The Iran war has rattled global energy markets. Oil and gas prices have surged. And here at home, drivers are feeling it fast, with petrol up around 20p per litre in just weeks.
This is not just an economic problem - it is a national security threat.
You don’t need missiles to hit targets for the damage to be done. Markets move on fear as much as reality.
The Middle East remains the beating heart of global energy supply. Any hint of disruption, let alone what we have seen with Iran’s attempt to widen the war by attacking its neighbours and paralysing the Strait of Hormuz - one of the world’s most vital oil chokepoints - sends shockwaves through the system.
And if current threats about the total destruction of gas fields in Iran and Qatar become a reality, the consequences could escalate rapidly.
Iran’s evil clerical regime has already shown that it will try and drag us all down with ever greater disruption in order to save itself. That would send prices even higher, even faster and expose just how vulnerable Western economies have become.
For British households, this is not some distant geopolitical drama. It means more pain at the pump, rising prices in the shops and higher energy costs.
And the timing could not be worse.
Britain was looking forward to a declining interest rate energy-cost inflationary spike upon us, all interest rates that would help spur the growth we desperately need.
But with an energy cost inflationary spike upon us, all interest rate bets are now off.
Mortgage rates will therefore remain at elevated levels, and if energy supply remains under pressure, we face a perfect storm - persistently high petrol prices, stubborn inflation and another hit to growth.
But this is also about resilience, or the lack of it. Here is the hard truth - this crisis is exposing years of complacency.
Britain has become dangerously exposed to global shocks. We are too reliant on foreign supply. Too exposed. Too slow to act. Energy policy is no longer just about bills. It is about national security.
We cannot control what happens in Tehran or Washington. But we can control how prepared we are here at home.
That means boosting domestic supply, strengthening resilience by ending the net zero madness that has caused us to spurn domestic energy sources available in abundance, and ending the dangerous delusion that global instability will not hit Britain directly.
Because it already has.
If we fail to act, this summer could become a costly reminder that when the Middle East heats up, Britain pays the price.
Dr Alan Mendoza is Executive Director of the Henry Jackson Society.