Yamani is most famous for his role during the , where he helped orchestrate the use of the "oil weapon" in response to U.S. support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War. This action led to:
Born in Mecca to a family of respected Islamic scholars and judges, Yamani originally aspired to be a teacher. He pursued an extensive legal education that bridged Eastern and Western traditions: Bachelor’s degree in Law (1951).
Ahmed Zaki Yamani (1930–2021) was the face of global oil politics for nearly a quarter-century, serving as Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources from 1962 to 1986. A lawyer by training rather than an oil specialist, he became an international symbol of the Middle East's rising economic power.