Oil and gas crisis from Iran war worse than 1973, ​1979 and 2022 together, says IEA

Oil prices swing and stock markets tense on approach to Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen strait of Hormuz The oil and ‌gas crisis triggered by the blockade of the strait of Hormuz is “more serious than the ones in 1973, ​1979 and 2022 together”, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has said. Speaking as Donald Trump’s deadline for Iran to reopen the waterway approached, Fatih Birol told ⁠Le Figaro newspaper that the impact of the Middle East conflict on the oil market was larger than the combined force of the twin shocks of the 1970s and the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The IEA executive director also warned that the countries most at risk were developing nations, ‌which ⁠would suffer from higher oil and gas prices, higher food prices and a general acceleration of inflation, while European countries, Japan and Australia would also feel an impact. Oil prices seesawed around the $110 (£83) a barrel mark on Tuesday, rising above that level after Trump warned that a “whole civilization will die tonight” unless Iran made a deal, before later easing to just below. Investors are growing increasingly anxious as Trump escalates his thre