The Iran energy crisis has demonstrated the urgent need for dedicated energy diplomacy tracks in international crisis negotiations, separate from and parallel to broader political and security discussions, the head of the International Energy Agency has argued. Fatih Birol, speaking in Canberra, said energy considerations were too important and too technically complex to be handled as an afterthought in broader diplomatic negotiations. He described the current emergency as equivalent to the combined force of the 1970s twin oil shocks and the Ukraine gas disruption.
Birol said one of the key lessons of the current crisis was that energy supply consequences needed to be explicitly addressed in any diplomatic process aimed at resolving the conflict. Reopening the Strait of Hormuz and restoring access to damaged Gulf energy infrastructure needed to be central, not peripheral, elements of any ceasefire or peace negotiation. He called for energy experts and international energy institutions to be directly involved in conflict resolution processes where energy supply was at stake.
The conflict began February 28 with US and Israeli strikes on Iran and has since removed 11 million barrels of oil per day and 140 billion cubic metres of gas from world markets. At least 40 Gulf energy assets have been severely damaged, and the Hormuz strait — through which approximately 20 percent of global oil flows — remains closed. The IEA deployed 400 million barrels from strategic reserves on March 11 in its largest emergency action.
Birol confirmed further releases were under consideration and said consultations with governments across Europe, Asia, and North America were ongoing. He called for demand-side policies including remote work, lower speed limits, and reduced commercial aviation. He met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and said Australia’s diplomatic engagement in the region should explicitly incorporate energy security dimensions.
Trump’s 48-hour ultimatum to Iran to reopen the strait expired without result, and Tehran threatened retaliatory strikes on US and allied energy and water infrastructure. Birol concluded by calling for energy diplomacy to be treated as a distinct and essential discipline within international crisis management. He said the Iran crisis had demonstrated that the economic consequences of energy supply disruptions were too significant and too immediate to be left to the margins of diplomatic negotiations.