JAKARTA - European Union Chief Ursula von der Leyen on Monday said the impact of the role in the Middle East was already being felt in Europe, with energy prices rising and NATO allies (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) being targeted.
Oil prices jumped on Monday, hitting a peak of nearly $120 a barrel as the US-Israeli war against Iran entered its second week, with Tehran launching new retaliatory attacks in the Gulf.
"We are now seeing regional conflicts with unintended consequences. And the impact has already become a reality today," the President of the European Commission told EU ambassadors, ahead of a midday phone call with Middle Eastern leaders, Al Arabiya reported from AFP (9/3).
"Our citizens are caught in the crossfire. Our partners are under attack," he said, citing an Iranian-made drone that hit a British base in Cyprus, a member state of the European Union, trade disruptions, and "population displacement."
Although Iran has not officially closed the Strait of Hormuz - through which a fifth of the world's crude oil supplies and a large amount of gas pass - shipments through this important waterway have almost completely stopped.
Gas prices in Europe also jumped by 30 percent on Monday, although they are still far below the peaks reached after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Von der Leyen stressed that "there should be no tears shed for the Iranian regime."
"The Iranian people deserve freedom, dignity, and the right to determine their own future, even though we know this will be fraught with danger and instability during and after the war," he said.
"The long-term impact" of the war raises "existential questions" about the future of the rules-based international system and the position of the 27-nation bloc in the world, he told the annual meeting of EU diplomats in Brussels.
"The idea that we can easily reduce spending and withdraw from this chaotic world is just a mistake," he said.
On the occasion, von der Leyen also discussed the Ukraine conflict and assured the audience that Brussels would complete a crucial loan of 90 billion euros ($104 billion) to Kyiv that was being blocked by Hungary.
"We will meet our commitments, because our credibility - and more importantly, our security - is at stake," he said.
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