More than 30 million people will be pushed back into poverty by the impacts of the Iran war, including disruptions to fuel and fertiliser supplies just as farmers are planting crops, UN development chief Alexander De Croo tells Reuters.

Fertiliser shortages — worsened by the blocking of cargo vessels through the Strait of Hormuz — have already lowered agricultural productivity, the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) says.

That would likely hit crop yields later this year, De Croo adds.

“Food insecurity will be at its peak level in a few months - and there is not much that you can do about it,” he warns, listing other fallouts of the crisis, including energy shortages and falling remittances.

“Even if the war would stop tomorrow, those effects, you already have them, and they will be pushing back more than 30 million people into poverty,” he says.

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