Iran War Chokes Global Shipping as Oil Tops $80
The escalating U.S.-Israel war with Iran has brought global shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to a near standstill, sending crude oil prices above $80 per barrel and triggering a cascade of economic consequences that extend far beyond the Middle East. Approximately 200 tankers are effectively stranded as Iran threatens to "set fire" to vessels transiting the waterway, through which roughly 20 million barrels of crude oil flow daily. The disruption is already rippling through global markets. U.S. retail gasoline prices have jumped nearly 27 cents per gallon in a week to $3.25 on average, while UK petrol rose 3p per litre and diesel climbed 5p per litre. The cost of hiring a supertanker to move oil from the Middle East to China hit an all-time record of more than $400,000 per day on Monday, nearly double the rate from the previous week. With fertiliser prices surging 21% and central banks reassessing rate cut timelines, the conflict threatens to reverse months of progress on inflation.