As the conflict in the Middle East continues, leaders from global insurance and reinsurance brokerage group Aon share their observations and perspectives on many insurance businesses. Joe Peiser, CEO of Aon Venture Capital, emphasized that for many organizations, the most important risk is the disruption of supply chains, logistics routes and underwriting structures.
On Day 12 of the conflict in the Middle East, Aon hosted a webinar titled “Conflict in the Middle East: What global organizations are most concerned about right now,” where the company’s leaders and experts discussed what they are currently seeing in different insurance markets.
“We see risk being repriced in real time—often before it shows up in financial results,” Peizer said. “Insurance markets are reacting as events unfold, making them an early warning sign for organizations responding to geopolitical disruption.”
He went on to emphasize that for many entities, the most serious risk at the moment is not physical damage but ongoing disruption to supply chains, logistics routes and covering structures.
“Now is the time to test hypotheses — about how policies will respond, where coverage ends and whether alternative structures are needed — while organizations still have options to build resiliency,” Peizer said.
Tracy Lee Kus, chief executive of Aon Global Brokerage, said: “London remains a central coordination point for the risk of war, particularly at sea, and political violence more broadly.”
She said the London Maritime and War Market continued to provide coverage across the Middle East, helping to keep vital trade routes insured and open.
“Capacity and pricing have been adjusted, but the fundamental choice is to stay in challenging regions rather than exit at the first sign of trouble. This conflict is not a single issue. It spans many sectors, including ocean, energy, aviation, real estate, cyber and credit portfolios. London is at the center of modeling these cross-category accumulations and stress-testing capital, drawing on lessons from previous geopolitical crises. This allows the market to support customers while still protecting its own balance sheets and the wider reinsurance ecosystem,” she said.
Lee Kus’ comments echoed those of Chris Jones, chief executive of the International Underwriting Association, who said today that members were still insuring clients across multiple business lines affected by hostilities involving Iran.
As Phil Smaje, Aon’s global industry professional leader for transportation and logistics, points out, shipping and aviation are critical to global trade and are in the spotlight as conflicts persist.
“Starting with maritime affairs, according to our information, when the conflict began on February 28, there were approximately 750 ships in the Persian Gulf with a total value of approximately 250 million. Maritime Hull War Insurance operates through annual policies and defined limit areas set by the Joint War Council. These listed areas are subject to constant review, particularly during periods of heightened hostilities, and the purpose of this mechanism is not to disrupt the market. It exists to allow for rate adjustments, area redefinition, and renegotiation and reinstatement where appropriate,” explains Smaje.
Smaje stressed that this framework has been in place in the Lloyd’s Marine market for more than 300 years, adding that while it is clearly a stressful environment, the system is working as it should.
“Insurers’ biggest concern right now is accumulation – how exposure stacks up geographically – and whether pricing correctly reflects that risk. Our expectation is that markets will continue to react in a cautious and pragmatic way, with the goal always being continuity: getting customers insured and transacting where possible,” he said.
As we wrote earlier this week, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and the U.S. Treasury Department unveiled a plan to deploy maritime reinsurance, including war risk, in the Gulf. The facility will provide coverage for rolling losses of up to $20 billion.
On the aviation market front, Smaje noted that insurers are taking a cautious but cautious stance, with underwriters paying more attention to ground accumulation in major hubs such as Dubai, while also asking more detailed questions on routes, airport selection and contingency plans for aircraft relocations.
“At this stage we are not seeing widespread cancellation notices. This reflects both market precedent and a relatively mature understanding of how to account for war risks in aviation placements. For most businesses, the short-term impact is less about structural changes and more about clarity – around coverage, policy wording and how placements are handled.
“Going forward, more significant market shifts are likely to require clearer triggers, such as the emergence of insured losses, changes in the way capacity is deployed in key aviation or war markets, or a more determined reinsurance response at upcoming renewals. The combination of these factors will be the clearest signal that we are moving from an adjustment period to a more structural period,” Smaje said.
Regarding the political risk space, Sarah Taylor, head of political risk and structured credit at Aon, said insurers are taking a thoughtful and measured approach as they work to understand how the situation evolves and where any secondary impacts may come from.
“The focus is not limited to physical damage, but how disruption affects contracts, operations and counterparties over time. The most effective step for organizations with exposures in or near the region is to engage early – to understand how existing insurance will respond and what assumptions may need to be reconsidered, particularly before renewal,” Taylor said.
In today’s connected world, geopolitical escalation often leads to heightened cyber activity that often extends far beyond organizations operating in conflict zones. This point was emphasized by Brent Reith, head of global cyber at Aon, who called on organizations to “view the current environment as a severely heightened cyber threat, making incident response preparedness as important as threat monitoring”.
He continued: “Geopolitically motivated threat actors tend to focus on high-impact industries such as financial services, energy, transportation and technology, especially in industries where shared cloud and SaaS dependencies create systemic exposure. As cyber risk now touches nearly all business operations, having a trusted partner can make the difference between containing an incident and long-term operational disruption.”
Last week, CyberCube highlighted rising cyber risks from Iran following the US-Israeli attacks and called on cyber insurance companies to use threat intelligence analysis to assess and manage risks.
Credit insurers are also keeping a close eye on developments in the region, discussing what this could mean for global trade flows and supply chains, which could be further disrupted the longer the conflict continues.
Oliver Henderson, chief brokerage officer at Aon Credit Solutions, said: “What matters most from an underwriting perspective is how delays and disruptions translate into liquidity pressures over time. Despite increased uncertainty, underwriting appetite remains largely unchanged, with insurers taking a more selective, scenario-based approach. For clients, timely information and rigorous credit management are key to maintaining confidence and confidence.”
Continuity of coverage. “
Finally, Charles Philpott, Aon’s head of global natural resources, offered his thoughts on the impact on the energy industry.
“For a long time, energy geopolitical risks were largely in the background and absorbed through commodity prices. What is different now is that the impact is more directly felt in terms of accessibility and operability, which has meaningful implications for how energy systems operate under stress.
“Even if energy infrastructure and waterways remain open, the ability to keep oil and gas flowing is increasingly constrained by external pressures, turning geopolitical risk into a core cost of energy rather than just a source of price volatility,” he said.
Aon’s risks are being repriced in real time as conflict in the Middle East affects many insurance product lines, experts first said on ReinsuranceNe.ws.