Iran’s strike warning covered three Gulf nations on Wednesday, deepening the energy crisis that had gripped the Middle East since the start of the conflict. The Revolutionary Guards announced imminent strikes against energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar following an Israeli attack on the South Pars gasfield. Specific targets were named and evacuation orders issued. Oil prices surged toward $110 a barrel as the crisis deepened across three fronts simultaneously.
South Pars, the world’s largest natural gas reserve, is shared between Iran and Qatar and has been central to Iran’s energy revenues throughout the conflict. The Israeli attack — reportedly with US backing — was the first time Iran’s fossil fuel infrastructure had been directly targeted. Both Washington and Tel Aviv had previously avoided this step, but crossing it triggered Iran’s most geographically expansive and operationally specific military warning of the war.
Iran’s state broadcaster identified Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan facilities as targets for strikes within hours. All workers and residents near these sites were told to evacuate immediately. Iran’s Asaluyeh governor called the US-Israeli attack “political suicide” and declared the conflict had entered a full-scale economic war.
Brent crude rose nearly 5% to $108.60 per barrel, while European gas prices climbed more than 7.5%. Gulf oil exports had already been cut by 60% from pre-war volumes, a consequence of sustained infrastructure strikes and Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Iran had continued to export its own crude through the strait unimpeded while preventing Gulf neighbors from doing so. The deepening crisis across three Gulf nations raised fears of a global supply disruption with no modern parallel.
Qatar’s government spokesperson Majid al-Ansari warned that targeting energy infrastructure was a grave threat to global energy security, the environment, and millions of regional residents. The covering of three Gulf nations in a single strike warning was a new and more dangerous dimension of the energy crisis — one that placed the Gulf’s entire energy production capacity under simultaneous military threat. The world watched with alarm as the three-front crisis unfolded