There is continuing widespread coverage of the Iran war and its impact on energy, with a frontpage story in the Guardian reporting that Iran has said it will show “zero restraint” if its energy infrastructure is targeted again. The newspaper says that Iran’s message came after “Israel’s attack on Iran’s massive South Pars gasfield – which it shares with Qatar – which triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas complex and other Gulf neighbours, sending stock markets tumbling globally and triggering sharp increases in gas prices”. The outlet adds that “Ras Laffan supplies about 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas”. Reuters says the “strikes are the biggest escalation ​yet in the US-Israeli war on Iran”. A frontpage story in the Daily Telegraph says that the damage to Ras Laffan will “take years to repair”. It continues that Saudi Arabia has threatened to strike back at Iran after its attacks on oil and gas sites across the Gulf. The deepening crisis could affect the UK, which sources 35% of its energy from gas, with 2% coming from Qatar, says the newspaper. It adds that “Donald Trump raced to reassure Americans and prevent a global energy crisis as oil prices jumped 8% to $116 a barrel”. A frontpage report in the i newspaper says that “families across Europe could face a cost-of-living hit”, with bill increases “last[ing] for years”. The New York Times says oil prices have “retreated” today from yesterday’s highs.

MORE ON ENERGY CRISIS

• The International Energy Agency has advised its member countries to take 10 steps to prepare for energy market disruption, including reducing highway speeds and encouraging people to work from home, says the Guardian.
• Spain’s prime minister Pedro Sánchez has attacked other European leaders for using the energy crisis as an excuse to “gut climate policies”, says the EU Observer.
• A Financial Times newsletter says that European leaders have asked the European Commission to overhaul its flagship emissions trading system (ETS) by summer in response to the energy crisis.
• Reuters says that European leaders are considering “short-term fixes” to address soaring energy prices, including “electricity tax cuts, lower grid fees ‌and state support”.
• Pacific island nations reliant on oil imports have appealed for help amid escalating costs and possible fuel shortages, reports the Guardian.
• Australia is weighing a liquified natural gas (LNG) windfall tax as global prices soar, says Bloomberg.

The south-west US is facing record-breaking heat in what should be winter, reports Scripps News. The broadcaster says that nearly 20 million people in the region are under “excessive heat warnings”, with another 20 million facing heat advisories. It continues that temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona hit 40.5C yesterday, breaking the city’s March heat record by around 5C. Las Vegas and parts of inland Los Angeles also experienced record-setting heat, says the outlet. The Guardian reports on a rapid scientific analysis finding that the current record-breaking heat would have been “virtually impossible” without fossil-fuelled climate change. According to the newspaper, analysis author Ben Clarke, who is an extreme weather and climate change researcher at Imperial College London, said: “These temperatures are completely off the scale for March.”

Two dozen US states and more than 10 cities filed a lawsuit yesterday suing against the Trump administration’s decision to repeal the “endangerment finding” underpinning greenhouse gas regulation, reports the Associated Press. It continues: “The lawsuit, filed in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, is the second major challenge to the endangerment repeal, following a suit filed last month by public health and environmental groups.” The Los Angeles Times says that California is leading the multi-state lawsuit, which will argue that the repeal “violates the Clean Air Act and contradicts decades of scientific consensus on climate change’s impacts”. According to USA Today, California governor Gavin Newsom announced the new legal effort by saying: “Since 2009, we have recognised the obvious. Greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide [and] methane are contributing in a deleterious way to our public health and economic prosperity of this nation. Only Donald Trump and his big donors can see it differently.”

China has tightened oversight of its electric vehicle (EV) sector, urging automakers to “move away from aggressive discounting and focus instead on technological innovation”, reports the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. The latest attempt to stabilise the industry came at a “high-level meeting” between 17 major carmakers and government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, adds the outlet. State news agency Xinhua says that the Chinese government will “strengthen price monitoring and cost investigations” to regulate competition. China will also advance vehicle trade-in programs and promote the “large-scale adoption of new energy heavy-duty trucks”, according to a separate Xinhua article. Meanwhile, China Energy Net reports that China’s annual sales of “new energy” heavy-duty trucks surged 182% year-on-year in 2025, reaching 231,100 units, with market penetration exceeding 29% for the first time.

