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Global famine fears rise as Hormuz crisis threatens ‘eight-year,’ Suez-scale disruption
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Analysts warn global famine fears are rising as food prices climb and fragile supply chains are strained during the Strait of Hormuz crisis, raising the risk of a prolonged, Suez-scale, eight-year disruption.
As the conflict entered Day 62, the U.S. maintained its naval blockade of traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports, while Iran continued to effectively close the Strait.
“Best case, there is an agreement between the U.S. and Iran within the next few weeks, and the Strait reopens,” Lars Jensen, CEO and partner at Vespucci Maritime, told Fox News Digital.
“And it has to be a deal where there is trust that Iran is sufficiently satisfied with the deal such that they do not suddenly close the strait again.
AIRLINES MAY CUT FLIGHT SCHEDULES AS IRAN TENSIONS DRIVE UP FUEL COSTS, EXPERTS WARN
A cargo ship sails in the Persian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz April 22, 2026. (AP Photo)
“Even in that case, it will still take months for the supply chains to revert back to normality.”
President Donald Trump announced April 21 he would delay renewed strikes on Iran until it presents a proposal for long-term peace, effectively extending a 14-day ceasefire indefinitely.
Trump said Washington’s blockade of Iranian ports has been effective, urging Tehran to “just give up” as tensions escalate over the waterway.
“Worst case, we can look at the eight-year closure of the Suez Canal from 1967 to 1975,” Jensen said.
ISRAELI OFFICIALS REPORTEDLY WARN IRAN’S BALLISTIC MISSILES COULD TRIGGER SOLO MILITARY ACTION AGAINST TEHRAN
The SKS Doyles crude oil tanker moves along the Suez Canal towards Ismailia in Suez, Egypt, on Dec. 21, 2023, amid a sharp decline in tanker traffic through the Red Sea due to attacks disrupting global trade routes. (Stringer/Bloomberg)
“Despite its importance to the global economy, it proved impossible to reopen the canal for those eight years,” he said.
The Suez Canal, shut from 1967 to 1975 after the Arab-Israeli conflict, has faced recurring disruption, including Red Sea attacks since 2023, driving up insurance costs, creating a “shadow blockade” and curbing traffic.
For Hormuz, Jensen says fertilizer, which is central to agricultural production, is the most critical factor, and any sustained disruption could quickly ripple through global food systems.
“Fertilizer is the most important element. Thirty percent of the world’s seaborne fertilizer comes from the Persian Gulf,” Jensen said. “Fertilizer prices are already rising fast,” he warned.
IRAN FIRES LIVE MISSILES INTO STRAIT OF HORMUZ AS TRUMP ENVOYS ARRIVE FOR NUCLEAR TALKS
A ship is seen passing through the Strait of Hormuz during a two-week temporary ceasefire between the United States and Iran on April 8, 2026. (Shady Alassar/Anadolu/Getty Images)
“In wealthy countries, it means more expensive food come harvest season, and, in poor countries, it means that farmers right now cannot afford fertilizer,” Jensen added.
“This will lead to the harvest being lower later in the season, leading to rapid increases in food prices in very poor countries. And such a situation increases the risk of famine and conflict.”
Diplomatic efforts remained fragile between the U.S. and Iran as of Thursday, with limited signs of progress.
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According to reports, a giant banner hangs on a building in Tehran’s central Enqelab Square declaring, “The Strait of Hormuz will remain closed; the entire Persian Gulf is our hunting ground.”
“Cargo vessels are not going through for the simple reason that commercial companies do not want to see their seafarers potentially killed,” Jensen added.
Ruslan Gabbasov knew his activism had made him a target of Russia’s security services, so when he found an Apple AirTag tracker hidden under the hood of his car last spring, he understood it meant trouble.
Just not how much trouble.
The discovery of the tracking device triggered a sprawling, yearlong investigation by the authorities in Lithuania, where Mr. Gabbasov, an advocate for minority rights, had sought asylum after fleeing Russia in 2021. That investigation culminated this week when Lithuanian officials announced the arrests of nine people accused of plotting murders and sabotage across Europe at the behest of Russia’s military intelligence service, known as the G.R.U.
The group set fire to military equipment in Bulgaria that was destined for Ukraine and carried out surveillance of Greek military installations, according to a statement released by the Lithuanian police. Among those arrested was a man in his 50s captured outside Mr. Gabbasov’s home in Lithuania, where he lives with his wife and 5-year-old son. The man, who the authorities said had Greek and Russian citizenship, was armed with a pistol, the police said.
