Dominoes are beginning to fall following 200 days of war, with protests erupting across at least nine countries fed-up with the hike on living.

Fuel protests have broken out across at least nine countries as the war with Iran drives up the price of moving people, food and almost everything else.

Roads have been blocked by furious civilians in Syria and Guatemala. Oil depots have been targeted by demonstrators in France. Tractors and trucks have clogged major routes through Ireland, Portugal and Bolivia.

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In Kenya and the Comoros Islands, the unrest has actually become deadly.

There are local grievances behind each protest, from subsidy cuts and taxes to wages and corruption. But the common pressure is the rising price of energy.

The US campaign against Iran is the main culprit for the current unrest, but analysts have long warned of coming instabilities in the fragile global energy supply chain for years.

The Strait of Hormuz handled roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil before fighting severely disrupted shipping through the narrow waterway. Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have compounded the crisis by attacking Saudi oil infrastructure and threatening shipping around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, another crucial artery for global trade.

Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have compounded the crisis by attacking Saudi oil infrastructure. Picture: Ansar Allah Media Office via AP

The International Monetary Fund estimated that more than 1.1 billion barrels of crude had failed to reach the market by the end of May. At the same point in the crisis, the shortfall was larger than those recorded during the 1973 oil shock, the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf War.

Gulf producers also supply about 10 per cent of the world’s diesel and jet fuel. Brent crude has again climbed above $US100 a barrel, while reduced Russian exports have tightened diesel supplies further.

“The petrol pump is, in some ways, the least interesting part of the story,” University of Surrey economics professor Eric Golson said.

“Diesel powers freight, so its price matters far beyond the forecourt.”

Syria’s breaking point

Syria has become the latest flashpoint after its government lifted petrol prices by about 30 per cent and diesel by 40 per cent.

Authorities blamed both the global energy squeeze and repairs at the Baniyas refinery. For Syrians still trying to piece together an economy flattened by 14 years of civil war, that explanation has not done much to calm the mood.

Protests have spread through at least six provinces. Residents have blocked highways and oil tanker routes, leaving hundreds of trucks stranded near Tal Tamr.

Syria has become the latest flashpoint after its government lifted petrol prices by about 30 per cent and diesel by 40 per cent. Picture: Bakr ALKASEM / AFP

In the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli, demonstrators carried signs reading: “No to the starvation policy” and “No to the increase in fuel prices.”

“We are demanding our rights. The prices of diesel and bread must return to what they were, and they must comply with the people’s demands,” demonstrator Khansa Nehmat, 48, said.

The backlash became serious enough for parliament to summon Energy Minister Mohammed al-Bashir to explain the increases.

Demonstrators block a road with flaming tires while protesting hikes in Syria. Picture: Bakr ALKASEM / AFP

Europe takes to the roads

Meanwhile in France, hundreds of fishermen in the nation’s south blockaded oil depots at Frontignan and Fos-sur-Mer, saying the cost of marine diesel was making it increasingly difficult to earn a living.

Police cleared the Fos-sur-Mer protest and the blockades were later lifted. Fishermen’s representative Ange Natoli said the campaign would continue until the industry received answers from Fisheries Minister Catherine Chabaud.

“We are not easing the pressure,” he said.

President Emmanuel Macron called for the government’s “full mobilisation” on fuel supplies and prices.

Portugal has also faced its own rolling backlash from fed-up civilians. Drivers staged slow-moving convoys around the Galp refinery at Sines, while motorists sounded their horns across Lisbon’s 25 April Bridge.

Energy sector workers gather in front of the Bouches-du-Rhone prefecture office in the south of France to protest against the government. Picture: Thibaud MORITZ / AFP

French farmers from agricultural unions FDSEA (Departmental Federation of Agricultural Holders) and JA (Young Farmers) block the entrance of a slaughterhouse to protest against beef price declines, in la Roche-sur-Yon, western France on July 28, 2026. Picture: Sebastien Salom-Gomis / AFP

Between 60 and 100 vehicles joined the Sines protest after diesel reached a record €2.169 ($3.50) a litre. Signs attached to vehicles declared: “Families can’t take it anymore.”

Ireland had already received a taste of what happens when fuel anger hardens into a national campaign. In April, farmers and hauliers spent six days blocking motorways, depots and the country’s only oil refinery. Public transport was disrupted and some service stations ran dry before access to the refinery was restored.

Farmers, unions and transport workers mobilise

In Bolivia, several hundred coca growers and supporters of former president Evo Morales marched through Cochabamba after bulk price of diesel rose from $US0.80 ($1.13) to $US1.50 ($2.12) a litre.

One farmer made the point without a speech, pulling a tractor through the street with a rope.

“This is contributing significantly to the rise in the cost of basic goods,” farmer Elena Aine, 40, said.

The government says the policy is intended to discourage smuggling, while allowing registered small farmers to continue buying limited quantities at the old price. Protesters want the increase scrapped entirely.

Bolivia was already grappling with its worst economic crisis in four decades, including a shortage of foreign currency and long queues for fuel.

In Bolivia, several hundred coca growers and supporters of former president Evo Morales marched through Cochabamba after the bulk price of diesel skyrocketed. Picture: RODRIGO URZAGASTI / AFP

In Guatemala, unions, transport workers and merchants spent two months demanding state intervention as diesel climbed from about $US3.40 ($4.80) a gallon to more than $US6 ($8.46).

The government said security forces cleared 34 roadblocks last weekend. Two police officers were reportedly shot during clashes in the south, while other officers were injured and several civilians arrested.

This aerial view shows agricultural producers blocking a road in the town of Cuatro Canadas. Pictures: RODRIGO URZAGASTI / AFP

Australia and the US feel the squeeze

Australia has not seen comparable protests, but prices are climbing again and regular Aussies are feeling the pinch.

ACCC figures show average petrol across the five largest cities reached 209.9 cents a litre on September 9, while diesel averaged 253.7 cents.

Petrol was 39 cents above its pre-war level and diesel was 77.1 cents higher. The restoration of the full fuel excise in August also contributed to the rise, meaning the increase cannot be blamed entirely on the war.

In the US, diesel has passed $US6 ($8.46) a gallon for the first time.

The Federal Reserve responded to stubborn inflation on Wednesday by lifting its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points to between 3.75 and 4 per cent — its first increase since 2023.

That put Fed chairman Kevin Warsh, appointed by Donald Trump this year, directly at odds with a president demanding cheaper borrowing.

Warsh said the bank needed to stop energy prices producing “second- and third-round effects” across the economy.

Political sociologist Naomi Hossain warned earlier this year that fuel protests rarely remain solely about fuel.

“Complaints about prices eventually bleed into complaints about democracy and governance more generally,” she wrote in an essay published in April.

An IMF study reached a similar conclusion. Fuel rises were more likely to trigger unrest when they landed during an economic downturn or in countries with high inequality, unstable currencies, weak institutions and widespread perceptions of corruption.

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‘Starvation’: Global fuel crisis just got ugly