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By Waqar Rizvi
What’s happening: There is no shortage of evidence that the war in Iran and the virtual closure of the pivotal Strait of Hormuz has led to oil and gas shocks around the globe. Nevertheless, Iran is overstating the impact of the war on energy flows, in an apparent effort to sow additional discord among U.S. allies over the U.S.-Israel attack on the Islamic Republic.
Iranian state-aligned media outlets now falsely claim that Australia has fewer than 18 days of fuel reserves remaining, which is roughly half the size of the reserves actually reported by the Australian government and other sources. The claim is being advanced with the help of a Google AI editing tool.
Context: Since the Feb. 28, 2026, U.S.-Israel attack, Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply passes. The International Energy Agency said in a March 12 report that the Middle East conflict was “creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market.”
A closer look: With the oil disruption emerging as perhaps Iran’s best weapon in the...
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt pushed back Tuesday on "false claims" in the resignation letter of the nation’s top counterterrorism official, saying President Donald Trump had "stron...