Rubbish Check
ABC News Business · 29 September 2026
source“EU nations seek energy alternatives after $113B extra spend since Iran war began”
R2/ 10
Lightly altered
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates ABC News's claim that the EU has spent "$113B extra" on energy since the Iran war began a 2/10, because the figure and framing track the AP wire story almost exactly, with only minor rounding and no independent verification flagged for the commissioner's own number.
The Verdict
Lightly altered, not spun. This is a straight AP wire story run near-verbatim across ABC News, Fortune, BNN Bloomberg, WRAL and others, and the headline's core claim matches the body almost word for word. The only nitpicks are a rounded figure and an unhedged attribution of a number that originates from one official's remarks rather than an audited EU dataset.
What actually happened
EU energy ministers met in Dublin, where commissioner Dan Jørgensen said the bloc has paid over an extra 100 billion euros ($113.5 billion) on energy imports since the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz closure, without any increase in supply. Ministers discussed accelerating the shift from fossil fuels to electricity, and separately flagged a possible U.S. diesel export ban as a fresh risk heading into winter.
Key facts
- European Union nations have spent over an extra 100 billion euros ($113.5 billion) on energy imports since the outbreak of the Iran war, per commissioner Jørgensen.
- Consumers in some European countries pay nearly 50% more at the pump, equivalent to more than $11 a gallon, following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial waterway through which a fifth of the world's traded oil passed in peacetime.
- Despite the additional money spent, the members haven't received "one extra molecule of gas or oil."
- About 50% of its diesel supply comes directly from the U.S., and Republicans in some states have pushed for an export ban that could hit that supply ahead of winter.
- The story ran identically across multiple wire subscribers (BNN Bloomberg, WRAL/AP, Fortune, Bernama, Anadolu Agency), confirming it as unaltered AP wire copy rather than an ABC-specific spin job.
What to watch for
Watch whether the €100bn/$113.5B figure gets an independent audit from Eurostat or the European Commission, since right now it rests solely on Jørgensen's remarks. Also watch the U.S. diesel export ban debate: Ireland's minister called a ban "unlikely," but if states push it through ahead of midterms, this "extra spend" figure could balloon fast, and future headlines should reflect that as a live risk, not a settled cost.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
