Iran war energy crisis equal to 70s twin oil shocks and fallout from Ukraine war, says IEA chief

Fatih Birol says effect on energy markets of Iran bombings and closure of Hormuz strait not initially understood by world leaders Middle East crisis live – latest updates The global energy crisis caused by the war in Iran is equivalent to the combined force of the twin oil shocks of the 1970s and the fallout of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned. Fatih Birol, the IEA’s executive director, said the growing fallout could be seriously compounded through interuptions to the “vital arteries of the global economy”, including petrochemicals, fertilisers, sulphur and helium. Speaking at the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra on Monday, Birol said the depth of the problems in energy markets caused by American and Israeli bombings in Iran, and the closure of the stragetic strait of Hormuz, had not initally been properly understood by world leaders. That situation prompted his intervention last week, when the IEA pushed for demand-side measures such as increases in the number of employees working from home, a temporary lowering of speed limits on highways and reduced air travel. He warned that at least 40 energy assets in the Gulf re