by restricting the flow of petrodollars without which the Shah could not fulfill his financial commitments or the satisfy the demands of his people. We see an era during which the United States devolved from a superpower protecting its regional interests from Soviet expansion to an atrophied giant negotiating with its former clients from a position of weakness.

The personalities in this work are the giants of the world scene in the 1970s: the Shah, Henry Kissinger, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, Treasury Secretary William Simon and a collection of Saudi officials who were as important, collectively, as many of the American individuals. The stakes were tremendous: the freedom of Europe, the American presidency, the crown of Iran and the stability of the oil kingdoms.

“The Oil Kings” is obviously the product of extensive research and thought. It is masterfully written and advances with the emotion of a mystery novel. It certainly advances author Andrew Scott Cooper’s agenda, that being to show that the Nixon-Kissinger-Ford foreign policy, far from being the magnificent success that is frequently portrayed was, in the case of the Persian Gulf region, a seriously flawed scheme that facilitated developments that continue to haunt the region and the United States to this day. Whenever I read books like this I always ask myself the question, “Is this true?” Has Cooper really unearthed something that Nixon and Kissinger omitted from their memoirs and that other historians have failed to uncover? I am not sure, but “The Oil Kings” raises disturbing questions in the minds of any thoughtful readers. After setting it down the reader will find himself returning to ponder its implications. Any book that can do that deserves the highest rating.
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Sep 07, 2011 Ray rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I tend to think of book jackets as the publisher's exaggerations written to build up book sales, but here's a book which hit the mark with its description. It's touted as being "...Brilliantly reported and filled with astonishing details about some of the key figures of the time (early 1970's), and a history of an era that we thought we knew, an era whose momentous reverberations still influence events at home and abroad today", and I couldn't agree more.

It's generally recognized that the U.S. I tend to think of book jackets as the publisher's exaggerations written to build up book sales, but here's a book which hit the mark with its description. It's touted as being "...Brilliantly reported and filled with astonishing details about some of the key figures of the time (early 1970's), and a history of an era that we thought we knew, an era whose momentous reverberations still influence events at home and abroad today", and I couldn't agree more.

It's generally recognized that the U.S. suffers from a conflicted policy, with dependence on Mid-East Oil from Countries which frequently express extreme anti-American, anti-Western policies. The Oil Kings describes the processes and policies which brought us to the current position. The book also provided behind-the-scenes insights into the workings of the White House and Secretary of State during those critical years.

Clearly not the book for you if you're looking for a sweet romantic novel, but excellent for what it was intended to do, i.e., provide an insiders view of the politics and policies of oil producers and oil consumers in the 1970's leading up to the status of oil policy today. Especially interesting were the insights of the powerful Secretary of State under Nixon and Ford, Henry Kissinger. Also enjoyed the portrail of the Shah of Iran, and the kind of friend he was (or was NOT) to the United States. It was also very interesting to read about the parallels of the U.S. economy during the mid-1970's compared to the end of the Bush years and beginning of the Obama years. In both times, the banks teetered on collapse, and were criticized for greedy profit-driven motives seeking high profits with little regard for the high-risks of these loans. (Apparently, no lessons learned here). Also similar are the collapse of the housing markets, falling stock market, and high unemployment in both financial hard times. It also seemed like an old story to hear about how the rising oil prices led to imperilled economies in the West, especially in Greece, Spain, Portugal (sound familiar?), etc.

To me, history can be compared to a multi-piece jig-saw puzzle, with each book providing one or two additional pieces of the puzzle. A few pieces may provide a glimpse of the shape or picture of the puzzle, but each new book completes the picture that much more. This book provides more pieces to the puzzle of the U.S. oil policy and the nations involved than expected, and fills in a lot of the blank spaces, especially how Saudi Arabia became our key ally in the region and our preferred provider of Mid-East oil, our role in the fall of the Shah of Iran, and a look at many of the back-room deals made by Nixon & Kissinger in the early 1970's. ...more

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Jan 28, 2012 Arminius rated it it was amazing

Shelves: business

This book is a fascinating account of the 1970’s oil crisis. It focuses mainly on the Nixon and Ford Administrations dealings with the Shaw of Iran Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and later Saudi ruler King Faisal and King Khalid.

It starts with American CIA agents in the Eisenhower Administration when they reinstated a young deposed Shaw into his inherited role as the Shaw of Iran. The loyalty generated by this act responded to the United States and particularly to President Eisenhower and Vice Presiden This book is a fascinating account of the 1970’s oil crisis. It focuses mainly on the Nixon and Ford Administrations dealings with the Shaw of Iran Muhammad Reza Pahlavi and later Saudi ruler King Faisal and King Khalid.

