Uh. The US barely 'won' against a FAR inferior Iraq, and is losing badly against a stone age country. I'm pretty sure Iran would do just fine, especially seeing as how they have control of 100% of the straits of Hormuz.
Long-term Iraq and Afghanistan "wars" were failures as police-actions (after any major military conflict) in attempts to eliminate civilian casualties, having this goal to maintain legitimacy in initiating the conflicts. Iranian war on the US (the feasibility of which if judged according to the above US difficulties in Iraq/Afghanistan) is not advisable by any sane person.
Pick the one that CREATES energy... not consumes it. The only logical choice is the warp drive.
The first law of course is 'Energy can neither be created nor destroyed: it can only be transformed from one state to another.'
Though your general line of reasoning stands, in solving the energy problem.
He has not acquired a fortune; the fortune has acquired him. -- Bion