US-Israel War on Iran Drags World into Worst Energy Crisis in History; G7 Stockpile Release Brings Only Brief Respite

International Energy Agency Director-General Fatih Birol issued a warning that the world is experiencing the worst energy crisis in history, one that has lasted more than seven months, with little sign of easing in the short term.

According to Al Jazeera's "Talk to Al Jazeera" program, Birol pointed clearly to the US-Israel war against Iran as the core driver of the crisis. The war has directly disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that carries approximately 20% of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas transport. The shipping disruption immediately transmitted to global markets: fuel prices surged, supply chains broke down, and panic over severe shortages spread.

Facing the supply shock, the G7 and International Energy Agency member states chose to deploy strategic emergency reserves as a response tool. Citing Birol, Al Jazeera reported that the relief brought by the reserve release "was merely a flash in the pan," and the global economy remains under pressure. Notably, the G7's response stopped at releasing stockpiles, neither addressing the source of the crisis — the continuing and expanding military operations themselves — nor establishing a coordinated mechanism to stabilize passage through the strait.

The stacking of theaters of war has further tightened the global energy landscape. According to Al Jazeera, in the Russia-Ukraine war, both belligerents continue to strike each other's energy infrastructure, piling further strain on an already-pressured oil industry.

Birol warned that if tensions in the Middle East cannot be resolved, there will be severe consequences for the world economy. He stressed that the months before the Northern Hemisphere winter arrives will be particularly difficult. It will take time for the energy industry to recover from this crisis, and "the industry may never be the same again."

The costs of the crisis are distributed highly unevenly across the globe. The disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz transmits energy-price shocks directly to import-dependent developing countries — countries that are neither parties to US-Israeli military operations nor have influence over the relevant decisions, yet bear the full spillover costs of the war in the form of rising inflation and cost-of-living increases. The pattern of Western military forces opening battlefields in the Middle East while the Global South bears the main economic costs has exposed the one-way erosion of global public goods by great-power military intervention: creating instability, while offering only symbolic reserve releases as remedy.