- Qatar reprimands both Israel, Iran, expels Iranian diplomats.
- South Pars is a shared gas field, the world’s largest, between Iran and Qatar.
- Over 3,000 died in Iran, hundreds killed in the Gulf region so far.
DOHA/JERUSALEM/DUBAI: Iran accused Israel of attacking its facilities at the huge South Pars gas field on Wednesday in a major escalation in the US-Israeli war that sent oil prices soaring, retaliating by vowing to attack oil and gas targets across the Gulf, firing missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Qatar’s state oil giant QatarEnergy reported “extensive damage” after Ras Laffan Industrial City, an energy industry hub, was hit by Iranian missiles. Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles fired at Riyadh on Wednesday and an attempted drone attack on a gas plant in the east of the country.
South Pars is the Iranian sector of the world’s largest natural gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar, a close US ally, across the Gulf. Qatar’s foreign ministry rebuked Israel for a “dangerous and irresponsible” attack on Iran’s South Pars facility and condemned Iran for what it called “a flagrant breach” of international law, expelling two senior Iranian diplomats.
The escalation adds to the unprecedented disruption of global energy supplies that has heightened the political stakes for US President Donald Trump, who joined Israel in attacking Iran nearly four weeks ago. Diesel prices in the US have already risen above $5 per gallon. gallon for the first time since the 2022 inflation hike that eroded support for his predecessor, Joe Biden.
The conflict quickly spread to neighboring countries and has already halted shipping from the world’s most important energy-producing region and could now cause lasting damage to its infrastructure. Benchmark Brent crude prices rose about 5% to above $108. Stock markets swung lower.
In Washington, US spy chief Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that Iran’s government has deteriorated since the war began on February 28 but appears to be intact, with Iran and its proxies still able to attack US military bases and other interests it has in the Middle East.
U.S. producer prices rose by the most in seven months in February, driven by higher costs for services and a range of goods, and may accelerate further as the war boosts oil prices.
Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the attack on South Pars. According to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed US officials, Trump knew about Israel’s plan to attack the gas field in advance and supported it.
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that gas tanks and parts of a refinery had been hit. It said workers had been evacuated, and state media later said the fire there was under control.
Iran listed several prominent regional oil and gas facilities it called “direct and legitimate targets,” all in nearby states that host U.S. military bases: Saudi Arabia’s Samref Refinery and Jubail Petrochemical Complex, the UAE’s Al Hosn Gas Field, and Qatar’s Mesaieed Petrochemical Complex, Mesaieed Holding Company, and Ras Laffan.
It said they should be evacuated immediately before its missiles fell.
The United States and Israel had previously refrained from attacking Iran’s energy production facilities in the Gulf, averting Iranian retaliation against the oil and gas industries of its neighbors. International law prohibits states from attacking civilian energy infrastructure.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he spoke with the emir of Qatar and Trump on Thursday and called for a “moratorium on strikes targeting civilian infrastructure”, particularly water and energy facilities.
Iran has already effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which handles 20% of global oil and liquid natural gas supplies, but consuming nations have hoped the disruption would prove short-lived as long as production infrastructure was spared.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke by phone with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Wednesday, saying safe passage through the strait was a priority for Europe and that the EU supports a diplomatic solution to the war.
Everyone is in the crosshairs
The Israeli military also hit central Beirut, destroying apartment buildings in some of the most intense airstrikes on the Lebanese capital in decades.
Israel killed Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib on Wednesday, a day after killing powerful security chief Ali Larijani. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said that “no one in Iran has immunity and everyone is in the crosshairs.”
He and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had authorized the Israeli military “to target any senior Iranian official for whom an intelligence and operational opportunity arises, without the need for further approval.”
In Tehran, thousands turned out in the streets for a funeral for Larijani and other slain figures.
Iran has retaliated by firing cluster missiles at Israel, which are harder to intercept. Shortly after midnight on Thursday, Israel’s ambulance service said a foreign national had died in Adanim in central Israel following an Iranian missile attack, bringing the death toll in Israel to at least 15. Wednesday also saw the first fatal attack in the Israeli-occupied West Bank: Three Palestinian women were killed after an Iranian missile strike, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
The death toll is rising throughout the region
In central Beirut’s Bachoura district, Israel warned residents early Wednesday to leave a building it said was used by Hezbollah, which it then completely flattened.
Abu Khalil, who lives in the area, said he had helped people flee from nearby homes after the Israeli warning. “It’s just an operation to hurt, to scare people, to scare children,” he told Reuters.
The US-based Iranian human rights group HRANA said on Monday that an estimated more than 3,000 people had been killed in Iran since the US-Israeli attacks began on February 28. Authorities in Lebanon say 900 people have been killed there and 800,000 have been forced to flee their homes.
Iranian attacks have killed people in Iraq and across the Gulf states. At least 13 US military service members have been killed so far.
