Ripple effects from the war in Iran are threatening millions more of the most vulnerable people with crisis levels of hunger or worse, World Food Programme (WFP) acting Executive Director Carl Skau told CNN.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has driven up the cost of fuel exponentially, making the organization’s operations far more costly. The escalating fuel costs have also driven up the price of food around the world. And critically needed supplies of fertilizer from the Gulf to plant crops in places like Sudan have been stymied by the snarling of the critical waterway.

It is a devastating mix for an organization that was already having to make unimaginable choices due to significant cuts in funding.

“In many places, we’re already taking from the hungry to give to the starving,” Skau said.

The WFP relies on donations from governments and has seen an immense drop in funding across the board, including from its top donor, the United States. As of Monday, the US’s 2026 contribution was around $731 million. In 2024, it was more than $4 billion.

Skau explained that in the world’s poorest countries, “when the price of food goes up 20-30%, well, they eat 20-30% less.”

In March, the humanitarian organization warned that 45 million more people will face acute hunger by July if the price of oil remains above $100 a barrel. Now, Skau said they have begun seeing the impact on the ground in places like Sri Lanka, Somalia and Afghanistan.

Even if the Strait of Hormuz were to reopen tomorrow, Skau said, the impact would continue to be felt longer-term.

“It’s going to take time to recover,” he told CNN in a recent interview in Washington, DC.

“We hope this conflict goes away, and that the strait opens tomorrow. But I think it’s clear that we need rich countries to step up and try to mitigate the hit on the most vulnerable from this crisis,” he said.

The cuts in funding have impacted the organization’s ability to serve the most in need. Unlike in past crises, like the war in Ukraine or the Covid pandemic, Skau said there has not been an increase in contributions.

“Last year, it was a 40% drop in funding year on year,” said Skau, a former Swedish diplomat, who became acting head of the organization last week following Cindy McCain’s departure. He has served as chief operating officer of the WFP since May 2023.

Even before the Iran war began, the organization was faced with mounting needs around the world. Sudan has 20 million people who are food insecure; hundreds of thousands have been displaced in Lebanon; in Ukraine, there have been more than 20 incidents over the last two years impacting WFP distribution points, warehouses, vehicles or the assets and vehicles of partners. A missile strike hit a WFP warehouse in Dnipro, Ukraine, in late May.

The rising costs and cuts in funding have only compounded those challenges. Skau described a part of South Sudan that is facing famine, but can only be reached by air, which is very expensive.

“If we continue that air bridge, it burns a lot of resources, to the point we can’t address” other parts of the country facing emergency food insecurity, he said. “Those kinds of choices we haven’t really faced before.”

During a recent visit to Afghanistan, Skau said colleagues on the ground were trying to figure out the metrics of who the WFP would be able to help.

“We don’t have resources to help all the women-headed households with children in this province. So, what do we do? Do we say, ‘Okay, women-headed households with more than five children?’ Well, that means that those with four are not getting assistance, we know that that’s going to have massive impacts on them,” he described. “That’s the kind of conversations we’re having in terms of the cuts and the impact.”

The US government remains the largest donor to the WFP, but under the Trump administration, funding for humanitarian aid, including to the WFP, has dropped.

Skau told CNN that the WFP is “thankful” for the US contribution, but “we always want to push the envelope.”

“We will also have a conversation around what they can do to push others to do more,” he said. He noted that it is in the US interest to fight global hunger, because a “hungry world is an unstable world.”

“I think there is agreement and consensus among Americans and beyond that children should not go to bed hungry. Children should not starve,” he said. (CNN)

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