Iran warned Gulf states to brace for energy strikes on Wednesday, following a historic Israeli attack on the South Pars gasfield — the world’s largest natural gas reserve. The Revolutionary Guards named specific facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar as targets and ordered immediate evacuation of all personnel. The warning sent oil prices surging and deepened the global energy crisis that had been building throughout the conflict.
South Pars is shared between Iran and Qatar and has been at the center of Iran’s gas economy for decades. The Israeli strike — reportedly carried out with US authorization — was unprecedented in its direct targeting of Iranian fossil fuel production. Washington and Tel Aviv had previously maintained that energy infrastructure would remain off the battlefield, a restraint that had now been abandoned and immediately provoked Iran’s most threatening response yet.
Iran’s state broadcaster identified specific targets: Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan facilities. Workers and residents were told to evacuate without any delay. The governor of Asaluyeh province condemned the US-Israeli strike as “political suicide” and declared the war had entered a full-scale economic phase.
Brent crude climbed nearly 5% to $108.60 a barrel, while European gas benchmarks jumped more than 7.5%. Gulf oil exports had already been slashed by 60% from pre-war levels, decimated by infrastructure attacks and Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran had continued to ship its own crude through the strait unimpeded while preventing Gulf neighbors from doing so. The threat of further Iranian strikes on Gulf energy sites raised fears of a complete supply collapse.
Qatar’s government spokesperson warned that targeting energy infrastructure threatened global energy security and the welfare of regional populations. Gulf capitals mobilized emergency response teams while energy markets absorbed the shock of Iran’s most specific and threatening military declaration yet. The world had entered a new and far more dangerous phase of the Gulf conflict — one where energy was no longer collateral damage but the primary weapon.