Bangladesh could be hit by a widespread shutdown of mobile phone services without rapid improvements in fuel shortages sparked by the Middle East war, operators said Monday.

The South Asian nation of 170 million people imports 95% of its oil and gas, mostly from the Middle East. Shortages have hit the country hard, with queues at filling stations lasting as long as 12 hours.

The Association of Mobile Telecom Operators of Bangladesh (AMTOB) said Monday that continued operations can no longer be sustained without the fuel needed to power facilities, including data centers.

“The situation has escalated beyond the operational control,” AMTOB wrote in a letter to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission. “If these conditions persist, there is an imminent risk of large-scale telecom network shutdowns across significant parts of the country.”

The association said the impact has already begun.

“Mobile network operators are experiencing severe operational distress due to the prolonged unavailability of commercial power and the lack of assured fuel supply for backup systems,” the letter said.

AMTOB noted that data centers consume approximately 500 to 600 liters (132 to 158 gallons) of diesel per hour, amounting to nearly 4,000 liters per day per facility, which local fuel stations are unable to provide. “Multiple strategically vital telecom facilities are currently running on dangerously low fuel reserves,” the association said.

Network blackout

AMTOB Secretary-General Mohammad Zulfikar said shutdowns of data centers would create ripple effects across the wider network.

“A partial or complete network blackout could bring calls, internet, SMS and all other services to a standstill or cause severe disruption,” he told Agence France-Presse (AFP). “The internet may become painfully slow or go down entirely, as data centers are the command hubs where traffic is routed and controlled.”

The government hiked fuel prices Saturday, raising diesel by 15%, from 100 to 115 taka (93 cents) a liter, and petrol by 16%, from 116 to 135 taka a liter. The increase triggered demands from bus and water transport owners for fare adjustments.

Energy Minister Iqbal Hasan Mahmud told reporters Sunday that Bangladesh had to raise prices due to the global crisis. “The entire world has adjusted prices – even the U.S.,” he said.

Depots were ordered to supply more fuel to filling stations at the revised prices, but the move has so far made little impact.

Md Sagar, 30, a motorbike driver, said he has not seen any improvement. “I waited for three hours and moved only a few meters,” he told AFP. Another driver, Zakir Mia, said it took him 16 hours Sunday to refill his car.

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Oil prices rose on Monday on a re-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East war after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz at the weekend, just a day after reopening it, citing the United States’ blockade of its ports, and a second round of talks in Pakistan appeared to be uncertain.

However, lingering hopes for a deal to end the seven-week crisis continued to support Asian equities, even as Tehran said it was not currently planning to attend peace talks.

Crude plunged on Friday while U.S. stocks rallied after Iran said it would again allow ships to pass through the waterway, through which a fifth of global oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) usually passes, citing the cease-fire between Israel and Lebanon.

U.S. President Donald Trump said that “we’re very close to having a deal,” adding that there were “no sticking points at all” left with Tehran, though Iran quickly pushed back, saying its stockpile of enriched uranium would not be transferred “anywhere.”

U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dived more than 11% and Brent shed 9%.

But both contracts jumped sharply on Monday, days before the end of a two-week ceasefire, owing to the ongoing U.S. blockade and after an American destroyer fired on and seized an Iranian ship that tried to evade it. Tehran warned it would retaliate.

The blockade of Iranian ports has been a significant sticking point in negotiations between the two countries, and state broadcaster IRIB cited Iranian sources as saying “there are currently no plans to participate in the next round of Iran-U.S. talks” in Pakistan.

The Fars and Tasnim news agencies had earlier cited anonymous sources as saying “the overall atmosphere cannot be assessed as very positive,” adding that lifting the U.S. blockade was a precondition for negotiations.

WTI jumped more than 7% at one point, while Brent piled on more than 6%.

There has so far been only a single, 21-hour negotiating session held in Islamabad on April 11 that ended inconclusively, though groundwork for fresh talks continued afterwards.

“We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it,” Trump said in a social media post Sunday, while also renewing his threats against Iran’s infrastructure if a deal is not made.

But Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned that any attempt to pass through the strait without permission “will be considered cooperation with the enemy, and the offending vessel will be targeted.”

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said the blockade was “a violation” of the cease-fire.

Still, Asian equities rose, tracking another record close for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in New York.

Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney, Singapore, Mumbai, Wellington and Manila were all up, helped by a resumption of a tech rally that characterized world markets before the war started on February 28.

But London, Paris and Frankfurt dropped.

The dollar, which has been a key safe haven during the crisis and fell sharply on Friday, advanced against its main peers.

Chris Weston at Pepperstone said traders were assessing “whether the cease-fire can be salvaged through this week’s diplomatic talks, with recalibration on the probability of military escalation.”

“Trump’s weekend social media posts raised the prospect of military re-escalation, though given the bar for this response is now set higher, some viewed this as a pure hawkish negotiating tactic ahead of this week’s diplomatic talks,” he added.

“Market participants understand that the path to a formal agreement (is) unlikely to be linear and remains vulnerable to sudden changes, so market players won’t be wholly surprised by a sentiment shift.

“However, without a comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, the cease-fire remained fragile.”

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Seven weeks of war have failed to remove Iran’s leadership or force it to meet all of U.S. President Donald Trump’s demands, but for both U.S. adversaries and allies, it has cast a spotlight on one of his main vulnerabilities: economic pressure.

Even with Iran’s announcement on Friday that it was reopening the Strait of Hormuz ​to shipping, the Middle East crisis has revealed the limits of Trump’s willingness to tolerate domestic economic pain.

Trump joined Israel in attacking Iran on Feb. 28 based on what he said were imminent security threats, especially over its nuclear program. But now, ‌with U.S. gasoline prices high, inflation rising and his approval ratings down, Trump is racing to secure a diplomatic deal that could stem the fallout at home.

Iran has taken a beating militarily, but demonstrated it can exact economic costs that Trump and his aides underestimated, unleashing the worst-ever global energy shock, analysts say.

Rising energy costs, recession risks

Trump has often publicly shrugged off domestic economic concerns driven by the war.

However, he can hardly ignore that although the U.S. does not depend on one-fifth of global oil shipments that were effectively blocked by Iran’s chokehold on the strait, surging energy costs have hit U.S. consumers.

The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) warning of a risk of global recession adds to ​the gloom.

Pressure for a way out of the unpopular war has mounted as Trump’s fellow Republicans defend narrow majorities in Congress in the November midterm elections.

None of this has been lost on Iran’s leaders, who have used their grip on the strait to push ​Trump’s team to the negotiating table.

Analysts say U.S. rivals China and Russia may draw their own lesson: while Trump has shown an appetite for military force in his second term, he looks for a diplomatic off-ramp ⁠as soon as the economic heat becomes uncomfortable at home.

“Trump is feeling the economic pinch, which is his Achilles heel in this war of choice,” said Brett Bruen, a former foreign policy adviser in the Obama administration who heads the Global Situation Room strategic consultancy.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai ​said that while working toward a deal with Iran to resolve “temporary” energy market problems, the administration “has never lost focus on implementing the president’s affordability and growth agenda.”

“President Trump can walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said.

Feeling the pressure

Trump’s abrupt shift on April 8 from airstrikes to diplomacy ​followed pressure from financial markets and parts of his MAGA base.

Some of the economic pain is borne by U.S. farmers, a key Trump constituency, due to disrupted fertilizer shipments, and is also reflected in higher airfares from increased jet fuel prices.

With the clock ticking on a two-week cease-fire, it remains to be seen whether a president who embraces unpredictability will reach a deal that meets his war goals, extend the truce beyond April 21, or relaunch the bombing campaign.

But global oil prices fell sharply and financial markets, which Trump often sees as a barometer of his success, flourished on Friday after Iran said the strait would be open for the remainder of a separate ​U.S.-brokered 10-day truce between Israel and Lebanon.

Trump was quick to declare the strait safe as he touted a deal-in-the-making with Iran that he said would be completed soon and mostly on his terms. But Iranian sources told Reuters gaps remained to be resolved.

