Workers carry out maintenance work on a container berth at the port of Umm Qasr in southern Iraq on September 17, 2026. Basra has long been a key cog in Iraq's economy but, after months of Iran choking off Gulf oil exports with its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the city is suffering. Fuel trucks stand idle and workers face pay cuts and lay-offs. Many Basra residents have lost their jobs or taken heavy pay cuts as private contractors, as oil fields and the Umm Qasr cargo port scale back operations. Crude oil exports account for almost 90 percent of Iraq's foreign revenue, and are primarily shipped through Hormuz via the cluster of facilities around Basra, the country's only gateway to the Gulf. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP via Getty Images)

A crew member of the bulk carrier Fu Chang walks along a pier at the port of Umm Qasr in southern Iraq on September 17, 2026. Basra has long been a key cog in Iraq's economy but, after months of Iran choking off Gulf oil exports with its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the city is suffering. Fuel trucks stand idle and workers face pay cuts and lay-offs. Many Basra residents have lost their jobs or taken heavy pay cuts as private contractors, as oil fields and the Umm Qasr cargo port scale back operations. Crude oil exports account for almost 90 percent of Iraq's foreign revenue, and are primarily shipped through Hormuz via the cluster of facilities around Basra, the country's only gateway to the Gulf. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP via Getty Images)

Captain Salem Hussein, the head of Umm Qasr port's northern sector, poses for a photograph at the port in southern Iraq on September 17, 2026. Basra has long been a key cog in Iraq's economy but, after months of Iran choking off Gulf oil exports with its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the city is suffering. Fuel trucks stand idle and workers face pay cuts and lay-offs. Many Basra residents have lost their jobs or taken heavy pay cuts as private contractors, as oil fields and the Umm Qasr cargo port scale back operations. Crude oil exports account for almost 90 percent of Iraq's foreign revenue, and are primarily shipped through Hormuz via the cluster of facilities around Basra, the country's only gateway to the Gulf. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP via Getty Images)

A queue of trucks waits at the weighbridge at the port of Umm Qasr in southern Iraq on September 17, 2026. Basra has long been a key cog in Iraq's economy but, after months of Iran choking off Gulf oil exports with its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the city is suffering. Fuel trucks stand idle and workers face pay cuts and lay-offs. Many Basra residents have lost their jobs or taken heavy pay cuts as private contractors, as oil fields and the Umm Qasr cargo port scale back operations. Crude oil exports account for almost 90 percent of Iraq's foreign revenue, and are primarily shipped through Hormuz via the cluster of facilities around Basra, the country's only gateway to the Gulf. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP via Getty Images)

This photograph shows the Iranian-flagged cargo ship Nora Bandar Abbas docked at the port of Umm Qasr in southern Iraq on September 17, 2026. Basra has long been a key cog in Iraq's economy but, after months of Iran choking off Gulf oil exports with its blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, the city is suffering. Fuel trucks stand idle and workers face pay cuts and lay-offs. Many Basra residents have lost their jobs or taken heavy pay cuts as private contractors, as oil fields and the Umm Qasr cargo port scale back operations. Crude oil exports account for almost 90 percent of Iraq's foreign revenue, and are primarily shipped through Hormuz via the cluster of facilities around Basra, the country's only gateway to the Gulf. (Photo by Hussein FALEH / AFP via Getty Images)

A screen shows the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) in the foreign exchange dealing room at the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

TOPSHOT - This photograph taken on September 21, 2026, shows the electronic display of daily petrol and diesel prices at a petrol station in Portiragnes, southern France. (Photo by Gabriel BOUYS / AFP via Getty Images)

An effigy hangs from a fishing boat next to a banner reading "Enough sacrifices" at the port of Le Grau-du-Roi, in southern France, on September 21, 2026, during the visit of France's junior minister for the sea and fisheries Catherine Chabaud to meet with fishermen from Sete and Le Grau-du-Roi following a week of fishermen protests over rising fuel prices and deteriorating working conditions. (Photo by Sylvain THOMAS / AFP via Getty Images) *** BESTPIX ***