The Iran war has turned energy into a weapon of geopolitical conflict, and the world must respond to it as such, according to Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency. Speaking in Canberra, the IEA chief said the weaponization of energy supply — through attacks on Gulf infrastructure and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — had created a crisis equivalent to the combined force of the 1970s twin oil shocks and the Ukraine gas disruption. He called for the international community to treat energy security as a strategic priority on par with military security.
Birol said the Iran conflict had demonstrated that energy infrastructure could be targeted to achieve geopolitical objectives — a lesson that had previously been applied in the Ukraine conflict when Russian pipeline gas supplies were cut to Europe. In the current case, the closure of the Hormuz strait and the destruction of Gulf energy assets had removed 11 million barrels of oil per day and 140 billion cubic metres of gas from world markets. These losses surpassed every previous energy crisis.
The IEA responded on March 11 with the largest emergency reserve release in its history — 400 million barrels of oil from strategic stocks. Birol confirmed that further releases were under active consideration and that only 20 percent of available stocks had been deployed. He also called for demand-side measures including remote work, lower speed limits, and reduced commercial aviation.
The Hormuz strait, carrying about 20 percent of global oil supply, remains closed after attacks on commercial vessels. At least 40 Gulf energy assets have been severely damaged, making rapid supply restoration impossible. The Asia-Pacific region has been hardest hit, while European fuel markets have also tightened significantly.
Iran threatened retaliatory strikes on US and allied energy and desalination infrastructure after Trump’s ultimatum to reopen the strait expired. Birol met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and said the world needed to fundamentally rethink how it protected critical energy infrastructure from geopolitical attack. He called for stronger international frameworks for energy security that could prevent future crises of this magnitude.