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<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 26 Mar 202626 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
Fears of economic strain are growing across Europe as the United States-Israel war on Iran nears the one-month mark.<\/p>\n
On Thursday, German \u2060Defence \u2060Minister Boris Pistorius described the conflict as an economic \u201ccatastrophe\u201d, while the United Kingdom\u2019s economic growth prospects this year received a sharp downgrade.<\/p>\n
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Speaking at a meeting with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles on Thursday, Pistorius said Germany was \u201cready \u200cto secure any peace\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf \u2060it comes to a \u2060point where we have a ceasefire, we \u2060will discuss every kind of \u2060operation to \u2060secure the peace,\u201d he said. \u201cTo make it crystal clear, this war is a catastrophe for the world\u2019s economies. The impact is absolutely evident already now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Thursday warned that the global economy, which was on a route towards growth, is now veering from that path.<\/p>\n
The Paris-based international body \u2060cut its 2026 forecast for British economic growth by half a percentage point to 0.7 percent, compared with a 0.4 percentage point downgrade for the eurozone and \u2060a 0.3 percentage point upgrade for the US.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlanned fiscal tightening and higher energy prices are anticipated to keep growth subdued in the United Kingdom, though the impact will be attenuated by lower policy rates next year,\u201d the OECD said in \u200cits report.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s not our war,\u2019 says Germany<\/p>\n
In Australia, Pistorius also addressed reporters at Parliament House in Canberra, saying the US had not consulted Germany before it, along with Israel, waged a joint war on Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody asked us before. It\u2019s not our war, and therefore we don\u2019t want to get sucked into that war,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no strategy, there is no clear objective, and the worst thing from my perspective is there is no exit strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n
He urged the US and Iran to end the conflict and said Germany would discuss operations to secure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> if there was a ceasefire.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the time has not yet come, and therefore we appeal for a ceasefire as soon as possible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Iran insists that the strait remains open to \u201cnon-hostile\u201d ships. The collapse of maritime traffic through the waterway has prompted the biggest global energy crisis in decades.<\/p>\n European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has called for negotiations with Iran and an end to hostilities, as the bloc urged member states to start early on meeting next winter\u2019s gas storage targets.<\/p>\n Natural gas prices in the European Union have risen by more than 30 percent since the start of the war, spiking after Israel\u2019s attack on Iran\u2019s critical South Pars gasfield<\/a> and subsequent Iranian assault on Qatar\u2019s Ras Laffan.<\/p>\n