Iran warns it has ‘new cards to play on the battlefield’ if ceasefire collapses as JD Vance flies out to Pakistan today for talks – Live updates

The conflict between Iran and the US and Israel is creating the worst energy crisis ever faced by the world, the head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) said today.

‘This is indeed the biggest crisis in history,’ 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.

Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Musandam, Oman, April 20, 2026