Money expert Martin Lewis has issued a warning over supermarket food prices following the ongoing conflict in Iran.

Returning on the latest episode of The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 and ITVX on Tuesday, March 17, Martin explained how the US invasion of Iran could push up prices for everyday essentials on supermarket shelves, not just petrol prices for drivers.

Since the conflict escalated, the Strait of Hormuz in Iran has become blocked off, which directly pushes up oil and gas prices as it accounts for roughly 20% of the world’s oil and gas.

Martin was asked by a viewer during the show how the conflict in the Middle East will affect food prices.

Martin told her that the cost of oil indirectly affects “everything else” because it costs petrol to move food around, which is then reflected in the cost you pay at the till.

He explained: “Food prices and everything else, look, the first thing is the direct cost. Oil is the thing that’s gone up the most, petrol, diesel, heating oil, LPG, they have gone up and I’m talking about that in this part.

“But of course all those goods that are transported like food, all those goods that need refrigeration, like food, all of those, the underlying costs, the input factors to firms, are going up which means their prices will go up.

“But the most important thing to understand about this, while the rise is quite severe, the real question is the length more than the severity. If this were to end in a couple of weeks there would be a small impact, we’d notice it, but then hopefully things will get back to normal. If this is still going on in months or years’ time, then I think it will have a much more substantial hit. So the question is all about the length.”

Iran has stepped up its attacks on energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel bombed Iran’s massive South Pars offshore natural gas field earlier in the week.

Two waves of Iranian drones attacked a Kuwaiti oil refinery early Friday, sparking a fire.

The Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, which can process some 730,000 barrels of oil per day, is one of the largest in the Middle East. It was damaged on Thursday in another Iranian attack.

Iran’s attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf combined with its stranglehold on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil and other critical goods are transported, has raised concerns of a global energy crisis.

US President Donald Trump lobbed fresh insults at Nato allies who have spurned his call for help protecting the strait.

US allies have refused to join the war, saying they were not consulted before the US and Israel launched it. Mr Trump called Nato members “cowards” in a social media post, saying: “Nato is a paper tiger.”

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has soared during the fighting, and was around 108 dollars per barrel on Friday, up from roughly 70 dollars per barrel before the war began.

Surging fuel prices come at a moment when many world leaders were already struggling to bring down high prices on food and many consumer goods. Asia is getting hit the hardest as most of the oil and gas exiting the Strait of Hormuz is transported there.

The Martin Lewis Money Show Live from Tuesday, March 17 is still available to watch via ITVX.