The Hungarian government has proposed the EU leadership immediately lift the ban on the use of Russian oil and gas in all countries of the European Union to prevent a shortage of energy and a sharp increase in prices due to the Middle Eastern tensions, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said following urgent meetings of the defense and energy security councils convened by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, TASS reports.
“In the current situation, the European Union must take immediate action. To prevent a sharp price increase, it is necessary to immediately lift the ban on imports of Russian energy in all regions of Europe,” the minister said in a video address broadcast by the M1 TV channel.
“If Brussels doesn’t lift the ban on Russian oil and gas imports, if it doesn’t lift sanctions, it will deal an extremely hard blow to the European economy because energy prices are on the rise,” he stressed.
Szijjarto noted that the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East, among other things, resulted in the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 33% of the world’s marine oil shipments and 20% of liquefied natural gas supplies were carried out. “About 90% of Saudi Arabia’s exports passed through this strait,” he added.
“A significant part of oil is withdrawn from the global market because of the war in the Middle East,” Szijjarto said, adding that the situation directly affects European countries as well. “At the same time Europe is experiencing shortages of oil and other energy resources not only because of the war in the Middle East but also because of the exclusion of Russian energy resources,” he said. “If Brussels does not allow Russian energy resources to return to the European market, there will be a risk of sharp price increases in Europe. So Brussels must immediately allow Russian energy resources to return to the European market,” the official said. He also called on the EU leadership “to act immediately, without ideological prejudices, relying on the interests of the peoples of Europe and the European economy.”
The United States and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. At the same time, US leadership openly called on the Iranian population to rise up against their government and seize power. As a result of the strikes, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and several other senior figures in the leadership of the Islamic Republic were killed. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were also hit.
