The International Energy Agency (IEA) says it is the 'largest supply disruption in history'. With the disruption expected to have a lasting impact on prices, governments around the world have introduced measures to limit the impact on consumers and the economy.
The most senior officials from the US Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank, and the Bank of England are expected to take part in a desktop stress test to respond to another Lehman Brothers-style collapse.
In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea. This blockade has effectively brought Iran's economy to a standstill, as it relies heavily on international maritime trade.
"This is a system shock," says Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group. "You have a material energy supply disruption and a structural shift toward fragmentation."
The Iranian choke hold on the Strait of Hormuz evidently had a lot to do with it. By cutting off roughly one-fifth of the world's oil supply over the past five weeks, Iran's blockade of that narrow waterway caused an energy crisis and fears of a global recession that the White House could not abide for long.
The so-called 'petrodollar' system wasn't well understood for most of this time, but a secret deal between Henry Kissinger and Saudi Arabia ensured the dollar would remain the dominant reserve currency.
"We worked hard," WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said, adding that the US and Brazil in particular "need more time" to work out their differences over the agreement to impose levies on cross-border online orders.
