Irish leaders say Iran war can not continue for three weeks

The world does not have another three weeks for the de-escalation of the Iran war, the Tanaiste has said.

On Wednesday morning, both Simon Harris and the Taoiseach Micheal Martin responded to comments made by US President Donald Trump overnight, suggesting the war could be over in two to three weeks.

Speaking to reporters outside Government Buildings, Mr Harris said: “The war is currently ongoing for about 33 days, look at the scale of damage that has been done to the world’s energy infrastructure in that period of time.

“We don’t have another 21 days, or thereabouts, to see de-escalation.

“We’re already living through the largest energy crisis in the history of the world, bigger than the last three combined.”

He added two to three weeks “might sound like a relatively short period of time”, but the economic and humanitarian impact would be “extraordinarily concerning”.

Mr Martin said two to three weeks was “too long” and added: “There is simply too much volatility around this war”.

He said the Irish government is pressing for “as early an end to this as possible”.

“The sooner this ends, I think, the sooner we see de-escalation across the region, then the greater the prospect of restoring some degree of normality, although it will take a considerable degree of time.”

Asked if they were concerned about reports that prices at petrol pumps are rising again, despite last week’s cut to excise duty, Mr Harris said he believed the cuts were passed on to consumers.

He said: “Diesel and petrol prices are still below where they were in advance of the excise cuts.

“So imagine how much higher they would have been had those measures not been put in place, so I do believe they were the right measures to take.”

Mr Martin said the situation is “very, very volatile” and added “the only certain way” to stop prices rising is “to end the war”.

Mr Harris said the European Commission is working on “advice and maybe a toolkit” containing “sensible ideas that might be offered to the public”, which is expected to be made available next week.

Asked if the government would be issuing advice to citizens to work from home, the Tanaiste said “the level of government advice” would depend on how long the war goes on for “because every day it goes on, the energy supply crisis worsens”.

He said measures, like those taken during the Ukrainian crisis, where lights on public buildings were not turned on at night, are “under review”.