Von der Leyen: Closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cost Europe an additional €127 billion

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on 3 November addressed the economic consequences of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for Europe.

According to von der Leyen, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has cost Europe an additional €127 billion, and in return not a single additional atom of energy has reached Europe.

The Commission President has spoken on the issue before. At a news conference in Berlin on 27 April 2026, she said Europe had paid an additional $32 billion for oil and gas imports since the start of the war in the Middle East. Von der Leyen said at the time: “In 2022, Putin cut off our gas supply, and now it's the Strait of Hormuz. Our heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels makes us vulnerable. We must reduce this dependence.”

The Strait of Hormuz lies between Iran and Oman and connects the Persian Gulf to the open sea. Roughly one fifth of global oil trade passes through the strait.

On 3 November, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei, said the Strait of Hormuz would be opened only after Iran's seven conditions are met. On the same day, the Navy of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced that three oil tankers that had attempted to pass through the strait illegally had caught fire. Also on the same day, the European Commission presented new, non-binding guidelines advising citizens to be able to sustain themselves for at least 72 hours during crises, natural disasters and infrastructure outages.