Fuel prices are poised to shoot upwards again after Iranian attacks on ships in the Hormuz Strait killed at least two seafarers.
The fatal attacks coincided with the reimposition of a US naval blockade in the region.
US President Donald Trump has also reportedly dumped plans to charge shipping operators a 20% fee for American protection in the strait.
The United Nations has condemned the deadly attacks as it works to evacuate seafarers onboard ships struck in the strait, which were closed by Iran again.
Last week, Foreign Minister Penny Wong told ABC News that the federal government wants an end to the conflict and a return to stability in the region.
She made the comment a week before the most recent attacks in the strait.
“It’s certainly fraying around the edges,” Wong says of the de facto US-Iran ceasefire, or MoU.
“The world really is looking to this ceasefire to hold, to firm up,” she says.
“The world wants to see an end to this conflict not just for the people of the region but because of the effect on the global economy, energy markets and hip pockets around the world, including Australians.”
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FUEL RELIEF ‘NEEDS STABILITY’
Late last month, the federal government said it would extend fuel and truck tax relief of 16 cents a litre by another month.
Wong told Sky News in a separate interview that “we are at a point where Australia and the world wants to see stability return to the region”.
“We all have lived through the effect this has had on global markets. This
is very disruptive to the global economy and to Australians at the bowser.”
Wong pointed out to the ABC and Sky News that the government has been working on diversifying fuel and fertiliser supply sources closer to home.
“We’ve worked hard with the countries of the region to diversify and assure supply, and the government will keep doing that,” she says.
Last week, Australia and India signed a deal to strengthen energy supply chains during a visit by Indian PM Narendra Modi to Melbourne; the deal not only includes fossil fuels but increasing renewable energy usage as well.
IMO CONDEMNS FATAL ATTACKS
The attacks were condemned by the UN’s maritime agency, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), even as the US and Iran swapped military strikes.
“We are gravely concerned by the latest attacks,” an IMO spokesperson says, adding that they are working on learning more about the deaths.
“IMO wholly condemns these attacks. The cycle of escalation must end.”
The agency has worked to establish evacuation routes for ships stuck in the strait through which 20% of oil and natural gas exports used to pass.
There are more than 20,000 seafarers in the region, including those on vessels stranded in the strait; last month, the IMO says it safely evacuated around 11,000 seafarers but paused their efforts on June 25 due to attacks.
The latest escalation last week saw multiple strikes on ships, American bases in the region and on Iran.
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