By JON GAMBRELL, DAVID RISING, MIKE CORDER and NATALIE MELZER Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran intensified its attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday, raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy.
The strikes, in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, sent fuel prices soaring and risked drawing Iran’s Arab neighbors directly into the conflict. Tehran’s targeting of energy production further stressed global supplies already under pressure because of Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.
Underscoring the danger to ships in the region, a vessel was set ablaze off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another damaged off Qatar. But efforts to bypass the strait were also under pressure: An Iranian drone hit a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea, which the country had been hoping to use as an alternative exit route.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked to as high as $118 a barrel, up more than 60% since Israel and the United States started the war Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran. The European benchmark for natural gas prices rose 17% on Thursday and has doubled in the past month.
Ahead of a European Union summit overshadowed by the conflict’s impact on energy prices, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned what he called a “reckless” escalation and urged a truce and negotiations as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan comes to an end.
Energy infrastructure is targeted around the Gulf
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE denounced the Iranian attacks. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called them a “dangerous escalation.”
But Iran showed no signs of backing down. Saudi Arabia said its SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu was hit, and that it intercepted six drones in Riyadh and its Eastern province.
Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large volumes of oil west toward the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. The Saudi Defense Ministry and Shell said a damage assessment was underway at the facility.
Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said firefighters put out a blaze at the Ras Laffan LNG facility after it was hit by Iranian missiles. Production had already been halted there after earlier attacks. The state-owned QatarEnergy said the fire had caused “extensive” damage.
Ras Laffan is the largest liquefied natural gas export facility in the world, according to QatarEnergy. Damage to the facility could delay Qatar’s ability to get supplies to the market even after the war ends.
A drone attack on Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery sparked a fire but caused no injuries, the state-run KUNA news agency reported. The refinery is one of the biggest in the Middle East. Shortly after, a drone attack set ablaze the nearby Mina Abdullah refinery, officials said.
Authorities in Abu Dhabi said they were forced to shut down operations at its Habshan gas facility and Bab field, calling Iranian overnight attacks on the sites a “dangerous escalation.”
In Israel, more than a half-dozen waves of Iranian attacks targeting large parts of the country sent millions of people to shelters. The strikes caused damage to buildings but no significant casualties were reported.
Hegseth says fate of Iran is in hands of US military
In Washington, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. military “controls the fate” of Iran.
“Iran has the ability to make the right choices,” he said, adding that Tehran “should not, going forward, target Arab allies, Arab countries, trying to create pain, the pain that they created themselves.”
Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, the Trump administration has cited various objectives, including degrading Iran’s missile capabilities and its nuclear program. Killing senior leaders has also been a priority for the U.S. and Israel.
Hegseth on Thursday implied Thursday that more leaders could be targeted, referring specifically to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij force, a powerful internal security unit whose leader was killed by Israel earlier this week.
“The last job anyone in the world wants right now, senior leader for the IRGC or Basij, temp jobs, all of them,” Hegseth said.
Among the Iranian energy facilities hit in recent days was the Bushehr nuclear power plant complex. There were no injuries and the plant suffered no damage, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. U.S. forces struck more than 90 targets on Kharg Island, which is vital to Iran’s oil network, Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday.
The Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds for the Iran war, a senior administration official says. The department sent the request to the White House, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information.
Iran’s strikes were retaliation for Israeli attack on a critical gas field
Iran stepped up its attacks on Gulf energy facilities after Israel hit South Pars, the Iranian part of the world’s largest gas field, which is located offshore in the Persian Gulf and owned jointly with Qatar.
With some 80% of all power generated in Iran coming from natural gas, according to the International Energy Agency, the attack directly threatens the country’s electricity supplies. Natural gas is also used to supply household heating and cooking across the Islamic Republic.
Hitting the gas field is a “clear expansion of the conflict,” the New York-based Soufan Center said in a research note.
“Israel’s target selection in this war has heavily focused on the institutions, leaders and infrastructure,” the think tank said. “It now seeks to inflict additional pressure on the regime by making the living conditions for civilians intolerable.”
Iran condemned the strike on South Pars, with President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of “uncontrollable consequences” that “could engulf the entire world.”
In Washington, President Donald Trump said that Israel would not attack South Pars again, but warned on social media that if Iran continued striking Qatar’s energy infrastructure, the U.S. would retaliate and “massively blow up the entirety” of the field.
“I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran,” Trump said on social media.
Death toll climbs in third week of war
More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli strikes against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon have displaced more than 1 million people — roughly 20% of the population — according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 900 people have been killed.
In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. Four people were also killed in the occupied West Bank overnight by an Iranian missile strike, according to officials.
At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.
Iran announced the execution of three men detained in January’s nationwide protests, the first such sentences known to have been carried out, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
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Melzer reported from Tzukim, Israel, Rising from Bangkok and Corder from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers Julie Watson in San Diego and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.