British and Australian citizens are paying the price for a war that their leaders refuse to condemn
The leaders of the UK and Australia have told their citizens to cut fuel consumption and prepare for months of hardship as a result of the US-Israeli war with Iran. But Keir Starmer and Anthony Albanese couldn’t bring themselves to name who’s responsible.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Australian counterpart, Anthony Albanese, delivered a pair of seemingly coordinated addresses to their nations on Wednesday. “The economic shocks caused by [the Iran war] will be with us for months,” Albanese said, telling Australians to switch to public transport if possible, and promising to cut fuel taxes and prepare for the possibility that “the global situation gets worse and our fuel supplies are seriously disrupted.”
“Australia is not an active participant in this war,” he claimed, despite his government being the first in the world to back the US and Israel’s opening strikes on Iran on February 28.
Starmer struck a similar tone, declaring that “this is not our war,” but warning that “the impact of this war will affect the future of our country.” The British PM promised that “no matter how fierce this storm is, we are well placed to weather it,” and vowed to help “reopen” the Strait of Hormuz.
How bad is the energy crisis?
The US-Israeli war with Iran has triggered the most severe energy crisis since the 1970s, if not in history. Around 40% of the world’s oil comes from the Middle East. Nearly a third of the world’s seaborne crude oil transits the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway less than 40 km wide at its narrowest point, which through a combination of Iranian attacks on tankers and hesitance by Western insurers, is de facto closed to maritime traffic.
Additionally, Iran’s retaliatory attacks on Gulf states hosting American troops have taken refineries and export terminals out of action. Qatar, which supplies 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas (LNG), completely halted production almost a month ago.
As a result, Brent oil prices – which serve as a barometer for 80% of the world’s crude oil – have sat above $100 per barrel for three weeks, while gas prices have surged 60% in the EU and more than 100% in the UK. While the crisis is global, its effects are particularly acute in the EU, UK, and Australia, all of which have sanctioned Russian oil and gas, shutting themselves off from a potential lifeline amid the crisis.
The EU once relied on Russia for 45% of its gas imports, before switching to more expensive American and Qatari supplies after 2022. With no date in sight for the resumption of Qatari imports, and with inflation spiking across Europe, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned last week that “we are facing a real shock…probably beyond what we can imagine at the moment.”
Are Starmer and Albanese pressuring the US?
The Strait of Hormuz was open to maritime traffic until the US and Israel launched an unprovoked attack on Iran in the middle of nuclear talks. However, neither Starmer nor Albanese mentioned the US or Israel in their speeches. Instead, both the UK and Australia issued a joint statement – along with 32 other US allies in Europe and the Gulf – blaming the closure of the strait squarely on “Iran’s actions.”
“We call on Iran to cease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping,” the statement reads, accusing Tehran of posing “a threat to international peace and security.
Furthermore, Albanese has sent surveillance aircraft, stocks of air-to-air missiles, and military personnel to the UAE, while Starmer has allowed the US to use the British-American air base on Diego Garcia to attack Iran. Despite aiding the US in a war that Starmer claims is “not ours,” the British PM has been publicly humiliated by US President Donald Trump. Starmer’s decision to grant access to Diego Garcia took “too long,” Trump complained last month, adding that he was “greatly disappointed” in his ally.
What does the crisis look like for ordinary people?
The most immediate signs of an energy crisis are felt at the pumps, where rising fuel prices foreshadow increasing costs of everything else dependent on oil: namely food, consumer goods, and the means of transporting them.
As of April 1, Americans are paying an average of $4.06 per gallon of gasoline ($1.07 per liter), up from around $3 before the war. British customers pay around $2.03 per liter while Australians pay roughly $1.79 – respectively 15% and 44% more expensive than in February. In the EU, fuel prices are highest in the Netherlands, where drivers pay $2.73 per liter.
In Russia, where export controls have been introduced to protect Russian consumers, Gasoline prices currently sit at around $0.83 per liter, down from $0.87 in February.
What is Trump doing to solve the crisis?
Trump has acknowledged that fuel prices will fall once the conflict ends, predicting on Tuesday that military operations could cease in “two to three weeks.” However, his messaging on Iran so far has swung between claims that peace is imminent, and threats to bomb Iran “back to the Stone Ages” until Tehran capitulates – each abrupt shift in tone seemingly timed to calm energy markets.
In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, Trump claimed that “Iran's new regime president… has just asked the United States of America for a ceasefire.” Trump added that he would grant Tehran a ceasefire once the Strait of Hormuz “is open, free, and clear.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed Trump’s claim as “false” and “baseless.”
Trump is due to discuss Iran in a speech to the nation later on Wednesday. It is unclear whether his address will signal escalation or deescalation. However, the Pentagon announced the deployment of another aircraft carrier – the USS George H.W. Bush – to the Middle East on Tuesday, and with plans reportedly being drawn up for a ground invasion of Iran, the conflict and resulting energy crisis may drag on significantly longer.