00:01Drivers line up at this Hanoi gas station, rushing to get whatever they can at the pumps as prices soar
00:0722 percent and supplies run low.
00:10While people in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing scramble Monday night to fill up tanks before a price hike
00:15kicks in at midnight.
00:17And from L.A. and California to Bonn in Germany, sticker shock at the pumps, even in places used to
00:24high prices.
00:26As war engulfs the resource rich Middle East, this crucial choke point, the Strait of Hormuz, is effectively shut, retaliation
00:33by Iran for U.S. and Israeli strikes.
00:36Tehran is threatening any ships that try to pass, the move cutting the rest of the world off from around
00:41a fifth of its oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
00:45U.S. President Donald Trump says he has a plan.
00:48We're also waiving certain oil related sanctions to reduce prices.
00:53So we have sanctions on some countries.
00:56We're going to take those sanctions off till this straightens out.
00:59Then who knows, maybe we won't have to put them on.
01:02There'll be so much peace.
01:03Trump isn't saying which countries could see sanctions lifted.
01:06But his remarks come after a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a leader eager to see the back of
01:12sanctions on his country since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
01:16On social media, Trump's also threatened to strike Iran, quote, 20 times harder if it stops oil flows in the
01:22Strait of Hormuz.
01:24Europe has a plan, too.
01:25It's working with the G7 on a possible release of strategic reserves as a temporary fix, though no final decision
01:32on that yet.
01:33Well, in the G7 call, we didn't have detailed discussions on specific conditions.
01:41But we broadly agreed that in a situation like this where we are facing disruptions, we stand ready to release
01:52them.
01:52Over in Asia, South Korea is capping domestic fuel prices for the first time in nearly three decades,
01:58expanding a market stabilization program already at close to 67 billion U.S. dollars, and maybe more.
02:08Given that it is difficult to predict how the situation will unfold,
02:12our government must prepare proactive measures with a heightened sense of urgency, keeping even the worst-case scenario in mind.
02:19But some analysts say there's no real substitute for getting the Strait of Hormuz reopened.
02:24And they say this Middle East war may have set oil prices up for a long time to come, even
02:30after the war ends.
02:32Even if the current war in this phase draws to an end, you know, we now have a new chapter
02:39of geopolitical instability
02:41in that really important region of the world for oil and gas supplies.
02:45I think it's going to be with us for quite a while, conceivably even through the rest of the term
02:50of President Trump's term.
02:52And while Trump says the war will be over soon, there are no guarantees.
02:57Iran says it has no interest in going back to the negotiating table.
03:00For now, the world's oil markets and its consumers can only watch.
03:05Justin Wu and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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