Experts have warned that even if the ​war ends soon, the economic damage could take months if not years to fix.

A key question is whether any deal achieves the objectives Trump has laid out, including closing Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon, which Tehran has long denied it is seeking.

Iran has a stockpile of highly enriched uranium believed to be buried by U.S.-Israeli ‌strikes last June. Trump ⁠told Reuters on Friday that the emerging deal calls for the U.S. to work with Iran to recover the material and bring it to the U.S. Iran denied agreeing to a transfer anywhere outside its territory.

A senior Trump administration official said the U.S. was maintaining “several redlines” in negotiations with Iran.

At the same time, Trump’s call at the war’s outset for Iranians to overthrow their government has gone unheeded.

Allies from Europe to Asia were initially stunned by Trump’s decision to go to war without consulting them or seeming to take into account the risk to them of Iran closing the strait.

“The alarm bell ringing for allies right now is how the war has highlighted that the administration can act erratically, without much regard for consequences,” said Gregory Poling, an Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

After Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, former Democratic President Joe Biden was cautious about ​imposing sanctions on Moscow’s energy sector out of concern for reducing oil ​supplies and inflating U.S. gas prices.

But Trump, who ran for a ⁠second term on promises of cheap gas and low inflation, has shown himself sensitive to accusations that his policies raise prices. An example was when he reduced tariffs on China last year after it retaliated.

Miscalculations

Just as Trump misjudged Beijing’s response in a trade war, he seems to have miscalculated how Iran might strike back economically in a shooting war, by attacking energy infrastructure in Gulf states and blocking the strategic waterway between them.

Trump mistakenly ​believed the war would be a limited operation like the Jan. 3 lightning raid in Venezuela and June’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, U.S. officials have said privately.

But this time the repercussions are more far-reaching.

The ​message to Asian allies such as Japan, ⁠South Korea and self-ruled Taiwan may be that Trump, who is looking for warmer ties with China, can be expected to pursue his regional goals with less regard for their geopolitical and economic security.

Analysts believe those governments will adjust for any contingency, such as a Chinese bid to seize Taiwan, out of concern over Trump’s reliability.

European countries, annoyed they are bearing so much of the economic brunt of a war that they never asked for, are likely to be even more nervous about Trump’s commitment to continued aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, analysts say.

Gulf Arab states want the war to end soon, but will be ⁠unhappy if Trump ​cuts a deal without security guarantees for them.

“An end to this conflict should not also create a continuous instability in the region,” said Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president ​of the United Arab Emirates.

Most MAGA supporters have stuck with Trump despite some prominent dissenting voices. But there are growing doubts whether he can help his party recover lost ground, especially with independent voters, in time for the midterms.

“He’s aware that a significant portion of the country outside his MAGA base, and even some within the MAGA base, are vehemently opposed ​to what he’s done,” said Chuck Coughlin, an Arizona-based political strategist.

“And I think the price is going to come due.”

Iran announced on Friday it fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz to commercial vessels, but U.S. President Donald Trump said the American blockade on Iranian ships and ports “will remain in full force” until a deal is reached with Tehran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that the crucial waterway through which about 20% of the world’s oil is shipped was now fully open to commercial vessels, as a 10-day truce in Lebanon appeared to hold.

The truce offered a pause in Israeli strikes on Lebanon and could clear one major obstacle to a deal between Iran and the U.S. and Israel to end weeks of devastating war.

Trump initially celebrated, posting on social media that Iran announced the strait “is fully open and ready for full passage.” But minutes later, he issued another post saying the U.S. Navy’s blockade would continue until “UNTIL SUCH TIME AS OUR TRANSACTION WITH IRAN IS 100% COMPLETE.”

Trump imposed the blockade earlier this week after Iran restricted traffic through the strait due to Israeli strikes on Lebanon, which Iran said was a breach of the Pakistan-brokered cease-fire reached between the U.S., Israel and Iran.

At the time, Trump said the blockade would enforce an “all or none” policy in hopes of pressuring Iran to reopen the strait.

Trump’s decision to continue the blockade despite Iran’s announcement appeared aimed at sustaining pressure on Tehran, as the fate of the two-week cease-fire reached last week remains uncertain.

