Tehran unleashes intense attacks across Gulf; Qatar gas outlet heavily damaged; US F-35 damaged by Iranian fire
U.S. sailors observe as an F/A-18E Super Hornet aircraft, assigned to Strike Fighter Squadron 31, approaches the flight deck of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford. Photo: AFP
DOHA/WASHINGTON:
Iranian attacks on the world’s largest LNG facility in Qatar and refineries in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait sent shockwaves through energy markets on Thursday as the United States said there was no deadline for ending the war in the Middle East.
US President Donald Trump said he had asked Israel not to repeat its attacks on Iranian natural gas infrastructure.
Also, a US F-35 fighter jet made an emergency landing at the US air base in the Middle East after it was hit by what was believed to be Iranian fire, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Captain Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command, said the fifth-generation stealth jet was “flying a combat mission over Iran” when it was forced to make an emergency landing. Hawkins said the plane landed safely and the incident is under investigation.
“The aircraft landed safely and the pilot is in stable condition,” Hawkins added. “This incident is under investigation.”
The incident would be the first time Iran has hit a US aircraft in the war that started in late February. Both the US and Israel fly the F-35 in the conflict; the plane costs upwards of 100 million dollars.
Amid growing fears of the economic damage from the war, US President Donald Trump said there would be no repeat of Israel’s attack on Iran’s central South Pars gas field, but warned of a furious US response if Tehran did not halt attacks on Qatar.
Iran responded that it would have “zero restraint” if its energy infrastructure was hit again.
Oil markets have already been shaken by Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
But international benchmark Brent rose 10 percent to $119 a barrel before falling back to $112, while European gas prices rose 35 percent after Iranian missiles hit Qatar’s huge Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas complex in retaliation for Israel’s attack on South Pars on Wednesday.
The nighttime attack on Ras Laffan, a repeated target since the start of the war on February 28, caused “extensive damage”, QatarEngery said.
Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said the attack was “clear evidence” that Iran was going beyond its pledge to target only US interests in the Gulf.
And attacks blamed on Iran proliferated.
A drone crashed into the Samref refinery in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, the Saudi Ministry of Defense said. The government reserved “the right to take military action” in response.
In Kuwait, drone strikes sparked fires at the Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries, which have a combined capacity of 800,000 barrels per day.
Even in Israel, media said an oil refinery in the port of Haifa was hit Thursday after the military warned of missiles fired by Iran.
Trump indicated that he had no prior knowledge of Israel’s raid on South Pars, which supplies about 70 percent of Iran’s domestic needs. But he said he had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to hit more gas fields in Iran.
“We get along well. It’s coordinated, but sometimes he’ll do something” that the United States opposes, Trump said.
Trump previously warned that the United States would “blow up” South Pars if Tehran did not stop attacking Qatar. But he said Thursday there was no current plan to send troops into Iran.
Iran responded to the threats with defiance. The military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya operational command vowed “total destruction” of the Gulf’s energy infrastructure if the Israeli attack was repeated, according to a statement by the Fars news agency.
Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media that there would be “ZERO restraint” if Iran’s infrastructure was hit again.
There is growing concern among the world’s major economies about the fallout from the conflict.
Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the Netherlands said they would “contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz”, but gave few details.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “reckless escalation” in the attacks and called for “direct talks between the Americans and the Iranians on this matter”.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office warned that “attacks on critical infrastructure risk pushing the region further into crisis”, following talks with Macron and NATO chief Mark Rutte.
India and China also expressed new concerns about their supplies flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. Fuel shortages have sparked long queues at gas stations across Asia and increased costs around the world.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said there is no time frame for ending the war, but that “we are very much on track” and that Trump will choose when to end the fight.
“It will be after the presidential election, at the end of the day, where we say, ‘Hey, we’ve accomplished what we need to,'” he said at a news conference in Washington.
Commentators said the energy attacks showed rifts between the US and Israel over war tactics.
“The conflict is heading into a war of attrition — with no clear signs of regime collapse in Iran,” Danny Citrinowicz, a senior fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, said on X.
The attacks “underscored how unstructured this campaign has become – lacking strategic clarity, long-term planning and a defined end state”.
US media said the administration could seek more than $200 billion in additional war funding from Congress.
“I think that number could move. Obviously it takes money to kill bad guys,” commented Hegseth.
(With additional input from the News Desk)
