Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest shipping channels,  since the US and Israel attacked the country on 28 February.

About 20% of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) usually passes through the waterway – and the war has sent global fuel prices soaring.

On Monday, International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol said that the war could see the world facing its worst energy crisis in decades.

Speaking at the National Press Club in Australia’s capital, Birol compared the current energy crisis to those of the 1970s and the impact of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

“This crisis as things stand is now two oil crises and one gas crash put all together,” he said.

“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!,” Trump said in a social media post published at 23:44 GMT Saturday.

That threat came after Iranian missiles hit the Israeli city of Dimona, and shortly before a second attack on the town of Arad nearby.

Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, said on Sunday that energy and desalination infrastructure in the region would be “irreversibly destroyed” if his country’s power plants were attacked.

Such action would significantly escalate the conflict, which has already disrupted global energy supplies, pushing up prices and causing fuel shortages.

Other markets in the Asia-Pacific region were also lower on Monday.

Hong Kong’s Hang was down by almost 3.5% and the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite index 2.5% lower.

Global oil prices were broadly steady, with Brent crude 0.45% higher at $112.69 (£84.56) a barrel and US-traded oil was up by 0.7% at $98.93.

[BBC]

In a Friday evening Truth Social post published while he was flying from Washington to his Florida resort for the weekend, the US president provided a numbered list of American military objectives for the Iran war, which he said the US was “getting really close” to fulfilling.

The items, comprising his most detailed statement on the subject since the war began, included degrading or destroying Iran’s military, its defence infrastructure and its nuclear weapons programme, as well as protecting American allies in the region.

Not included was the goal of securing the Strait of Hormuz, which Trump said should be the responsibility of other nations that are more dependent on oil exports from the Gulf. The president has frequently noted that the US is a net exporter of energy and does not rely on oil from the Middle East – although such a view glosses over the global nature of the fossil fuel market, where price fluctuations directly impact the price at American gas pumps.