Published On 6/5/2026
|
Last update: 14:34 (Mecca time)
The United Nations World Food Program has warned that the US-Israeli war on Iran and its repercussions are pushing millions of people towards hunger, with fuel, transportation costs and food prices rising, at a time when funding shortages are forcing relief agencies to reduce aid.
The program said that the repercussions of the crisis may push an additional 45 million people into food insecurity, on top of the 318 million people who already suffer from acute hunger, which could raise the total number to 363 million during 2026 if the escalation continues.
The US-Israeli strikes on Iran late last February caused the outbreak of a regional conflict that extended across the Gulf to Lebanon, disrupting major shipping routes, including the Strait of Hormuz, forcing ships to change their routes, and confusing energy flows and global supply chains.
The World Food Program estimated last March that the number of people who may suffer from severe food insecurity may increase by about 45 million people if the conflict continues until mid-year and oil prices remain above $100 a barrel.
Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, Karl Skau, said that the continuation of the conflict will send shocks around the world, and that families who cannot already afford the cost of their next meal will be the most affected, warning that the absence of sufficient funding for the humanitarian response could mean disaster for millions of people living on the brink of hunger.
Fragile states
Households in Afghanistan, Somalia and Sri Lanka are among the worst affected, facing increasing pressures due to rising fuel costs, food prices, loss of income and disruption to trade.
In Afghanistan, the program says that 17.4 million people need urgent food aid, and that about 4.9 million women and children are expected to need treatment for malnutrition during 2026.
The World Food Program says that the crisis in Afghanistan coincides with the escalating situation on the closed border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, the repercussions of the Iran war, and an unprecedented emergency of hunger and malnutrition, in addition to a funding crisis that is stifling the program’s operations and raising its costs.
The program added that it needs $350 million to finance its operations in Afghanistan until October 2026, but currently, in light of the decline in funding, it can only reach two million people per month, compared to about four million Afghans it supported last winter.
In Somalia, the program expects 6.5 million people to face crisis levels of hunger or worse, including two million people at emergency levels, and 1.84 million children are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition during 2026.
The program said that Somalia is facing one of the most complex hunger crises in years, due to drought, insecurity, a sharp decline in humanitarian funding, and the repercussions of the Middle East conflict, noting that the crisis has raised food prices and increased fuel costs by 150%.
Financing pressure
The crisis comes at a time when the World Food Program is suffering from a severe lack of funding, which has forced it to rearrange the priorities of its programs on several continents, meaning that those in need of assistance will be left without support.
The program said supply chain disruptions have added about 9,000 kilometers to some humanitarian shipping routes, while security risks, disruption of sea lanes and rising costs have slowed the delivery of food and essential supplies.
The program’s supply chain director, Corinne Fleischer, said that supply chain disruption does not only appear in ports and shipping routes, but also affects families when purchasing food, because delayed supplies and high transportation costs push food prices up.
She added that families that spend between 50% and 70% of their income on food will be the first to give up meals if the cost of living continues to rise.
In Afghanistan, according to the World Food Programme, the rise in fuel prices increased the costs of transporting aid by up to five times, and increased the delivery time from 10 days to up to 75 days, with trucks forced to use alternative corridors.
The program says that countries dependent on food and energy imports in Africa and Asia face the highest risks of spreading the impact of the crisis, because rising energy prices affect transportation, fertilizers, and basic commodities, and at the same time put pressure on government budgets and the ability of humanitarian organizations to respond.
