Amman, June 5 (Petra)– The United Nations World Food Program (WFP)
warned on Friday that millions of people are struggling to meet their
basic food needs and, in some cases, are being pushed into acute
hunger as a result of the war in Iran.

A new WFP report, released Friday and examining the impact of the
crisis on some of the world’s most vulnerable countries, revealed
that an additional 2.5 million people in Somalia, 1.3 million in Sri
Lanka, and 2.3 million in Afghanistan are struggling to secure
sufficient food, with many facing acute food insecurity due to the
ongoing conflict.

Jean-Martin Bauer, Director of Food Security and Nutrition Analysis
at the WFP, said early warnings are only meaningful “if the world
acts on them,” according to CNN.

“We warned that this crisis could push millions of people into
hunger, and now we are seeing that happen,” Bauer said. “In many
cases, the world’s poorest families even those far from the
epicenter of the crisis are suffering the most severe
consequences.”

The WFP said the devastating effects of the conflict are expected to
worsen in the coming months, even if tensions in the Middle East
begin to ease.

In March, the agency projected that as many as 45 million people
could face acute food insecurity if the conflict in the Middle East
continued to drive up global oil prices.

According to the WFP, that scenario is now beginning to materialize.

//Petra// MF