Mr. Gabbasov said he was at a McDonald’s, drinking coffee, when the police called, frantic, to tell him, “You simply have no idea the danger you’re in.”
“I understood that I was a person of interest for the Russian secret services,” Mr. Gabbasov said in a phone interview. “But I didn’t think it would go so far as murder.”
The case is a reminder of the threat Russia poses to the West at a time when Washington has shifted focus from Europe’s eastern flank and the war in Ukraine to the Middle East. Western intelligence officials assess that dismantling institutions like NATO and the European Union, and undermining Western diplomatic ties, remains a key foreign policy goal of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin.
In parallel to Moscow’s military action in Ukraine, Russia’s intelligence services have waged a campaign of sabotage in Europe that has escalated over the years from vandalism to bombings, arson and murder plots, according to intelligence agencies in multiple countries. Countries that are Ukraine’s biggest supporters, and anti-Putin Russians living in exile, have been the primary targets. Railroad tracks in Poland used to transport military hardware have been bombed and warehouses storing goods destined for Ukraine have been burned down in Britain and Spain.
The most dramatic of these plots to date involved placing incendiary devices inside packages meant to be loaded onto DHL cargo planes. Two of the devices ignited at shipping facilities in Britain and Germany and another went off inside a truck in Poland.
Lithuania, where the DHL packages originated, has led that investigation, as well, which so far has resulted in more than a dozen arrests, mostly of proxies recruited online by the Russian intelligence services with promises of cash, the authorities say.
The use of proxies is a typical strategy employed by Russia’s intelligence services, Western officials say. On Wednesday, German authorities announced the arrest of a Kazakh national accused of providing Russia’s intelligence services with information about Germany’s military support for Ukraine.
Russia has repeatedly denied that its intelligence services are involved in sabotage and homicide.
In the case involving Mr. Gabbasov, the Lithuanian authorities said, the network they broke up involved citizens of Greece, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Latvia, Moldova and Lithuania. The investigation, according to the Lithuanian police statement, “established direct connections between the perpetrators and the people who ordered the murders, acting in the interests of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation,” as the G.R.U. is called officially.
“We have been facing a series of hybrid-type criminal acts that are in fact directed against European Union countries, their national security interests, and individuals who in one way or another support Ukraine,” Saulius Briginas, Deputy Head of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, said at a news conference on Monday. “The nature and objectives of these criminal acts align with those of the Russian Federation.”
Lithuanian authorities released few details about the plots. They said several people who had supported Ukraine or worked against Russia had been targeted for murder. They did not offer a number, and most have not been identified.
In addition to Mr. Gabbasov, a Lithuanian citizen named Valdas Bartkevičius said that he was also targeted for murder, which the authorities confirmed. Mr. Bartkevičius has gained notoriety for anti-Russian stunts including defacing Soviet World War II monuments and bringing a bucket of feces to a memorial to victims of a terrorist attack in Moscow.
“It’s logical they’re trying to kill me,” Mr. Bartkevičius said in a phone interview from Ukraine, where he has been assisting the Ukrainian military.
After alerting the authorities about the AirTag, Mr. Gabbasov, 46, said he was used as bait in a “cat-and-mouse game” with his would-be killers. Lithuanian police set up surveillance cameras at his home and near his car. He was told to inform the police whenever he planned to leave home and when he planned to return.
But in March last year, Mr. Gabbasov forgot to tell them when he left home with his family to attend festivities marking the anniversary of Lithuania’s independence from the Soviet Union. While he was at the McDonald’s, the armed man took up position outside of his home. He said the police told him that the man, who was arrested, was dressed and equipped to wait “all night,” if necessary, for Mr. Gabbasov to return, though they provided few other details.
The arrest was first announced this week, along with those of others in the investigation that followed.
Mr. Gabbasov said the police offered to put him into a witness protection program, but he declined because he did not want to step away from his activism. He has agitated for independence for his native Bashkortostan, a mostly Muslim region of central Russia. In response, Russian authorities have put a bounty on his head and added him to Russia’s version of a terrorist watch list. In March, he was sentenced in absentia to 14 years in prison.
Despite the arrests by Lithuania, Mr. Gabbasov does not expect the threat to subside.
“The end of the story will come when the Putin regime collapses,” he said.
Price of petrol in US jumps by nearly 30 cents in one week amid Strait of Hormuz blockade and Iran diplomatic deadlock.
The average price of one gallon (3.8 litres) of gasoline in the United States has reached $4.30, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA), up from less than $3 before the February 28 start of the US-Israel war on Iran.
