In response to the impact of the Iran war, supply chain personnel are running around. "Internal and external consultations are coming one after another, and the work can no longer be carried out normally", this is the sigh of a purchasing department head familiar to the author. It is reported that from early March 2026 onwards, the procurement department seems to be caught in endless questions and answers, customers and internal production departments continue to ask "whether the procurement is blocked", "if blocked when to recover", "inventory status". At present, the resources of all parties have been invested in investigating the impact of Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, and the work on various topics has been put on hold. However, the international political and geopolitical situation is changing rapidly, and even US President Trump's remarks may change within an hour, so it is difficult to give a definite answer to the future situation. Despite the industry's common saying that business needs to be predictable, it seems to have entered an era of complete unpredictability.

As for the "blockbuster deal" mentioned in the opening paragraph, it does not refer to President Trump's negotiations with other countries. The big news at this time is the cooperation between LG Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of South Korea's LG Group, and Tesla (Tesla) of the United States. The two sides reached an agreement to build a manufacturing facility with a scale of $4.3 billion (688 billion yen to 160 yen) in Michigan, USA, to produce power system energy storage equipment such as lithium iron phosphate batteries for Tesla.

According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Tesla's partnership with LG Energy Solutions is aimed at strengthening the U.S. energy supply network. The United States is working to increase its energy self-sufficiency rate. Policy measures include expanding liquefied natural gas (LNG) production capacity, strengthening nuclear energy, and reassessing plans to reduce coal-fired power generation. At the same time, the United States also mentioned the need to promote the localization of energy supply chains and get rid of dependence on China. The construction of the lithium-ion battery factory is regarded as a part of the implementation of the above policy.

As mentioned earlier, the war in Iran and the resulting closure of the Strait of Hormuz is shaking global supply chains. The United States has shale oil and shale gas, crude oil self-sufficiency capacity has reached a certain level. In addition, the United States is forcibly moving the production bases of all kinds of materials back to the country to reduce the impact of war and other factors.

Of course, I do not claim that the United States is unaffected. In fact, the United States is also deeply troubled. Even if crude oil is self-produced and sold, prices will still rise with fluctuations in the international market. Nevertheless, the United States attracts industry participants through huge amounts of funds and dually distributes the supply sources of important materials, which attracts people's attention.

Whether it is in an extraordinary period or not, the uninterrupted flow of materials is the embodiment of a strong supply chain. It is ideal to produce all at home, but even if it is called "domestic production", going back to the raw material level, it is often still related to many countries. As mentioned earlier, even with a return to domestic production as much as possible, there may still be unforeseen difficulties in obtaining materials in emergency situations, which cannot be guaranteed to be completely unaffected.

then, including the united states, which links have stopped in this war? next, we will focus on the problem of purchasing difficult goods caused by the iranian war. Start with items that are easy to predict and have more media coverage.