Fatih Birol

The head of the International Energy Agency said Monday that the global economy faces a “major, major threat” because of the Iran war. “No country will be immune to the effects of this crisis if it continues to go in this direction,” Fatih Birol said. The crisis has had a worse impact on oil than the two oil shocks of the 1970s combined, and a worse effect on gas than the Russia-Ukraine war. …One major fear is that the war could knock out oil and gas production in the Middle East for a long time, which would mean high prices could last a while and cause inflation to rip higher. The US stock market has a history of bouncing back… as long as oil prices don’t stay too high for too long. …“Some of the vital arteries of the global economy, such as petrochemical, such as fertilizers, such as sulfur— their trade is all interrupted.