The volatility of global oil prices caused by the US and Israel’s war on Iran is slowing or blocking food and medical aid, hitting the most vulnerable people and prompting aid organisations to call for a “humanitarian corridor” through the Strait of Hormuz.
Bob Kitchen, vice-president for emergencies at the International Rescue Committee (IRC), urged “serious and immediate conversations about humanitarian corridors through the strait of Hormuz so, at the very least, we can get supplies that are currently stuck in humanitarian hubs through the strait to resupply.” Vital medicines and relief stocks are being held up: shipping disruptions prevented the IRC from accessing $130,000 of supplies stuck in Dubai that were needed by 20,000 people in Sudan. In Nigeria and Ethiopia, government oil rations have forced the IRC to limit generator use in health clinics. “In certain parts of hospitals, we’ll have to close off the electricity to keep more important things running [if this continues],” Kitchen said.
Aid agencies report rapidly rising operational costs. “It is more expensive to buy fuel to run our operations, moving commodities, moving personnel around many of the countries in sub‑Saharan Africa,” Kitchen said. Cecile Terraz, director at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, added: “The reality here is that it’s 100% sure that the increase of oil price is affecting the lives of people and also our operations.”
Since the conflict began in February, oil jumped from about $60 a barrel at the start of the year to a peak near $120 as the US and Iran alternately closed and blockaded the 5km-wide passage. The constrained flow of ships through the strait has reduced global supplies of oil, food, fertiliser and medicine and driven up prices; the current cost of oil is near $111 a barrel. Many large aid organisations, already reeling from recent funding cuts by donor governments, have been badly exposed because humanitarian products are often exported from hubs in India and Dubai to communities in need, many in Africa.
Save the Children estimates that every $5 increase per barrel of oil costs the charity an additional $340,000 a month in shipping, fuel, food and medical supplies over budget — equivalent to a month of aid for nearly 40,000 children. If oil prices remain around $100 for the rest of 2026, the charity says it would cost an extra $27m this year. The World Food Programme (WFP) warns that the disruption could leave 45 million more people hungry, on top of the 318 million already classed as food insecure before February’s attacks. “We are being squeezed from both ends. While world leaders are cutting aid budgets, conflict is driving up the cost of every shipment, every sachet of food, every medical kit we send,” said Save the Children’s director of global supply, Willem Zuidema.
Government aid cuts have compounded the crisis. The US reduced foreign assistance by 57% in 2025; UK aid last year was at its lowest level since 2008. Norway, Germany and France have also trimmed budgets. That combination of higher costs and lower funding is forcing agencies to scale back reach and rethink logistics.
In Yemen, still mired in a decade-long conflict and where nearly half the population needs aid, shipping costs have risen by up to 20% because of fuel, with food prices up about 30%, according to Save the Children’s estimates. In Somalia, the cost of importing medications for acute malnutrition in children has tripled since the conflict began, Robyn Savage, Care’s humanitarian director, said: “This means there is less medication available for those children, and that will result in fewer children being able to be treated.” Somalia is also suffering severe drought, and the WFP reports basic food prices there have risen by about 20%.
In Myanmar, a typical basket of goods has risen by 19%. In landlocked Afghanistan, costs of getting food in have tripled. The WFP’s Afghanistan country director, John Aylieff, said fortified biscuits normally shipped via the Strait of Hormuz now have to be moved by road through seven countries from Dubai to Afghanistan to avoid the strait, adding three weeks to deliveries. “Afghan children today are going hungry as a result,” he said, warning that many could die.
The WFP told aid partners that the oil price increase would prevent it from reaching an estimated 1.5 million people in the coming months. The agency is working to reroute about 93,000 tonnes of food, including fortified biscuits and nutrition supplements, bound for populations with urgent needs — such as refugees from Sudan, now the world’s largest humanitarian emergency — at considerable extra cost and delay. The region’s congestion affects not only ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz but shipping across the broader area.
Typical maritime supply chains have been lengthened dramatically. Supplies from manufacturing hubs near Mumbai that once sailed to Oman and Jeddah via Bab el‑Mandeb and Port Sudan are now rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope, through the Mediterranean and Suez, adding roughly 9,000km and several weeks to journeys.
On the ground, NGOs also feel the strain. In Bangladesh, BRAC staff report spending five hours a week queueing for rationed fuel, reducing time available for direct work in refugee communities. Even if a ceasefire were achieved, aid workers warn of long-term fallout. “We haven’t even seen the tip of the damage that’s already been incurred,” Savage said.
The crisis threatens food production cycles as well as immediate relief. Planting season has begun in places such as Sudan, Pakistan, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Ethiopia; shortages of fertiliser and fuel will harm farmers’ ability to grow crops, worsening food insecurity, said Nick Jones‑Bannister of Mercy Corps. The UN estimates up to 45% of the world’s seeds and fertilisers depend on access through the Strait of Hormuz. Shortages and higher costs will ripple into civil unrest and migration, he warned.
Aid organisations are therefore urging the creation of a protected humanitarian corridor through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure the passage of food, medicines and other life‑saving supplies, and to stabilise supply chains while diplomatic efforts seek a broader resolution.
