Soaring oil prices from the Iran war pushed inflation higher in Europe in April as growth continued to underperform in a worrying combination both for consumers and policymakers at the European Central Bank.

Annual inflation in the 21 countries that use the shared euro currency rose to 3.0% from 2.6% in March, fueled by a 10.9% increase in energy prices, the European Union statistical agency Eurostat reported Thursday. Crude oil is trading above $120 per barrel, up from around $73 before the outbreak of the war on Feb. 28.

President Donald Trump said a U.S. naval blockade against Iran could last months, leading oil prices to spike to their highest level in more than four years, which held into Thursday.

Trump is expected to receive a briefing on Thursday on new plans for potential military action in Iran from Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, two sources with knowledge told Axios.

European Union countries must funnel their energy aid chiefly to vulnerable households and industries or risk wasting billions of euros as the Iran war hits oil and gas prices, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned on Wednesday.

The U.S.-Israel war, combined with retaliation from Iran such as choking the Strait of Hormuz, is costing the EU almost 500 million euros ($600 million) a day, raising prices at the pumps and fears of a jet fuel shortage within weeks.

The Iranian rial plummeted to a record low against the dollar on Wednesday, according to currency-tracking websites, as a U.S. naval blockade of the country's ports continued.

On the black market, the rial was trading at around 1.80 million rials against the dollar, the Bonbast and AlanChand websites reported. When the war erupted two months ago, one dollar was traded at about 1.70 million rials.

Stocks mostly advanced in Asia on Wednesday despite losses on Wall Street, while oil prices fell after the United Arab Emirates said it would leave OPEC in a blow to the powerful oil cartel.

U.S. futures edged higher.

The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday that it will leave the oil cartel OPEC and its wider OPEC+ group effective May 1, a move rumored for some time as the Emirates chaffed under production restrictions and increasingly had frostier relations with neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The UAE had been a longtime member of OPEC, first through its emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967 and later when the UAE became its own country in 1971.

President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday slammed Israel for allegedly accepting shipments of Ukrainian grain "stolen" by Russia, which occupies swathes of Ukrainian agricultural land.

"Another vessel carrying such grain has arrived at a port in Israel and is preparing to unload," Zelensky wrote in a statement on social media.

In the heartland of Iran's famed carpet-making industry, manufacturing has ground to a near halt. Dairies struggle to find packages for milk and butter. Giant steel mills that once drove Iran's economy have gone silent. Hundreds of thousands have lost jobs, and millions more are at risk.

Over more than five weeks of bombardment, U.S. and Israeli strikes hit thousands of factories. The damage is reverberating across Iran's economy, threatening increasing waves of layoffs, even as Iranians face skyrocketing prices. The cost of chicken is up 75% the past month, and beef and lamb jumped 68%. Many dairy products have increased by half.

World shares mostly gained and the price of Brent crude oil jumped $2.50 a barrel early Monday as talks on ending the war with Iran stayed snagged.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index hit a fresh record Monday after U.S. stocks ended last week with new highs.

Business activity in the eurozone contracted for the first time in 16 months in April, as the war in the Middle East drove energy prices higher and disrupted global supply chains, a closely watched survey showed Thursday.

The Flash Eurozone purchasing managers' index (PMI) published by S&P Global, an important gauge of the overall health of the economy, registered a figure of 48.6 this month, down from 50.7 in March.