Thursday’s prices come as US President Donald Trump insists that time is on his side in the standoff with Iran, even as he refuses Tehran’s offers of a preliminary deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
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According to AAA, prices for gas or petrol went up by 27 cents over the past week amid the deepening impasse, with Iran blocking the strait and the US imposing a naval siege on Iranian ports.
“The national average is $1.12 higher than it was this time last year, as oil prices surge above $100/barrel with no indication of when the Strait of Hormuz will reopen,” AAA said in a brief report on Thursday.
“Gas prices are the highest they’ve been in four years, since late July 2022.”
California, home to nearly 40 million people, saw petrol prices hit more than $6 per gallon on Thursday.
The spike in energy prices has been fuelling inflation and economic uncertainty, adding to Trump’s political woes.
The US president’s approval rating is hitting record lows amid growing discontent with the conflict with Iran, recent public opinion polls show.
Since the start of the war, Trump and his allies have been trying to frame the hike in petrol prices as a temporary price worth paying to achieve the aims of the military campaign.
The US president reiterated that argument on Thursday when asked about the latest price increase.
“And you know what? And we’re not going to have a nuclear weapon in the hands of Iran,” the US president told reporters.
“The gas will go down. As soon as the war is over, it’ll drop like a rock.”
However, oil prices do not drop automatically after hostilities stop. Despite the ceasefire reached on April 8, the cost of gas in the US has continued to climb.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.
Although the US is one of the largest oil producers and is not heavily reliant on energy products from the Middle East, global prices affect what Americans pay at the pump.
On Thursday, Trump stressed that Iran is all but vanquished militarily and economically – a claim he has been repeating since the early days of the conflict.
“Iran is dying to make a deal,” he said, calling the naval blockade against the country “incredible”.
Tehran has projected defiance, refusing to hold direct talks with the US until the siege is lifted, even after Trump announced last week that he was dispatching his top envoys to Pakistan to negotiate with Iranian officials.
Earlier on Thursday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian suggested that Iran is running out of patience with the current situation of no war and no peace amid the US siege.
“The world has witnessed Iran’s tolerance and conciliation. What is being done under the guise of a naval blockade is an extension of military operations against a nation paying the price for its resistance and independence,” Pezeshkian said in a social media post.
“Continuation of this oppressive approach is intolerable.”
Olivia Rodrigo has announced dates for “The Unraveled Tour,” a huge 65-date run across North America, Europe, and the UK. The tour supports her third studio album, “You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love,” out June 12, 2026 via Geffen Records.
Promoted by Live Nation, the global tour kicks off Friday, September 25 in Hartford, CT at PeoplesBank Arena and features multi-night plays in cities around the world including Washington, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Nashville, Vancouver, Oakland, Las Vegas, Stockholm, Paris, Milan, and more.
Opening acts include Devon Again, Die Spitz, Grace Ives, The Last Dinner Party, and Wolf Alice will join Olivia on select dates. Full dates appear below.
Rodrigo is set to appear on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” tonight (April 30), and will make her hosting debut with double duty on “Saturday Night Live” this weekend on May 2.
American Express is partnering with Olivia Rodrigo for the tour. Eligible American Express Card Members will have access to Amex Presale Tickets for the North America, Europe and UK dates starting Tuesday, May 5 at 12pm local time through Wednesday, May 6 at 10pm local time, while supplies last. Presale dates and times vary by show.
NORTH AMERICA TICKETS: The general onsale will begin Thursday, May 7 at 12pm local time.
EUROPE TICKETS: For Europe dates, fans can also register for presale access by pre-ordering the new album by signing up — no purchase necessary. Those already preordered will automatically receive a code. The general onsale begins Thursday, May 7 at 12pm local time.
UK TICKETS: For UK dates, tickets will first be available via an O2 presale beginning Tuesday, May 5 at 10am local time. Fans can also register for presale access by pre-ordering the new album or by signing up — no purchase necessary. Those who already preordered will automatically receive a code. The general onsale begins Thursday, May 7 at 12pm local time.
VIP: The Unraveled Tour will also offer VIP packages and experiences.
SILVER STAR TICKETS: Olivia Rodrigo will once again offer Silver Star Tickets on her upcoming tour, with a limited number of $20 USD tickets (or local currency equivalent, plus taxes where applicable) available at a later date. Originally introduced during the “Guts” world tour, the program is designed to make attending shows more accessible and affordable for fans. Tickets must be purchased in pairs, with a maximum of two per order. Seats will be assigned together, with locations revealed on the day of show at venue box office pickup. Ticket locations may include limited view, lower and upper levels, as well as floor seating.
