How the war with Iran is damaging the global economy

The war with Iran is doing collateral damage to the world economy. The conflict is driving up energy and fertilizer prices; threatening food shortages in poor countries; destabilizing fragile states such as Pakistan; and complicating options for the inflation fighters at central banks like the Federal Reserve. Causing much of the pain: the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of world’s oil passes — was effectively shut down after the U.S. and Israel launched missile strikes Feb. 28 that killed Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “For a long time, the nightmare scenario that deterred the U.S. from even…