'Food security timebomb': a visual guide to the Gulf fertiliser blockade [View all]

The waterway’s near-total shipping blockade is a “food security timebomb”, the head of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband, said this week, adding: “The window to avert a massive global hunger crisis is rapidly closing.”

“Fertilisers are the No 1 issue of concern today,” according to the World Trade Organization, while the UN World Food Programme says the total number of people facing acute levels of hunger could hit record numbers this year if the destabilising conflict continues.

So how worried should we be?

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/03/visual-guide-gulf-fertiliser-blockade