The escalating war in the Middle East is already sending shockwaves across Europe, pushing up energy prices and exposing NATO allies to security threats, Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.
The president of the European Commission warned that the growing conflict is producing immediate spillover effects across the region and beyond.
Oil prices surged on Monday, climbing to nearly $120 per barrel as the United States and Israel continued their military campaign against Iran into a second week. Tehran has responded with fresh retaliatory strikes in the Gulf region.
“We are now seeing a regional conflict with unintended consequences. And the spillover is already a reality today,” von der Leyen told EU ambassadors ahead of a scheduled call with Middle Eastern leaders.
She said European citizens and partners were increasingly being affected by the conflict, citing the reported strike by an Iranian-made drone on a British military base in Cyprus, along with disruptions to trade and rising displacement of people.
Although Iran has not officially closed the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz—a key maritime route through which roughly one-fifth of global crude oil supplies pass—shipping traffic through the waterway has dropped sharply.
European gas prices also surged by as much as 30 percent on Monday, though they remain below the record levels seen following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Von der Leyen maintained that the international community should not sympathize with the Iranian government.
“There should be no tears shed for the Iranian regime,” she said, adding that the Iranian people deserve “freedom, dignity, and the right to decide their own future,” despite the potential instability that may accompany and follow the war.
Addressing the annual meeting of European Union diplomats in Brussels, she warned that the long-term consequences of the conflict could raise “existential questions” about the future of the global rules-based order and the role of the 27-member bloc.
“The idea that we can simply retrench and withdraw from this chaotic world is simply a fallacy,” she said.
Von der Leyen also discussed the ongoing war in Ukraine and assured diplomats that the EU would proceed with a €90 billion ($104 billion) loan package for Kyiv, despite opposition from Hungary.
“We will deliver on our commitments, because our credibility — and more importantly, our security — is at stake,” she said.