It starts with American CIA agents in the Eisenhower Administration when they reinstated a young deposed Shaw into his inherited role as the Shaw of Iran. The loyalty generated by this act responded to the United States and particularly to President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon.

When Nixon became president he renewed his friendship with the Shaw. The Shaw was rebuilding Iran. He was attempting to propel Iran into a world power financed through the sale of Iran’s oil. The Shaws liberal attempted reforms included suffrage for women, increasing schools, hospitals and public structures. He also attempted to build a powerful military. So with that in mind, he negotiated a trade of oil for U.S. military equipment with President Nixon.

The U.S./Iran relationship was running fine in this trade arrangement until Egypt and Syria launched a surprise attack on Israel know as the Yom Kippur War in 1973. President Nixon delivered much needed Arms supplies to the Israelis which turned certain defeat into a Jewish victory. The Shaw was surprisingly a supporter of Israel however; the remainder of the OPEC nations were not. So, OPEC retaliated by halting oil production. This led to a severe supply shortage and called for drastic measures in the U.S. such as gas station shutdowns on weekends and instituting 55 MPH speed limits to conserve fuel in the U.S.

President Nixon, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and Secretary of Treasury Bill Simon worked feverishly to resolve the oil stoppage. While Kissinger assuaged the Shaw Simon actively courted Saudi Arabia. OPEC gradually started to increase oil production due mainly to their lost revenue stream.

Then Watergate happened and President Nixon lost a lot of his power as a result. The Shaw took advantage of Nixon’s handicap. He boldly went to the OPEC meeting and demanded an increase of pricing despite the havoc it would cause in many European countries. He needed this increase to fund his huge revitalization effort. It cost much more than he could afford. However, the Saudi's feared a strong Iran and courted a relationship with the U.S. and argued against the increase in prices.

As Saudi Arabia generated good feelings with the U.S. the Shaw was once again deposed and shortly afterward died of cancer. Saudi Arabia flooded the market and oil prices dropped in the later 1970’s and 1980’s.

The book does not delve into the 1980’s but an Oil Kings II will hopefully be in author Andrew Cooper’s future works.
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May 10, 2014 Hussam Ali rated it really liked it

An excellent book, which offers great insights on American foreign policy and the sort of strategic alliances made on the 1970s. The bulk of the book talks about 3 men: Nixon, Kissinger and the Shah. Although the book is a strictly narrative nonfiction, yet you tend to get that exciting page flipping urge associated with thriller fiction. In the beginning we know that Nixon is going to be eventually disgraced due the Watergate scandal, but it's exciting to see him battling his way to his demise. ...more

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Oct 29, 2020 Philip Roberts rated it really liked it

“The Oil Kings is the story of how oil came to dominate world politics”. I found this to be a fascinating read which gave me many insights into how oil and the need to protect its supply came to dominate the foreign policy of the Nixon and Ford administrations. Initially betting on the Shah of Iran and later Saudi Arabia. The Shah’s spending on Iran’s military build up was encouraged by America as they saw Iran as key to Middle East stability but they failed to heed the warning signs that the mi ...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Ali rated it liked it

Shelves: owned, history, audible, non-fiction, politics

Good story to tell the story of the people involved with the 1970s Oil Crash and US dealings with Iran and the Saudi Arabia with regards to oil. However, I was very disappointed with the complete lack of analysis, the book reads (or sounds if you're listening to it on Audible like me) like someone who went through the archives and just copied what everyone told you. The whole story is basically told in the first chapter, without much analysis and explanations of the motives of, for example, Kiss ...more

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Nov 03, 2011 Bill Thomas rated it it was ok

Disappointing. I really would have liked more background. Political manuvers date back to pre- World War I. How can we understand what's going on in the mid-East if the history of outside influences are ignored. These people still have group memories of the Crusades for crying out loud. ...more

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Jul 10, 2017 Andrew Willis rated it liked it

This is fascinating story and is compellingly argued. However, the detail to seemingly every conversation the officials had regarding oil makes it easy to miss the overarching thesis. Very difficult to follow if not already intimately familiar with Iranian-U.S. relations.

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Jul 08, 2018 Bardia Alavi rated it it was amazing

This book talks about the middle east mainly Iran, during period of 70's. The main focus of the book is about oil trades and how it changes politics and economics.

It is a well documented book and looks like unbiased. ...more

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Mar 14, 2016 Paul Barnes rated it liked it

Shelves: geography, middle-east

Book gives me a new impression of Kissinger and who the Shah was really was

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Nov 15, 2016 Mubeen Irfan rated it it was amazing

Sometimes you pick up a book based on your gut feeling even if the writer is someone you have never heard of and the book is his first foray into writing. Seldom you end up rating the book as 5 stars. This is one such book.

