Former US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen: The Iran conflict makes the Federal Reserve more inclined to hold rates steady.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated that the duration of the impact of the Iranian conflict on the oil market will determine the extent of its damage to U.S. economic growth and the resulting inflationary pressures, further complicating the Federal Reserve's work. "I think the recent situation with Iran has made the Fed more hesitant and less willing to cut rates than before this happened," Yellen, a former Fed chair, said at a video conference in Long Beach, California, on Monday. Yellen pointed out that the current inflation rate is already about one percentage point higher than the Fed's target. She stated that President Trump's tariff policies have contributed about half a percentage point to the current 3% inflation rate. Speaking at the S&P Global TPM26 shipping conference, she said, "Now we have the Iranian shock, and oil prices have risen sharply—we don't know what will happen in the next few days." Yellen said that if the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large volume of oil shipments from the region pass, continues for more than a few days, oil prices could remain high or rise further.