- Qatar reprimands Israel and Iran and expels Iranian diplomats.
- South Pars is a shared gas field, the largest in the world, between Iran and Qatar.
- More than 3,000 dead in Iran, hundreds dead so far in the Gulf region.
DOHA/JERUSALEM/DUBAI: Iran accused Israel of striking its facilities in the massive South Pars gas field on Wednesday, part of a major escalation in the US-Israeli war that has driven up oil prices, and retaliated by vowing to attack oil and gas targets across the Gulf, firing missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Qatari oil giant QatarEnergy has reported “significant damage” after the industrial city of Ras Laffan, a center of the energy industry, was hit by Iranian missiles. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh on Wednesday as well as an attempted drone attack on a gas facility 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 reprimanded Israel for a “dangerous and irresponsible” attack on Iranian facilities in South Pars, and denounced Iran for what it called a “blatant violation” of international law, by expelling two senior Iranian diplomats.
The escalation comes on top of an unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies that has raised the political stakes for U.S. President Donald Trump, who joined Israel in attacking Iran nearly four weeks ago. In the United States, diesel prices have already exceeded $5 a gallon for the first time since the 2022 inflation surge that eroded support for his predecessor, Joe Biden.
The conflict has quickly spread to neighboring countries and has already disrupted 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 fell.
In Washington, U.S. intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that Iran’s government had deteriorated since the war began on Feb. 28 but appeared intact, with Iran and its proxies still capable of attacking U.S. military bases and other interests it has in the Middle East.
U.S. producer prices posted their biggest rise in seven months in February, led by rising costs for services and a range of goods, and could accelerate further as the war pushes up oil prices.
Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the South Pars attack. According to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed U.S. officials, Trump knew of 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 were hit. It said workers were evacuated and state media later said the fire was under control.
Iran has listed several important regional oil and gas facilities that it has called “direct and legitimate targets,” all located in neighboring states that host U.S. military bases: the Samref refinery and Jubail petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia, the Al Hosn gas field in the United Arab Emirates, and the Mesaieed petrochemical complex, Mesaieed Holding Company and Ras Laffan in Qatar.
He said they should be evacuated immediately before his missiles fell.
The United States and Israel had previously refrained from targeting Iranian energy production facilities in the Gulf, avoiding Iranian retaliation against their neighbors’ oil and gas industries. International law prohibits states from attacking civilian energy infrastructure.
French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday he spoke with Qatar’s emir and Trump and called for a “moratorium on strikes targeting civilian infrastructure,” including water and energy facilities.
Iran has already closed the Strait of Hormuz, which handles 20% of the world’s supply of oil and liquefied natural gas, but consuming countries hoped the disruption would be short-lived as long as production infrastructure was spared.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke by telephone on Wednesday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and said the security of the strait passage was a priority for Europe and that the EU supported a diplomatic solution to the war.
Everyone is in the crosshairs
The Israeli army also hit central Beirut, destroying apartment buildings in some of the most intense airstrikes on the Lebanese capital in decades.
Israel killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib on Wednesday, a day after killing powerful security chief Ali Larijani. Israeli 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 operational and intelligence opportunity presents itself, without the need for additional approval.”
In Tehran, thousands of people took to the streets to attend the funerals of Larijani and other slain figures.
Iran responded by firing cluster missiles at Israel, which are more difficult to intercept cleanly. Shortly after midnight on Thursday, Israeli ambulance services announced that a foreign national had died in Adanim, central Israel, after an Iranian missile attack, bringing the death toll to at least 15 in Israel. Wednesday also saw the first deadly strike in the West Bank occupied by Israel: three Palestinian women were killed after an Iranian missile attack, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
Death toll rises across region
In the Bachoura neighborhood of central Beirut, Israel on Wednesday asked residents to leave a building it claimed was used by Hezbollah, and which it later razed to the ground.
Abu Khalil, who lives in the area, said he helped people flee nearby houses after the Israeli warning. “It’s just an operation to hurt, to terrify people, to terrify children,” he told Reuters.
The US-based Iranian human rights organization HRANA said on Monday that around 3,000 people had been killed in Iran since US-Israeli attacks began on February 28. Lebanese authorities say 900 people were killed there and 800,000 forced to flee their homes.
Iranian attacks have killed people in Iraq and the Gulf states. At least 13 US service members have been killed so far.