Direct talks between the U.S. and Iran last weekend were inconclusive, as the two nations differed over Iran’s nuclear program and other sticking points.

Trump had said on Thursday that talks with Iran could happen as soon as this weekend, although that was looking increasingly unlikely by Friday afternoon, given the logistics of assembling officials in Islamabad, where the talks are expected to take place.

The head of the International Energy Agency had warned that energy shocks could get worse if the Strait of Hormuz did not reopen. Iran closed the crucial waterway shortly after the war began, threatening the worst oil shock in history.

Oil prices plunged following Araqchi’s post.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week lowered its forecasts for global growth and warned the global economy risked tipping into ⁠recession if the conflict was prolonged.

Later on Friday, a senior Iranian military official said Tehran would block military vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz,

“The passage of military vessels through the Strait of Hormuz remains prohibited,” the official was quoted as telling Iranian state television, adding that civilian vessels would have to transit the waterway through designated routes and with permission of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Navy.

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the Strait of Hormuz reopening, but said it must become permanent

They said they will keep planning an international mission to restore maritime security, with a meeting of military planners in London next week.

Speaking after a gathering of some 50 countries, Macron said “we all demand the full, immediate and unconditional reopening of the Strait of Hormuz by all parties.”

Starmer said the announcement by Iran and the U.S. must become “both lasting and a workable proposal.”

He said France and the U.K. will lead a multinational mission to safeguard shipping “as soon as conditions allow.”

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House sales in Türkiye declined by 2.1% year-over-year in March, according to data that also showed Iranians were the second biggest foreign homebuyers.

A total of 113,367 houses were sold last month, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said.

The figure compares with 115,788 sales recorded a year ago.

From January through March, residential property sales stood at 349,396 units, down 0.3% year-over-year, the data showed.

Istanbul led the market last month with 21,665 sales, followed by Ankara with 10,236 and Izmir with 7,278.

New home sales rose 1.3% year-over-year to 35,725 units, while second-hand sales fell 3.6% to 77,642 units.

Mortgage-backed sales jumped 35.9% to 25,978, accounting for 22.9% of total transactions.

Sales to foreigners declined 20% year-over-year to 1,353 units.

By nationality, the highest number of houses were sold to citizens of Russia with 229 units, followed by Iran with 130, and Iraq with 84.

Iranians have been among the top homebuyers in Türkiye for years, but the focus has centered on the impact of the war that started on Feb. 28 after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran.

The sides agreed to a two-week cease-fire last week and are weighing a return to Pakistan for further talks as early as ​the coming ​weekend.

Türkiye, a NATO member and neighbor of ​Iran, has been in close touch with ​the U.S., Iran and Pakistan, and ⁠has repeatedly called for the fighting to stop.

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Türkiye’s energy markets have demonstrated strong resilience in the face of successive global shocks, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said on Friday, pointing to years of crisis-driven adaptation as a key strength.

Bayraktar was speaking at a panel on the sidelines of the Antalya Diplomacy Forum 2026, where he addressed the latest market turbulence linked to the Middle East conflict, while signaling a faster timeline for the country’s transition toward a low-carbon economy.

Energy prices have spiralled since the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global oil and gas shipping route, was closed as a result of the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and Tehran attacking energy infrastructure in the Middle East. On Monday, Washington imposed a blockade on ships entering or leaving Iranian ports.

The crisis came as a test for countries heavily reliant on oil and gas imports, including Türkiye.

Bayraktar said Türkiye’s ability to withstand volatility stems from years of exposure to overlapping crises, including the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions and geopolitical conflicts such as the Russia-Ukraine war and tensions in the Middle East.

“This crisis has, of course, affected us deeply. However, our energy markets are quite resilient. Türkiye is resilient because we have experienced crises in the past. We are already living with the uncertainties surrounding us,” said the minister.

“Over the last six to seven years, we have experienced the climate crisis, the pandemic and uncertainties in the supply chain. Following the Russia-Ukraine war, Iran and the Middle East have all made Türkiye resilient. We are used to dealing with crises.”

