TEHRAN – The war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran has not only targeted Tehran. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the world's main energy artery, is now putting immense pressure on numerous countries, with Iran's neighbors and poor Asian nations emerging as the biggest victims.

Foreign Policy magazine has described the recent war with Iran as a "geopolitical earthquake" — an earthquake whose strategic consequences will affect both the United States and the entire world for years to come.

However, in the early days of this massive tremor, the primary victims are Iran's neighboring countries and the poor nations of Asia; those who had no role in this conflict yet feel the first and heaviest blow to their pockets and daily livelihoods.

The Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately one-fifth of global oil consumption passes, has effectively been shut. The result has been immediate and brutal. Global shipping costs have skyrocketed, and energy prices have surged, with physical oil now trading at up to double the official Brent crude rate in some Asian ports.

Nations heavily dependent on energy imports, particularly in South and East Asia, are facing a sharp rise in inflation. 

The International Energy Agency estimates that between 16 and 20 million barrels of oil per day have been removed from global supply, a figure sufficient to disrupt any economic balance.

Experts warn that while Western powers may have the financial reserves to weather the storm temporarily, poorer nations lack such buffers. 

For millions of ordinary people from Pakistan to Indonesia, the war is already translating into impossible fuel bills and soaring food prices, a devastating collateral damage of a conflict they did not choose.