The price of the war is becoming inescapable everywhere. Brent crude jumped about 5.6% on July 23 to roughly $99 a barrel—its highest since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began—as Houthi strikes on two Saudi tankers in the Red Sea compounded the seizure of the Strait of Hormuz, Fortune reported. Buyers in Asia are weighing longer, costlier routes; each detour adds weeks of time and additional expense.
With Hormuz effectively closed since late February and the Houthis now enforcing a blockade at Bab el-Mandeb, a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and much of its liquefied natural gas is under threat at two chokepoints at once. Every rise in the crude price feeds directly into the fertilizer, freight, and food costs already building toward a hunger crisis.