Middle East at war: will conflict lead to global economic collapse?  episode artwork

EPISODE · Mar 3, 2026 · 31 MIN

Middle East at war: will conflict lead to global economic collapse?

from The Fourcast · host Channel 4 News

The war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran has already rattled the global economy. Gas prices have jumped 30% to a three-year high, oil is surging, tankers are stuck in the Strait of Hormuz and refineries across the region are under attack. Stock markets from London to Tokyo are tumbling, and hopes of interest rate cuts in the UK and US are fading fast.So how serious is this economic shock? What happens if the conflict lasts weeks, as Donald Trump has suggested? And is Rachel Reeves’s newly claimed fiscal headroom about to disappear as energy prices spike?Matt Frei speaks to our economics correspondent Helia Ebrahimi, and to Dr Neil Quilliam, a leading Middle East energy policy and geopolitics specialist at Chatham House. They explain how this war is reverberating through global markets, the risks to supply routes, the inflation threat, and how governments and central banks might respond.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Mar 3, 2026

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

Middle East at war: will conflict lead to global economic collapse?

0:00 31:28

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of The Fourcast?

This episode is 31 minutes long.

When was this The Fourcast episode published?

This episode was published on March 3, 2026.

Can I download this The Fourcast episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!