UN Warns Prolonged Iran War Could Spur Record Global Hunger

The United Nations warned that as many as 45 million more people could face acute hunger if the conflict in Iran doesn’t ease by the middle of the year, taking the total number to a record high.

The near shutdown of the critical Strait of Hormuz and mounting risks to traffic in the Red Sea are already increasing energy, fuel and fertilizer costs, deepening hunger beyond the Middle East, the UN’s World Food Programme said in a statement on Tuesday. That could push the number of people in acute food insecurity to 363 million, eclipsing the hunger levels that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it added.