The risks of a global energy crisis are increasing. Iran struck two oil tankers in Iraqi waters overnight, reportedly killing at least one crew member and setting both tankers on fire. A third ship in the Strait of Hormuz was hit this morning.

• The United States and other nations have said their navies would escort merchant traffic in and out of the Persian Gulf to maintain stability in the oil trade and keep gasoline prices relatively low. But such an operation is complex, and Iran only needs a few successes in targeting civilian vessels to close the strait.

Oil is climbing toward $100 a barrel again. Several factors highlight and contribute to the scale of the crisis:

• On Tuesday, the International Energy Agency, a bloc representing 32 of the world’s biggest economies, released a record 400 million barrels of oil reserves, including 172 million from the U.S., to increase supply and mitigate rising prices—more than was released after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
• Iran’s oil trade is booming. According to the shipping data firm Kpler, Iran is exporting an average of 2.1 million barrels of oil a day through the Strait of Hormuz, up from an average of 2 million barrels in February.
• Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari threatened yesterday, “Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilized.”

The impact of rising energy prices is especially pronounced in Europe, which relies on imports from Russia and the Middle East. Iran’s disruption of oil, gas and other merchant traffic in the Persian Gulf provokes Europe more than the U.S.

In December 1994, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry said Bible prophecy indicated Iraq would fall to Iran, years before it happened. As he wrote in his booklet The King of the South:

Such a takeover [of Iraq] by Iran would shock the world—especially Europe. It would be a strong impetus for Europe to unite quickly. Such a move would, in all likelihood, give Iran power to cause a sizable increase in the price of oil. [In reality, it would then control virtually all the flow of oil in the Middle East.] This could help trigger a collapse of the Western world’s weak currencies. This in turn could cause Europe to quickly unite into the most powerful economic bloc in the world. That very event is prophesied to occur in your own Bible!

What Mr. Flurry wrote specifically about Iraq can be applied to the entire Persian Gulf region. The world is watching the moves made by Iran, the U.S. and Israel, but Mr. Flurry has emphasized the effect on German-led Europe, which is the “king of the north” prophesied in Daniel 11:40. This verse and others show that European forces will storm the “king of the south” (radical Islam, led by Iran) “like a whirlwind.” Learn more in The King of the South.