For the first time in the conflict, Iranian energy infrastructure came under direct attack when Israeli forces struck the South Pars gasfield, triggering an immediate and sweeping threat from Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards against Gulf energy sites. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar were told their energy facilities would be struck within hours. The crisis marked a new and far more dangerous escalation in the ongoing war.
South Pars is one of the most important energy assets in the world — the planet’s largest natural gas reserve, shared between Iran and Qatar. Israel’s decision to strike it, with reported US approval, ended months of deliberate restraint in targeting Iranian fossil fuel production. The calculation appeared to be that degrading Iran’s energy base was worth the risks of broader escalation.
Iran’s state media identified the Samref refinery and Jubail petrochemical complex in Saudi Arabia, the al-Hosn gasfield in the UAE, and the Mesaieed complex and Ras Laffan refinery in Qatar as imminent targets. Workers and residents near these sites were told to leave immediately. The governor of Asaluyeh, where South Pars is located, said the attack marked the beginning of a “full-scale economic war” and called the US-Israeli move “political suicide.”
Oil markets surged in response, with Brent crude jumping nearly 5% to $108.60 a barrel. European natural gas prices rose more than 7.5%. The market moves compounded weeks of disruption: Gulf oil exports had already plummeted 60% from pre-war volumes due to infrastructure strikes and Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s own crude had continued to flow through the strait even as it halted exports from neighboring states.
Qatar’s government spokesperson said targeting energy infrastructure represented a threat to global energy security, the environment, and the people of the region. As the clock ran on Iran’s stated window for retaliation, global leaders and energy markets were watching the Gulf with unprecedented anxiety. The conflict had evolved from a regional war into something with the potential to reshape the global energy order.
