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

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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, sulfur and helium.