US/Israel-Iran War (Day 24): IEA warns of severe global energy crisis

Over 2,500 people have now been confirmed dead in the war that the United States and Israel launched against Iran, which has now spread across the Middle East.

Also, attacks on major gas facilities in four Middle Eastern countries are worsening the war’s economic impact.

The war entered its 24th day (its fourth week) on Sunday and shows no sign of abating.

PREMIUM TIMES brings you the key events around the war on Saturday.

IEA warns of oil shock worse than 1970

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned of a serious energy crisis that threatens the global economy.

The IEA director, Faith Birol, speaking at the National Press Club in Australia on Monday, compared the burgeoning energy crisis caused by the war in the Middle East to that of the 1970s.

The global economy, he said, is facing a “major, major threat.”

CNN reported Mr Birol saying it was worse than the two consecutive oil crises in 1973 and 1979, in which the world lost about 10 million barrels of oil per day.

PREMIUM TIMES reports that energy became the target of the war last week after Israel struck South Pars and Iran, in a reprisal attack fired at Qatar’s major LNG industry, Ras Laffan.

Oil and gas prices, which have been fluctuating since Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, shot higher.

This disruption of oil supply is on the heels of the gas market crash triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But Mr Birol said oil and gas are not the only products affected, noting that petrochemicals, such as and helium, are also affected.

“Their trade is all interrupted, which would have serious consequences for the global economy,” Mr Birol said.

Asia, he said, is significantly affected by this crisis.

Iran threatens attack on infrastructure in Gulf states

Iran says it will attack Israel’s power plants and plants supplying to US bases in the Gulf if President Donald Trump has the US military attack its energy infrastructure.

The country declared this in response to Mr Trump’s threat to “obliterate” Iran’s energy infrastructure should it fail to open the Strait of Hormuz in “48 hours.”

The country also tried to retract its earlier threats to attack desalination plants in the region.

“The lying … US President has claimed that the Revolutionary Guards ‌ intend to attack the water desalination plants and cause hardship to the people of the countries in the region,” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Council (IRGC) said in a statement shared by Al Jazeera.

“We are determined to respond to any threat at the same level as it creates in terms of deterrence … If you hit electricity, we hit electricity.”

Israel says fighting to continue for more weeks

Meanwhile, Israel envisages that the war, which is already four weeks old, will go on for weeks.

Contrary to Mr Trump’s assertion that the war would end “very soon,” the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesman, Effie Defrin, said there are several more weeks ahead.

“We are expected to face several more weeks of fighting against Iran and Hezbollah,” Mr Defrin said according to The Times of Israel.

“With each passing day, we are weakening the terror regime more and more. We will not allow the terror regime and its proxies to pose a threat to the State of Israel,” he said.

US can afford the war – Treasury Secretary

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, on Sunday, said Washington has “plenty of money” to fund the war with Israel against Iran.

He said the Pentagon is requesting an additional $200 billion in funding from Congress to ensure the military remains well supplied in the future.

Reuters reports that he also squashed the possibility of tax increases on citizens to fund the war.

“We have plenty of money to fund this war. This is supplemental. President Trump has built up the military, as he did in his first term, as he is now doing in his second term.

“He wants to make sure that the military is well supplied going forward,” he said.

Israel downs most of Iran’s ballistic missiles

Israel says it has successfully intercepted most of the more than 400 ballistic missiles launched by Iran since the beginning of the war.

“We have had great interception rates — approximately 92 per cent successful interception rate,” the country said, according to CNN

READ ALSO: US/Israel-Iran War (Day 23): Trump gives Iran 48 hours to reopen Strait of Hormuz

Iranian missile strikes near Israel’s nuclear facility stir worries

The attack on Southern Israel communities — Dimona and Arad— 8 miles away from Israel’s nuclear facility in the Negev, rattled top Israeli security officials.

The New York Times reports that the Israeli military admitted that they had tried to intercept the missiles, which were 3 hours apart, and failed.

According to the paper, the attacks have made top officials question how well Israel’s complex missile defense system really works and whether it can fully protect the population.

There are also worries that the report claiming Iran’s military capacity was depleted in the 12-day war in 2025 might be inaccurate and that Iran might have been saving its most advanced and expensive missiles.

Prime Minister Netanyahu admitted during his visit to the site that “it was a miracle” that no one died in the incident.

However, more than 100 people were injured in the attack, which has been described as one of the most destructive Iranian attacks since the war.

Israel’s nuclear research facility and reactor in the Negev are located, and its environs, which include Dimona and Arad, are believed to be among the country’s most protected areas.