War in Iran is causing biggest energy crisis in history, IEA says

The ongoing conflict between Iran and the United States, along with Israel, is leading to an unprecedented energy crisis worldwide, according to the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) on Tuesday. Birol stated during an interview on France Inter radio, “This is indeed the biggest crisis in history.” He emphasized that the situation is already severe, particularly when considering the combined impacts of the petrol and gas crises linked to Russia. The war in the Middle East has disrupted shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital route for about a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas. This crisis has added to the challenges stemming from Russia’s conflict with Ukraine, which had already cut off Russian gas supplies to Europe. Earlier this month, Birol noted that he believes the current global energy situation is worse than the crises of 1973, 1979, and 2022 put together. In March, the IEA decided to release a historic 400 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves to address the rising oil prices caused by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.