MORE ON CHINA

• Since 2025, 147 coal-fired units have been shut or planned for closure in China, including 13 above 200MW, reports BJX News.
• China’s gas consumption rose by more than 2% year-on-year during the past heating season, reports China News Network.
• China Daily: “China issues guideline to accelerate green transformation of small hydropower sector.”
• China’s finance ministry has issued new rules extending energy-saving and emissions-reduction subsidy funds from 2025 to 2030, reports BJX News.
• Jiemian reports that Yunnan province has issued the first local policy to implement the NEA’s rules on “green certificate management”.
• China said it is ready to work with Southeast Asia to “address energy shortages as oil markets reel from supply shocks”, reports Reuters. Taiwan has rejected an offer by China to support its energy security following a reunification, according to Reuters.

The Guardian covers a new analysis showing that “media coverage of net-zero is more than twice as likely to be negative than public attitudes and is driving a false perception that net-zero policies are unpopular with voters”. The research, from the Institute for Public Policy Research thinktank and the non-profit Persuasion UK, finds that the “echo chamber of elite opinion” has “led to a situation where MPs significantly underestimate public support for climate policies and overestimate public opposition to local clean energy infrastructure projects”, according to the Guardian. Becca Massey-Chase, the head of citizen engagement at the Institute for Public Policy Research, tells the Guardian that the research shows claims of a voter backlash against net-zero were “largely a political myth”. Carbon Brief analysis has found that a record number of newspaper editorials opposed climate action in 2025.

There is a continuing wave of editorials and reaction in response to the global energy crisis fuelled by war in Iran. In the Financial Times, Michael Stoppard, an energy commentator and former chief strategist on global gas at S&P Global, says that the impact of the crisis is “still being underestimated”. He continues: “Analyst estimates of disruption horizons are morphing from days to weeks to months. A two-month period of resumption is no longer the worst-case scenario, it is the best-case scenario…Europe now needs to prepare for extended disruption, learning from the mistakes of the 2022 gas crisis.” It comes as Daily Telegraph world economy editor Ambrose Evans-Pritchard argues that the 2022 energy crisis was a “picnic compared to this global energy disaster”. He is contradicted by a Lex column in the Financial Times: “This gas crisis is bad, but not as bad as the last one.” Elsewhere, a Daily Telegraph column by Omran Al-Kuwari, a fellow at the Atlantic Council Global Energy Centre, describes the war as a “nightmare scenario for energy markets”. A Financial Times comment article by Takeshi Hashimoto, CEO of the Japanese transport company Mitsui OSK Lines, says the crisis illustrates how “maritime security is key to global energy supplies”.

A number of newspaper editorials make reference to the energy crisis. A Guardian editorial says the effects of energy infrastructure destruction in the Middle East are “being felt across Asia and Europe”. An editorial in the climate-sceptic Sun, meanwhile, claims that “[UK energy secretary] Ed Miliband’s dangerous green ideology should not be allowed to trump common sense amid escalating Iran conflict”. An editorial in the climate-sceptic Daily Express claims that the UK’s “refusal to make the most of oil and gas reserves is an ideologically driven act of self-destruction”. The Economist runs a number of articles about the crisis, including on how people in India are “panic buying” gas, how energy shocks are hitting the US, how “gas will not be killed off by renewables anytime soon” and an article looking at “which country is the biggest loser from the energy shock”. Elsewhere, the Financial Times has an editorial on efforts to achieve nuclear fusion.

This edition of the Daily Briefing was written by Daisy Dunne, with contributions from Anika Patel and Henry Zhang. It was edited by Leo Hickman.

Subscribe for free.