DUBAI/JERUSALEM/BEIRUT – Iran’s huge Pars gas field was hit on Wednesday, March 18, in a major escalation of the war between the US and Israel that sent oil prices soaring, and Tehran attacked Qatar and fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after vowing to attack oil and gas targets throughout the Gulf region.
Qatar’s oil giant QatarEnergy reported “massive damage” after the Ras Laffan Industrial City, a hub for energy industries, was hit by Iranian missiles. Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles fired at Riyadh on Wednesday in an attempt to attack a gas facility in the country’s east.
The increase threatens to exacerbate an unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies that has raised political risks for US President Donald Trump. US diesel prices have already risen above $5 a gallon for the first time since the 2022 inflation hike that dented support for his predecessor Joe Biden.
The conflict has already halted shipping from the world’s most important energy producing region and could now cause permanent damage to its infrastructure. Benchmark Brent crude prices rose nearly 5% to over $108. Stock markets are down.
In Washington, US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that Iran’s government had since been demoted. The war began on February 28but apparently, Tehran and its allies still have the ability to attack the interests of the United States and its allies in the Middle East.
US producer prices rose by the most in seven months in February, driven by higher costs of goods and services, and could accelerate further as the war pushes up oil prices.
US Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration would announce “a number of things” in the next 24 to 48 hours to deal with rising gas prices.
Pars is Iran’s sector of the world’s largest natural gas reserves, which Iran shares with Qatar in the Gulf.
The attack was widely reported in the Israeli media to have been carried out by Israel with the approval of the United States, although neither country immediately acknowledged involvement.
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that gas tanks and parts of an oil refinery were hit. It said workers had been evacuated and state media later said the fire was under control.
Qatar, a close US ally that hosts the largest US air base in the region, blamed the attack on Israel, without citing any US role, calling it “dangerous and irresponsible” which puts global energy security at risk. The UAE also condemned the attack.
Iran listed a series of prominent regional oil and gas facilities it called a “direct and legitimate target” – 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 hitting them in the coming hours.
The United States and Israel have previously refrained from targeting Iran’s energy facilities in the Gulf, thereby avoiding Iran’s retaliation against its neighbors’ oil and gas industries.
Iran has already closed the Strait of Hormuz, which handles 20% of the world’s supply of oil and liquefied natural gas, but oil-consuming nations hope the disruption would be short-lived as long as production infrastructure is left.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas spoke by phone on Wednesday with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi and said that safe passage through the Strait is a European priority and that the EU supports a diplomatic solution to the conflict.
‘Everyone is at a crossroads’
The The Israeli army also hit central Beirutand destroyed apartment buildings in some of the heaviest airstrikes on the Lebanese capital in decades.
Israel killed Iran’s intelligence minister Esmail Khatib on Wednesday, a day later kill the head of security Ali Larijaniand Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said “no one in Iran is immune and everyone is at a crossroads.”
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 additional authorization.”
In Tehran, thousands appeared in the streets for the funeral of Larijani and other people who were killed.
Iran retaliated for Larijani’s killing by firing rockets at Israel, which Israeli authorities said killed two people near Tel Aviv. Tehran said it opened fire overnight on Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beersheba in Israel, and on US bases in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Energy prices are rising
In the central Beirut district of Bachoura, Israel warned residents early Wednesday to leave a building it said was used by Hezbollah, which it completely destroyed.
Abu Khalil, who lives in the area, said he has helped people flee nearby settlements after the Israeli warning.
“It’s just an operation to hurt, to scare people, to scare children,” he told Reuters.
Inside Israel, the ambulance service reported that a 44-year-old man and two children, aged 13 and 12, in Petah Tikva, east of Tel Aviv, were hospitalized with blast injuries following an Iranian missile attack.
The US-based Iranian human rights group HRANA said on Monday, March 16, that approximately 3,000 more people have been killed in Iran since the US-Israeli offensive began on February 28. Authorities in Lebanon say 900 people have been killed there and 800,000 have been forced to flee their homes.
Iran’s attacks have killed people in Iraq and in the Gulf states. Fourteen have been killed in Israel. – Rappler.com
