A virtual shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered the most severe energy crisis since the 1970s, as oil tanker traffic through the critical waterway has slowed to a trickle. The crisis began after America and Israel attacked neighboring Iran, prompting immediate defensive actions from oil producers in the region.

In Iraq, DNO's chairman ordered oil wells shut down mid-flight as a precaution against potential Iranian retaliation. The company had previously weathered a drone strike on its Iraqi Kurdistan oil fields last summer. With shipping through the strait disrupted, major producers in Iraq cut output by more than two-thirds as storage facilities filled up, with tanks in Kuwait next to reach capacity.

U.S. oil prices surged above $100 a barrel for the first time since the Russia-Ukraine war, reflecting the severity of the supply disruption. The crisis represents a worst-case scenario that many energy analysts had long feared but never believed would materialize, as the Persian Gulf's oil lifeline faces unprecedented threats from escalating regional conflict.