You have a storage account named storage1 in North Europe. You need a secondary copy of blob data to be created in East US when blobs are added, with minimal administrative effort. Which feature should you configure?

Object replication is the correct choice because it allows you to asynchronously copy block blobs between a source storage account and a destination account, even across different regions. This meets the requirement for a secondary copy in East US with minimal administrative effort, as it's configured directly on the storage account. Geo-redundant storage (GRS) provides redundancy across regions but doesn't allow for a separate, distinct copy in a specific region like East US; it's a built-in redundancy option for the same storage account. Operational backup is for point-in-time recovery and typically involves a separate backup service, not continuous replication of new blobs. A lifecycle management rule automates tiering or deletion of blobs based on age or access patterns, not replication to another region.