BHP Chair sees limited business impact from Iran crisis for now

Bloomberg News | March 2, 2026 | 4:14 pm Top Companies Asia Australia Iron Ore

China freezes BHP iron ore cargoes amid pricing dispute

BHP is China’s third-biggest iron ore supplier. (Image courtesy of BHP.)

BHP Group Ltd. Chairman Ross McEwan said the global mining giant sees little immediate impact from the US-Iran conflict because almost all the company’s output goes into Asia.

“We run scenarios across many situations,” McEwan said at the Australian Financial Review Business Summit in Sydney on Tuesday. “You look and see what the impact could be, and it’s not in our hands to do much about that, other than respond.”

McEwan said some 95% of BHP’s mining output ends up in Asia, where trade routes remain open, though he expected some impact on certain passages through the Middle East.

US President Donald Trump has said there is no fixed timeline for the conflict. The Islamic Republic has continued to fire missiles around the Middle East in response to the US-Israeli attack, which killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over the weekend and has upended energy markets.

McEwan also said there are huge mining opportunities for BHP in Argentina, Canada and Australia.

“We’ve got growth,” he said. If attractive acquisition opportunities pop up and they’re good for shareholders, “we’ll have a go.”