This book is based on the oil price, the politics associated and the western economy which got impacted due to it. Premise of the book is around how everyone talks about the religious and political aspects of Iranian revolution of 1979 but there is hardly anything written on t ...more

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Feb 04, 2018 Brian rated it it was amazing

Shelves: middle-eastern-history

The Oil Kings focuses on the Shah of Iran and his relationships with the United States and the rest of the world during his time in power. The book follows the shift form US Client to trying to stand on his own and the Saudi shift that led to his fall. About 80 percent of this book focuses on Iran and the United States while the last 20 details the Saudis realizing their power within OPEC. The Saudi’s exploited the Shah’s foolishness in overspending his petrodollars and leaving his economy expo ...more

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Nov 14, 2020 Khalid rated it liked it · review of another edition

Oil, petty kingdoms, the advent coming of poverty, and a superpower that I will never understand, because it allowed such petty kingdoms to keep the oil, after they themselves, went through the trouble of finding it, extracting it, refining it, shipping it, creating a market for it, and consuming it. Not to worry, if you think baby boomers in the West are terrible, their counterparts in the oil-rich nations are ever worse. Incidentally, by contributing to global warming, people won’t be able to ...more

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Jul 17, 2017 teohjitkhiam rated it it was amazing

Does the breaking story of Saudi Arabia flooding the market with oil in order to drive down prices and at the same time curtail a regional rival's resurgence, on the back of rising oil prices, sounds familiar? If it does, be reminded this isn't 2015 but rather 1976. The difference is the rivalry between Riyadh and Tehran is now decidedly deadlier as it takes place in a region riven in sectarian strife, culminating in the rise of the brutal and nihilistic Islamic State. Back then, at least the Sh ...more

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Jan 16, 2021 Sufia Safri rated it liked it

It does a decent job of providing a clear chronological account of US-Iran (and on occasion Saudi) relations and its impact on the world economy in the 70s. More descriptive than analytic.

I would prefer more extensive profiles of the key figures since there's so much emphasis on how their roles (and relationships) affect diplomacy and policy.

Some of the details are repetitive or tedious. Still, I can see their value in reinforcing the statements made as well as illustrating how numerous minor ...more

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May 16, 2019 Kaci rated it it was amazing

Absolutely loved this book. It's engaging and gives you a good understanding of how vital the oil industry has been in the shaping of today´s world balance. Im fascinated by the fact that so much of the world intertrade relationships is created by a few set of people. The book also provides a good starting point for anyone interested in Middle East´s politics. Well referenced. Entertaining.
I feel enriched for having read it and am eternally grateful to the author.

...more

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Jan 14, 2018 Tyler.Stoering rated it liked it

I had little or no knowledge of the subject beforehand. This was an enthralling read. Thinking critically, I'm sure there are a myriad of interpretations and perspectives on this period and these state actors, and this book may only be one, but I thoroughly enjoyed the analysis.

Was the sha justified in spending all that oil coin on a military buildup? Was he so threatening that this was his best course of action?

Did the Nixon doctrine of selling arms to allow other countries to fight the next V ...more

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Sep 01, 2018 Abhishek Lodhi rated it it was amazing

Shelves: my-reads

A very informative book to know about not only Iran-US relations but the impact of Iran & OPEC on World Economy and somewhat present situation. This also explains in a way, how Oil is the major factor that drives economy and still continues to be so.
A must read one...!!!!!

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May 29, 2019 Nigel rated it really liked it

Focused purely on the 1970s oil crisis and the relationship between the Shah of Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United States during that period. Detailed, right down to the minutes of meetings & the transcripts of phone calls.
Henry Kissinger doesn’t come out well.

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Apr 02, 2019 Nezar rated it liked it

Most of the book is about the Iranian bahlawi ruling family and its impact on the oil business. It also shed light on the saudi impact during the 70’s

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Jun 19, 2020 Saul rated it liked it

The Shah's interactions with Nixon, now that could have been the title or something like that. ...more

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Apr 12, 2021 Aion rated it liked it

Shelves: corporate-history, economics, world-history, geopolitics, markets, energy

This is an geoeconomic history of US-Iranian relations in the lead up to the Iranian Revolution. It is okay but narrative driven not driven by data.

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About Andrew Scott Cooper

Andrew Scott Cooper

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Andrew Scott Cooper is the author of The Oil Kings: How the U.S., Iran and Saudi Arabia Changed the Balance of Power in the Middle East, published in 2011, and an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University. He is a regular commentator on US-Iran relations and the oil markets, and his research has appeared in The Guardian, New York Times, Washington Post and other media outlets. He holds a ...more