Paris, April 21 (QNA) - Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol warned on Tuesday that the ongoing conflict between Iran, the United States, and Israel is leading to one of the most severe energy crises the world has ever witnessed.

"This is indeed the biggest crisis in history,” Dr Fatih Birol said an interview. "The crisis is already huge, if you combine the effects of the petrol crisis and the gas crisis with Russia."

He added that the war in the Middle East has disrupted shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately one-fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies pass, further increasing pressure on energy markets.

He pointed out that this crisis also come on top of the effects of Russia’s war with Ukraine, which had already severed Russian gas supplies to Europe.

Earlier this month, Birol stated that he believes the current situation in global energy markets is worse than the crises of 1973, 1979, and 2022 combined.

In March, the IEA agreed to release a record 400 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves to counter rising oil prices caused by the US-Israeli war on Iran. (QNA)