The war in Iran is about to hit the helium supply, which is critical for more than just party balloons [View all]
Source: Scripps News
Posted 4:36 PM, Mar 18, 2026
The cost of gasoline may be getting a lot of the attention, but blockages in the Strait of Hormuz impacts other industries too. Doctors are warning about the possibility of generic drugs being in short supply soon. Farmers are concerned about the cost of fertilizer, which in turn could change food prices.
And continued blockages in the strait could lead to shortages of helium — the gas that is used in party balloons, and a lot more besides. Phil Kornbluth analyzes the helium market. He says while much attention has been paid to oil facilities being hit by Iranians in the Gulf, many helium producing locations near those sites have also been damaged. Even if the war would end tomorrow, helium impacts are coming.
"The Party balloons are about 10% of the market. The physical shortage hasn't happened yet. The physical shortage will happen in a few weeks," Kornbluth said.
While party balloons may be the first thing you think of when you think of helium, the gas is also used in operating MRI machines at hospitals. Computer chip manufacturers need the gas too, and if there is a shortage, those sectors would be prioritized. "They cannot make computer chips without helium," Kornbluth says.
Read more: https://www.scrippsnews.com/us-news/iran-war/the-war-in-iran-is-about-to-hit-the-helium-supply-which-is-critical-for-more-than-just-party-balloons
In our federal labs, we used Helium as a "carrier gas" in Gas Chromatography analysis, where helium is also a "noble gas" element, meaning it is stable and inert and generally non-reactive.
In the GC analyses, the helium will essentially "transport" a vaporized liquid through filter material in a coiled tube, to separate out the different substances in that liquid (and then detect and register them in a plot, once they exit the detector).
There was already a helium shortage before this whole fiasco started.
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