The world faces an energy crisis worse than both 1970s oil shocks combined if the Middle East war drags on, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned on Monday (Mar 23), as Israel launched fresh strikes on Tehran and threatened weeks more fighting.
As the war grinds into its fourth week, United States President Donald Trump threatened to "obliterate" Iranian power plants if Iran failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours - setting an effective deadline of 11.44pm on Monday.
Tehran has retaliated against US-Israeli assaults by throttling traffic in the vital waterway, conduit for a fifth of global crude oil, hitting energy sites and US embassies across the Gulf as well as firing missiles and drones at Israel.
The Islamic republic issued a firm response to the new ultimatum, with powerful parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf vowing that vital infrastructure across the region will be "irreversibly destroyed" if Trump acts on his threat.
In a stark warning over what lies ahead unless the fighting ends soon, IEA chief Fatih Birol said the world was losing more oil each day than the combined impact of both 1970s oil shocks and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"This crisis as things stand is now two oil crises and one gas crash put all together," Birol said.
"No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction."
At least 40 energy assets across the oil- and gas-exporting region have already been "severely or very severely damaged", Birol said, with oil prices driven above US$100 a barrel over supply fears.
