"PARIS — A group representing many of the world’s wealthiest countries agreed Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the effects of the Iran war on energy markets and the halt of cargo shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
The International Energy Agency said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members’ emergency reserves, which is more than double the 182.7 million barrels that the IEA’s 32 member countries released in 2022 in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“This is a major action aiming to alleviate the immediate impacts of the disruption in markets,” said Fatih Birol, executive director of the Paris-based IEA. “But, to be clear, the most important thing for a return to stable flows of oil and gas is the resumption of transit through the Strait of Hormuz.”
Iran has attacked commercial ships across the Persian Gulf in response to U.S. and Israeli strikes, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mount and effectively stopping cargo traffic in the narrow Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of all oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean. Iran has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations, aiming to generate enough global economic pain to pressure the U.S. and Israel to end their strikes."
Samuel Petrequin and Kirsten Grieshaber report for the Associated Press March 11, 2026.
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