OLIVIA RODRIGO’S FUND 4 GOOD: Fund 4 Good is a global initiative that supports community-based nonprofits to build an equitable and just future for all women and girls. Past donations supported organizations championing girls’ education, reproductive rights, and the prevention of gender-based violence. A portion of Olivia’s proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the fund.
THE UNRAVELED TOUR 2026/2027 DATES:
Fri, Sep 25—Hartford, CT—PeoplesBank Arena+
Sat, Sep 26—Hartford, CT—PeoplesBank Arena+
Tue, Sep 29—Pittsburgh, PA—PPG Paints Arena+
Wed, Sep 30—Pittsburgh, PA—PPG Paints Arena+
Sat, Oct 3—Washington, DC—Capital One Arena+
Sun, Oct 4—Washington, DC—Capital One Arena+
Wed, Oct 7—Charlotte, NC—Spectrum Center+
Thu, Oct 8—Charlotte, NC—Spectrum Center+
Sun, Oct 11—Chicago, IL—United Center+
Mon, Oct 12—Chicago, IL—United Center+
Thu, Oct 15—Boston, MA—TD Garden+
Sat, Oct 17—Boston, MA—TD Garden+
Wed, Oct 21—Montreal, QC—Bell Centre+
Thu, Oct 22—Montreal, QC—Bell Centre+
Mon, Oct 26—Toronto, ON—Scotiabank Arena+
Tue, Oct 27—Toronto, ON—Scotiabank Arena+
Thu, Oct 29—Columbus, OH—Schottenstein Center+
Fri, Oct 30—Columbus, OH—Schottenstein Center+
Sat, Nov 7—Philadelphia, PA—Xfinity Mobile Arena^
Sun, Nov 8—Philadelphia, PA—Xfinity Mobile Arena^
Wed, Nov 11—Atlanta, GA—State Farm Arena^
Thu, Nov 12—Atlanta, GA—State Farm Arena^
Sun, Nov 15—Orlando, FL—Kia Center^
Mon, Nov 16—Orlando, FL—Kia Center^
Thu, Nov 19—Sunrise, FL—Amerant Bank Arena^
Fri, Nov 20—Sunrise, FL—Amerant Bank Arena^
Mon, Nov 23—Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena^
Tue, Nov 24—Nashville, TN—Bridgestone Arena^
Tue, Dec 1—Vancouver, BC—Rogers Arena^
Wed, Dec 2—Vancouver, BC—Rogers Arena^
Mon, Dec 7—Seattle, WA—Climate Pledge Arena^
Tue, Dec 8—Seattle, WA—Climate Pledge Arena^
Fri, Dec 11—Oakland, CA—Oakland Arena^
Sat, Dec 12—Oakland, CA—Oakland Arena^
Tue, Dec 15—Sacramento, CA—Golden 1 Center^
Wed, Dec 16—Sacramento, CA—Golden 1 Center^
Sat, Dec 19—Las Vegas, NV—T-Mobile Arena^
Sun, Dec 20—Las Vegas, NV—T-Mobile Arena^
Tue, Jan 12—Los Angeles, CA—Intuit Dome#^
Wed, Jan 13—Los Angeles, CA—Intuit Dome#^
Sat, Jan 16—Los Angeles, CA—Intuit Dome#^
Sun, Jan 17—Los Angeles, CA—Intuit Dome#^
Thu, Feb 11—Brooklyn, NY—Barclays Center#^
Fri, Feb 12—Brooklyn, NY—Barclays Center#^
Mon, Feb 15—Brooklyn, NY—Barclays Center#^
Tue, Feb 16—Brooklyn, NY—Barclays Center#^
Fri Mar 19—Stockholm, Sweden—Avicii Arena~
Sat Mar 20—Stockholm, Sweden—Avicii Arena~
Tue Mar 23—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Ziggo Dome~
Wed Mar 24—Amsterdam, Netherlands—Ziggo Dome~
Thu Apr 1—Munich, Germany—Olympiahalle~
Fri Apr 2—Munich, Germany—Olympiahalle~
Mon Apr 5—London, UK—The O2~
Tue Apr 6—London, UK—The O2~
Thu Apr 8—London, UK—The O2~
Fri Apr 9—London, UK—The O2~
Fri Apr 23—Paris, France—La Defense Arena=
Tue Apr 27—Milan, Italy—Unipol Dome=
Wed Apr 28—Milan, Italy—Unipol Dome=
Sat May 1—Barcelona, Spain—Palau Sant Jordi=
Sun May 2—Barcelona, Spain—Palau Sant Jordi=
Support:
+ Wolf Alice
^ Devon Again
# The Last Dinner Party
~ Grace Ives
= Die Spitz
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