U.S. Attack on Iran Disrupts Oil Flows and Prompts Global Trade Realignments

U.S. attack on Iran occurred on February 28, 2026, prompting Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz and the United States to impose a blockade, Foreign Policy reported. The war on Iran started in late February 2026, leading to rapid surges in usage of China’s Cross-Border Interbank Payment System (CIPS) since then.

61 per gallon for regular gas on March 3, 2026. Officials in Dubai threatened up to two years in prison for sharing photos of Iranian missile attacks. A member of the Iranian security forces stood guard in Tehran on March 31, 2026.

Project Sunrise and Board of Peace initiative, aimed at creating a $112 billion special economic zone in Gaza, were proposed by President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The EU finalized a trade agreement with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The EU concluded a landmark trade agreement with India.

EU leaders are exploring closer cooperation with the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates negotiated agreements with Ukraine. Canada negotiated agreements with China.

India began settling oil trade in yuan and Emirati dirhams. Saudi Arabia began experimenting with nondollar oil sales to Asian countries. The petroyuan was introduced in 2018. U.S. dollar’s share of global foreign-exchange reserves continues to decline, according to the IMF and World Bank.

These developments echo historical oil shocks that shaped postwar economic alliances, Foreign Policy reported. The three major oil shocks occurred in the postwar period in 1956, 1973, and 1978-79. U.S.

Dollar and stabilized global economic governance via the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The Marshall Plan was concluded at the start of the Cold War. The European Economic Community was founded in 1957.

The Treaty of Rome was signed on February 20, 1957, by six founding states. The Treaty of Rome associated more than a dozen overseas territories under Part IV, denying them voting powers. Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956.

Britain, France, and Israel responded militarily to the Suez Canal nationalization in 1956. Gamal Abdel Nasser’s troops blocked the Suez Canal in November 1956 by filling dozens of ships with rocks.

Britain and France withdrew from the Suez crisis in 1956 after the United States declined to support its allies. Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated attack on Israel in 1973 to regain the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. OPEC sharply increased oil prices in 1973.

OAPEC imposed export cuts and an embargo targeting Western supporters of Israel in 1973. Venezuela nationalized its own oil reserves in 1973. Oil replaced coal as the dominant energy source in Western Europe by 1970.

U.S. dollar to gold in 1971. N. Conference on Trade and Development and declared a 'new international economic order' in 1974.

The Group of Six (later G-7) was created in response to the 1973 oil crisis. The International Energy Agency was created in response to the 1973 oil crisis. Structural adjustment loans were imposed by the IMF and World Bank on non-Western oil-importing countries starting from 1976.

The Iranian Revolution occurred in 1979. The United States imposed economic sanctions on Iran, trade restrictions, and froze about $8 million in Iranian assets in November 1979. Customers stood in line during a gas shortage at a gas station in Los Angeles, California, United States, in May 1979.

The Iran-Iraq War lasted from 1980 to 1988. Giuliana Chamedes is an assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The article was published on May 4, 2026, at 5:10 AM.