Live Updates: Iran war pushes oil prices to 4-year high as Hegseth faces off with senators

The head of the United Nations warned Thursday of the “specter of global recession” if the U.S.-Iran war doesn’t end soon, imploring both sides to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and “let the global economy breathe again.” 

Speaking to journalists in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that despite the “fragile ceasefire” between the U.S. and Iran, the consequences of their ongoing standoff in the Strait of Hormuz “grow dramatically worse with each passing hour.”

“As with every conflict, the whole of humanity is paying the price,” he said. “The pain will be felt for a long time to come.”

Since the U.S. and Iran signed a ceasefire, which President Trump later said he was extending indefinitely to leave room for diplomacy, the Strait of Hormuz – a waterway vital for the transit of global energy supplies – has become the focal point of tension between the two countries.

Iran has impeded access to the strait, while the U.S. is blockading Iranian ports and vessels, and both sides have seized ships accused of violating their respective restrictions. The gridlock has sent global energy prices skyrocketing, pushing up inflation.

Guterres set out three scenarios in his speech. He said if the strait were opened immediately — the “best-case scenario” — the world would still see economic growth decline, inflation rise, and “further economic distress.”

If the constraint on shipping through the strait “drags on through midyear,” he said 32 million people would fall into poverty and 45 million “into extreme hunger,” he said. 

If the war grinds on through 2026, Guterres said it would cause “immense suffering,” and the world would “confront the specter of a global recession.”

“The consequences are not cumulative. They are exponential,” he said, calling on both the U.S. and Iran to “let all ships pass,” and “let the global economy breathe again.”