Iran escalated strikes on its Persian Gulf neighbours' energy facilities, hitting gas facilities in Qatar and Saudi Arabia after Israel launched an attack against Iran's South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf that it shares with Doha. The latest attack by Iran resulted in a major escalation in Tehran's war with the US and Israel.
Israel killed Iran's intelligence minister as it kept up its campaign against the Islamic Republic's top leadership and reportedly attacked an Iranian offshore natural gas field Wednesday, as the war escalated pressure on the region's economic lifeblood: energy.
Why is Iran targetting Saudi's and Qatar's energy banks?
The attacks on Qatar and the United Arab Emirates are ratcheting up pressure on the Gulf Arab states, which have been defending against Iranian attacks since the war began on February 28, but haven't taken any offensive action against Iran as their military bases, civilian sites and energy operations have come under attack.
ALSO READ: Iran War Fallout: How Long Will It Take For Oil Supplies to Normalise After Conflict Ends And Why?
The United Arab Emirates also shut some energy operations, responding to incidents at the Habshan gas facilities and the Bab oil field caused by falling debris from intercepted missiles.
Saudi Arabia's foreign minister offered harsh criticism Thursday of Iran after its overnight attacks on his country, saying: "What little trust there was before has completely been shattered."
QatarEnergy said on Wednesday that Iranian missile attacks on Ras Laffan, the site of Qatar's core LNG processing operations, caused "extensive damage" to its energy hub. In a statement, Qatar admitted Iranian missiles damaged more liquefied natural gas sites, "causing sizable fires and extensive further damage”.
Qatar's oil and gas sites badly damaged
Qatar Energy, the nation's state-owned oil and gas company, announced the damage. It said firefighters were working to halt the blazes and no one had been hurt so far. Qatar is a key source of natural gas for the world's energy markets. It already shut down its production earlier in the war, but extensive damage could delay Qatar in getting its supplies to the market after the Iran war ends.
Trump issues bold warning for Iran
In response, US President Dond Trump warned Tehran not to target Qatar, else, “America will massively blow up the entire South Pars gas field”. Trump said Israel targeted the South Pars Gas Field in Iran out of anger and added the US did not know about the Israeli attack- a claim which would be the hardest to digest for the Iranian regime.
Trump categorically clarified that Qatar was nowhere involved in the Israeli attack and urged Iran not to attack its energy facilities. He also assured Israel would not carry out an attack on Iran’s energy facilities, as it has a long-term implication for Tehran and the whole world. However, he warned that if Iran tries to replicate the same mistake, he would not hesitate to blow up Tehran.
(With inputs from agencies)