War is causing the biggest energy crisis in history: IEA

PARIS - The ⁠conflict between Iran and the United States ​and Israel is ​creating the worst energy crisis ever faced by the world, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Tuesday.
'This is indeed the biggest crisis ⁠in history,' Dr Fatih Birol told France Inter radio ⁠in an interview broadcast on Tuesday.
'The crisis is already huge, if you combine the effects ‌of the petrol crisis and ​the gas ⁠crisis with Russia,' he added.
The ​war in the Middle ‌East has choked up maritime traffic in the Strait ​of Hormuz, which is a conduit for a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows.
It has also come on top ‌of the effects of Russia's war with Ukraine, ​which had already severed Russian gas ​supplies ‌to Europe.
Birol had ⁠said earlier this month that he viewed the current situation in global energy ​markets as worse than previous ⁠crises in 1973, ​1979, and 2022 combined.
In March, the IEA agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic ​stockpiles to combat rising oil prices caused ​by the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.