The UN has recorded an increase in food prices due to the conflict in Iran

The food price index, tracked by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), rose in March amid the conflict in the Middle East. This was announced on April 3 by the press service of the organization.

"The values of price indices for all commodity groups — cereals, meat, dairy products, vegetable oils and sugar - have increased to one degree or another, due to both market conditions and the reaction to rising energy prices due to the escalation of the conflict in the Middle East," the FAO said in an April report published on the organization's website.

According to the report, the average value of the FAO Food Price Index in March 2026 was 128.5 points, which is 2.4% higher than the revised February level. Thus, the growth of this index continues for the second month in a row.

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Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu said at a meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdel Ata on April 2 that the events around Iran had a negative impact on almost all areas around the world, and poverty and hunger would affect millions of people. He noted that Russia had offered options for resolving the conflict to Iran, the United States and Israel, and these options were "on the table."

The Iranian Foreign Ministry said on March 7 that the United States had set a precedent for a humanitarian crisis by hitting a desalination plant on Qeshm Island. As a result of the attack, 30 villages were left without water. Washington has neither confirmed nor denied this information: US President Donald Trump said he "knows nothing about the desalination plant."

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