The war in Iran, now a full-blown regional conflagration, has disrupted the flow of energy supplies from the Middle East to the rest of the world. Iran is the sixth-largest producer of crude oil in the world, most of which goes to China. Far more is produced by Iran's neighbors. The Strait of Hormuz -- which the Islamic Republic has threatened to block -- carries around 20 percent of the world's oil. If tankers can't get out of the Persian Gulf, the rise in oil prices will be astounding.

Natural gas supplies have also been threatened. Qatar, the third-largest exporter of ...

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