Bayraktar emphasized that Türkiye’s energy strategy has evolved over the past 25 years, with reforms opening markets to private investment, expanding regional cooperation and delivering large-scale infrastructure projects. However, he warned that rapidly rising domestic energy demand presents a growing challenge.

Carbon-neutral policy

He emphasized that Türkiye’s long-term strategy centers on boosting energy security while reducing import dependence through diversification and increased use of renewables.

“Energy demand in Türkiye is increasing very rapidly. AI-based centers and factors like electric vehicles are driving up energy needs. We have set a goal to move away from fossil fuels and utilize electricity. As an import-dependent country, we want to reduce this dependency,” he noted.

“We have a carbon-neutral policy. Diversifying our energy resources is crucial for us. We want to benefit more from renewable energy sources. However, we are not turning our backs on fossil fuels either. We need to have an energy architecture.”

Despite its push toward cleaner energy, Türkiye must continue to meet immediate demand from conventional sources, Bayraktar noted. He said around 40 million vehicles are on the country’s roads daily, while approximately 22 million households rely on natural gas, underscoring the need to maintain stable fuel supplies.

Keyword: Renewables

The minister still said renewable energy would be the “keyword” for the economy going forward, with expanded capacity, storage solutions and system security critical to achieving long-term targets. Türkiye aims to become a carbon-neutral economy by 2050, though Bayraktar indicated the government is considering bringing some targets forward, including energy efficiency goals.

“We have a very strong goal to become a carbon-neutral economy by 2050. But we are considering advancing this target, potentially bringing it forward to 2035,” he said, adding that plans to implement a national energy efficiency program by 2040 could also be accelerated to 2030.

Türkiye is also deepening its international energy engagement, the minister said, noting that the country has invested in multiple cross-border projects and recently launched offshore drilling operations in Somalia.

One of most serious energy crises

The panel brought together senior policymakers, including Azerbaijan Energy Minister Perviz Shahbazov, Slovenian Environment, Climate and Energy Minister Bojan Kumer, and Francesco La Camera, head of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), all of whom highlighted the broader global implications of ongoing energy disruptions.

Shahbazov warned that the world is facing one of its most serious energy crises, pointing to risks surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global oil flows.

He said disruptions affecting up to 12 million barrels of oil could have far-reaching consequences, including increased fragility in Europe’s jet fuel supply.

“This is a global crisis. We all need to fight this crisis together. At this point, Azerbaijan has diversified its own supply routes. We supply 40 million barrels to 20 different countries. Recently, we have also started supplying natural gas to our European partners,” he noted.

He added that producer nations are also vulnerable to price volatility despite perceptions that they benefit from crises.

“Balanced prices are important for all of us,” said Shahbazov.

Coordinated action needed

Kumer said Slovenia, which imports all of its oil, has been hit by rising prices and declining volumes, particularly at a time of seasonal demand increases in agriculture.

“This crisis did not find us at the right time,” he said.

He stressed that the crisis underscores the need for coordinated action within the European Union.

“No country can manage such an energy crisis alone,” Kumer said, adding that shifting away from fossil fuels remains essential given limited domestic resources.

“Before the Ukraine war, we were importing natural gas from Russia. Renewable energy is the future of the world. Fossil fuel is not a resource that we possess,” he added.

Fossil fuel crisis

IRENA’s La Camera argued that the current turmoil reflects a structural weakness in a fossil fuel-based system rather than a conventional energy crisis.

“This is not an energy crisis. This is a crisis of the energy system being built on fossil fuels. This is a fossil fuel crisis. This will shift us more toward renewable energy,” he noted.

La Camera explained that renewable energy installations added in a single year now exceed decades of nuclear capacity growth. He cited countries such as Spain, where renewables account for a significant share of energy production, and Türkiye, which has been vastly investing in renewable energy sources, as examples of the transition already underway.

He warned that regions slow to embrace renewables risk losing economic competitiveness.

“For the economy to be competitive, the energy system must be strong. Europe still underestimates renewable energy resources. That is why Asia, which invests in renewable energy, is winning while Europe is losing,” La Camera said.