Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a coordinated effort to tackle rising global crude costs, Chile’s new far-right president, and North Korea testing strategic cruise missiles.
400 Million Barrels
The International Energy Agency (IEA) announced on Wednesday that its 32 member nations, including the United States, will collectively release 400 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves in an effort to bring down rising crude costs caused by the Iran war.
Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at a coordinated effort to tackle rising global crude costs, Chile’s new far-right president, and North Korea testing strategic cruise missiles.
400 Million Barrels
The International Energy Agency (IEA) announced on Wednesday that its 32 member nations, including the United States, will collectively release 400 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves in an effort to bring down rising crude costs caused by the Iran war.
This is the “largest-ever release of emergency oil stocks in our agency’s history,” IEA chief Fatih Birol saidadding that this distribution is to “offset the supply lost to the effective closure” of the Strait of Hormuz. Since fighting began 12 days ago, commercial shipping through the strategic waterway—where normally one-fifth of the world’s oil transits—has ground to a virtual standstill, igniting uncertainty in global energy markets.
In total, IEA nations hold 1.2 billion barrels of oil in public stocks on top of another 600 million barrels in mandatory commercial inventories. That amounts to roughly 124 days’ worth of lost supply from the Persian Gulf. Birol did not provide an exact timeline for when each IEA member will release its share of the reserves. However, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has confirmed that Tokyo will distribute 15 days’ worth of oil from private-sector stockpiles and another 30 days’ worth from government reserves as soon as Monday.
This is the IEA’s first coordinated release since 2022, when the agency distributed 182 million barrels of oil following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and it is its sixth major action since the IEA was created in 1974.
Still, the threat to global energy markets is far from over. Iranian officials warned the United States this week to prepare for further upsets to crude costs. “Get ready for oil to be $200 a barrel, because the oil price depends on regional security, which you have destabilized,” said Ebrahim Zolfaqarithe spokesperson for Tehran’s military command.
On Wednesday, projectiles struck two commercial ships in or near Hormuz, according to United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations. Tehran appeared to take responsibility for at least one of these attacks: an assault on the Thai-flagged cargo ship Mayuree Naree. Global maritime trackers have confirmed at least 13 strikes on vessels in or around the strait since the war began.
U.S. Central Command warned Iranian civilians on Wednesday that U.S. forces cannot guarantee the safety of shipping ports in Hormuz. “[T]he Iranian regime is using civilian ports along the Strait of Hormuz to conduct military operations that threaten international shipping,” the agency said. “Civilian ports used for military purposes lose protected status and become legitimate military targets under international law.” Centcom urged all civilians to immediately avoid these areas.
Iranian military spokesperson Abolfazl Shekarchi respondedsaying, “If Iran’s ports are threatened, all ports and docks in the region will be our legitimate targets.”
Also on Wednesday, two Iranian drones targeted Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest center for international travel. Four people were wounded in the attack, though the airport remains operational. Fragments from an intercepted military projectile also damaged Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates. No injuries were reported.
Today’s Most Read
What We’re Following
Right-wing shift. Far-right leader José Antonio Kast was sworn in on Wednesday as Chile’s new president. His inauguration kicks off the Latin American country’s most right-wing shift since its return to democratic rule in 1990, and it forecasts increased cooperation between Santiago and Washington, where U.S. President Donald Trump has heralded Kast’s platform.
Kast secured a landslide victory during presidential elections in December against Communist Party candidate Jeannette Jara. He campaigned on tough-on-crime policies, sweeping immigration crackdowns, and traditional family values. Notably, Kast has publicly supported former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, whose reign saw thousands of people murdered, tortured, arbitrarily detained, and forcibly disappeared.
On his first day in office, Kast is expected to sign several agreements with the United States aimed at bolstering collaboration on critical minerals and security issues, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. Chile is the world’s largest copper producer and holds roughly one-third of global lithium reserves. Such deals will likely signal Santiago’s intentions to align closer with Washington at a time when China is competing for influence in Latin America.
Cruise missile tests. North Korea test-fired strategic cruise missiles from a Choe Hyon-class warship on Tuesday, marking the second such launch in a week. “Important successes have been recently made in putting the strategic and tactical strike means on a practical basis and deploying them for an actual war,” North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said while watching the launch with his daughter, whom experts believe is being prepared to succeed him. Kim maintained that Pyongyang must retain “a powerful and reliable nuclear war deterrent.”
Tuesday’s tests come one day after joint U.S.-South Korean military drills began in the Indo-Pacific. Dubbed “Freedom Shield,” the annual 11-day exercise involves thousands of troops and 22 field training drills focused on what both Washington and Seoul have characterized as defensive maneuvers in response to frequent North Korean weapons tests and military demonstrations.
Pyongyang, however, has denounced the exercises, with Kim’s powerful sister calling them a “provocative and aggressive war rehearsal” that “will further destroy regional stability” at a time when wars are “break[ing] out in different parts of the world due to the reckless acts of outrageous international rogues.”
No more birthright. The British Parliament approved legislation on Tuesday to remove the remaining hereditary peers from the House of Lords. The bill’s passage ends a centuries-old system of birthright-held seats in the upper chamber and fulfills a key pledge by Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party, which has long argued that the system is outdated. Hereditary peerages are expected to be abolished by mid-May.
Until now, up to 92 hereditary peers were allowed to sit in the House of Lords. This number was determined in 1999, when then-Prime Minister Tony Blair removed more than 600 such peerages. Under the new system, that quota will now effectively be zero. “Getting this bill through is a major first step towards reform of the Lords, with further changes to follow, including on members’ retirement and participation requirements,” Lords leader Angela Smith said.
To get the Conservative Party to withdraw its opposition to the bill, Smith confirmed on Tuesday that London will offer life peerages to some birthright seat holders, including Conservatives and crossbenchers (members who are unaffiliated with any political party). All other members will be removed from office once the current parliamentary session ends this spring.
Odds and Ends
After more than a year of negotiations, Italian authorities announced on Tuesday that they have purchased a rare Caravaggio painting from a private collection for roughly $35 million, making it one of the largest state investments in a single piece of artwork in history. The portrait, dated around 1598, depicts the nobleman Maffeo Barberini, who later became Pope Urban VIII. Acquiring the painting is part of an Italian government effort to strengthen the country’s cultural heritage. “Portrait of Monsignor Maffeo Barberini” will be displayed in the Palazzo Barberini’s permanent collection in Rome.
