Published On 4/29/2026
With the passage of 60 days of war in the Middle East, the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the American blockade of Iranian ports, the global economy is witnessing turmoil in several sectors, especially in energy.
While the paralysis in the Strait of Hormuz continues, the Wall Street Journal quoted US officials as saying that President Donald Trump has directed his aides to prepare for a long-term blockade of Iran.
The newspaper said, “The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is crushing the Iranian economy and putting Tehran in the face of extreme difficulty storing its oil.”
Trillion dollars
Regarding the repercussions of closing the Strait of Hormuz on the world, especially at the economic level, the interactive map is based on figures indicating that closing the Strait threatens the global economy with losses of approximately 600 billion dollars, and the number may rise to more than a trillion dollars if the crisis continues.
The International Monetary Fund warned that the global inflation rate will exceed 4.4% this year, expecting the global economic growth rate to decline to about 3.1% against the backdrop of developments in the Strait of Hormuz.
The continuation of the crisis will also make the World Food Program unable to help 1.5 million people.
With the US President’s decision to extend the blockade of Iranian ports, fears prevail in global markets about the scarcity of supplies from the Gulf, one of the most important places of oil production and export in the world.
Regarding the turmoil that the energy sector experienced as a result of the war, global oil and gas supplies declined by 20% with the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, oil prices rose by more than 50%, and gas prices by 42%.
Global energy prices recorded an increase of more than 24%, and the price of Brent crude futures has increased by nearly 60% since the beginning of the war.
The interactive map presented by Muhammad Rimal indicates that Iran’s ability to store its crude oil may run out within 22 days, and that the oil production process may stop during this period.
The data also indicates that reconstruction in Iran may cost approximately $270 billion, and that Iran’s gross domestic product last year amounted to only $341 billion.
Panic
In his reading of the dimensions of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, oil and energy markets analyst Bashar Al-Halabi said that the data and figures show that the markets at the current stage do not expect the return of navigation traffic in the Strait of Hormuz nor a breakthrough in the political-diplomatic path between the United States and Iran.
Al-Halabi added – in his analysis of the economic repercussions of the war – that global markets may witness a “state of panic” within two weeks if the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues.
He continued that the demand for oil has not decreased significantly because the major global economies do not want to resort to this option due to its consequences on the lives of their citizens, explaining that oil-importing and consuming countries are competing with each other to obtain the limited quantities available in the markets.
On the other hand, Al-Halabi believes that the UAE’s exit from the OPEC Plus group has major repercussions, but the turmoil in the energy markets overshadowed the UAE’s exit process.
