The executive director of the International Energy Agency didn't mince words when he described the impact of the Iran war on the global energy market. Speaking to the Financial Times, Faith Birol called the conflict "the greatest global energy security threat in history."

Birol observed that even if the war ended soon, restoring lost production is likely to take months. In other words, the event is likely to roil global markets for a long time, and the externalities are numerous.

Will AI create the world's first trillionaire? Our team just released a report on the one little-known company, called an "Indispensable Monopoly" providing the critical technology Nvidia and Intel both need. Continue »

Let's take a look at some of the stock winners and losers from the war and its impact on the energy market.

Asian stocks: Asian markets like Japan and South Korea are highly dependent on oil and gas coming out of the Persian Gulf, so they're significantly impacted by rising prices and the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz. Stocks in both those countries have fallen sharply as well, and are likely to struggle as long as the crisis endures. The iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (NYSEMKT: EWY) is down 17% since the war broke out.

Cyclical (non-commodity) stocks: Cyclical stocks have also been hit hard by the war, as it's raised the risk of inflation and a recession. Industrials, in particularly, have tumbled as many of those stocks are sensitive to higher fuel prices either for transportation or to operate heavy machinery. Additionally, a weaker economy could push their customers to spend less. Similarly, the financial sector fell back by a few points, and discretionary stocks have fallen nealry 10%.

There are clearly more losers than winners from the war, but there are some winners.

Energy stocks: This might be obvious, but energy stocks are clearly benefiting from the spike in oil and gas prices. It's not just oil producers that are seeing gains. One of the best-performing stocks has been Cheniere Energy (NYSE: LNG), an exporter of liquid natural gas (LNG), which is up about 20% since the start of the war in part due to damage to LNG infrastructure in the region.

Commodity stocks: Other commodity stocks have also performed well, benefiting from higher prices. Fertilizer prices, for example, have spiked, pushing stocks like CF Industries (NYSE: CF) higher.

It may seem tempting to shift your portfolio into energy and commodity stocks, but there's still a lot of uncertainty in the war, and the dynamics that have pushed those stocks up could reverse. Over the last few weeks, stocks have been volatile in response to changing news out of Iran.

For investors, the best thing to do is to prepare for volatility and save up some cash to take advantage of any discounts in stocks on your watch list.

Before you buy stock in Cheniere Energy, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Cheniere Energy wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $495,179!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $1,058,743!*

Now, it’s worth noting Stock Advisor’s total average return is 898% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss the latest top 10 list, available with Stock Advisor, and join an investing community built by individual investors for individual investors.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of March 21, 2026.

Jeremy Bowman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Cheniere Energy. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

The Iran War Just Triggered a Bigger Energy Shock Than the 1970s Oil Crisis. What It Means for Your Portfolio. was originally published by The Motley Fool