DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran broadened its strikes on major energy facilities in the Middle East, eliciting strong warnings from Gulf Arab states that called it a dangerous escalation that threatened to draw them into direct combat with Tehran.<\/p>\n
The strikes come after Israel killed Iran\u2019s intelligence minister and reportedly attacked the world\u2019s largest natural gas field in Iran as the war escalated pressure<\/a> on the region\u2019s economic lifeblood: energy.<\/p>\n President Donald Trump said that Israel would not attack South Pars again, but warned on social media that if Iran continued striking Qatar\u2019s energy infrastructure, the U.S. would retaliate and \u201cmassively blow up the entirety\u201d of the field.<\/p>\n \u201cI 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,\u201d Trump said in his threat.<\/p>\n Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all denounced the Iranian attacks targeting their natural gas fields, with Saudi Arabia\u2019s top diplomat saying assaults on the kingdom meant \u201cwhat little trust there was before has completely been shattered.\u201d<\/p>\n It remains unclear what steps the Gulf Arab states will take in response militarily as they\u2019ve sought not to enter combat alongside the United States and Israel in the war, now in its third week. While Israel did not claim the South Pars gas field attack, Defense Minister Israel Katz promised more \u201csurprises\u201d Thursday after saying it killed Iran\u2019s intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, in an earlier airstrike as it works to decapitate the leadership of Tehran\u2019s theocracy.<\/p>\n Iran condemned the strike on its South Pars<\/a>, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of \u201cuncontrollable consequences” that “could engulf the entire world.\u201d<\/p>\n Oil prices surges amid the attacks on major energy supplies<\/p>\n The United States was informed about Israel\u2019s plans to strike Iran\u2019s massive South Pars natural gas field<\/a>, but did not take part in it, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, would not say if the Trump administration agreed with the Israeli decision to attack the gas field \u2014 part of the world\u2019s largest such resource and a pillar of Iran\u2019s energy supplies.<\/p>\n Iran escalated strikes on its Persian Gulf neighbors\u2019 energy facilities, hitting gas facilities in Qatar after Israel launched an attack against Iran\u2019s South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf that it shares with Doha. Qatar in response ordered Iranian Embassy officials to leave the country within 24 hours.<\/p>\n Tehran also struck the Habshan gas facility and Bab field in the United Arab Emirates, which the government there called a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d in the Islamic Republic\u2019s war against Israel and the United States. Authorities in Abu Dhabi say the gas operations had been shut down after interceptions over the sites.<\/p>\n 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 Feb. 28 but haven\u2019t taken any offensive action against Iran as their military bases, civilian sites and energy operations have come under attack.<\/p>\n The price of oil surged another 5% to over $108 a barrel on international markets as Iran continued to squeeze the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel<\/a> \u2014 through which one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil travels.<\/p>\n As the Trump administration looks for ways to boost oil supplies<\/a>, the Treasury Department eased sanctions on Venezuela<\/a> Wednesday, saying U.S. companies will be allowed to do business with the country’s state-owned oil and gas company.<\/a><\/p>\n A day earlier, Israel killed top Iranian security official Ali Larijani<\/a> and the head of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard\u2019s Basij force, Gen. Gholam Reza Soleimani.<\/p>\n Iran retaliated by unleashing missile strikes against Israel<\/a>. Israel said an Iranian missile hit the occupied West Bank, marking the territory\u2019s first fatalities during the Iran war, though missile debris has damaged homes and businesses.<\/p>\n Iran also attacked Saudi Arabia\u2019s vast Eastern Province, home to many of its oil fields, as well as Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n First fatalities reported in West Bank during Iran war<\/p>\n The Palestinian Red Crescent said at least three people were killed in the occupied West Bank town of Beit Awa as Iran fired missiles toward Israel. At least 13 others were injured. Earlier authorities said at least four people had died, but they adjusted the number as crew assessed the scene.<\/p>\n The Israeli military told The Associated Press an Iranian missile \u2014 not shrapnel from an interception \u2014 hit in the West Bank. Officials described it as a cluster munition that got past Israel\u2019s air defense system.<\/p>\n Gulf countries’ oil facilitiestake more hits<\/p>\n Qatar Energy said on X that a missile hit its massive Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility, sparking a fire that caused \u201cextensive\u201d damage before it was extinguished. The company had already halted production there because of Iranian attacks.<\/p>\n The company warned Thursday that additional Iranian missile attacks damaged more liquefied natural gas sites in the energy-rich nation, \u201ccausing sizable fires and extensive further damage” but no injuries and crews were battling the blazes.<\/p>\n An attack set a ship ablaze early Thursday off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, authorities said. The British military\u2019s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said that \u201ca vessel has been hit by an unknown projectile, which has resulted in a fire onboard.\u201d<\/p>\n It said the vessel was just off the coast of Khor Fakkan in the UAE, near the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz. Over 20 vessels have been attacked during the Iran war so far as Tehran tries to effectively close the waterway, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Iran insists the waterway is open, just not to the U.S. or its allies.<\/p>\n Iran launches more multiple-warhead missiles at Israel<\/p>\n Responding to the killing of Larijani,<\/a> the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday it had attacked central Israel with multiple-warhead missiles that have a better chance of evading defense systems.<\/p>\n Larijani a senior policy adviser to the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei<\/a> was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in January for his role \u201ccoordinating\u201d Iran\u2019s violent suppression of nationwide protests<\/a>.<\/p>\n Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei expressed condolences for the slaying of Larijani, according to a written statement published in Iranian media. \u201cUndoubtedly, the assassination of such a person shows the extent of his importance and the hatred of the enemies of Islam towards him,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n The younger Khamenei has not made a public appearance since his father was killed in the war\u2019s opening salvos during which he reportedly was also wounded.<\/p>\n More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese \u2014 roughly 20% of the population \u2014 according to the Lebanese government, which says 968 people have been killed.<\/p>\n In Israel, 14 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.<\/p>\n Metz reported from Ramallah, West Bank, and Watson from San Diego. Associated Press writers from around the world contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) \u2014 Iran broadened its strikes on major energy facilities in the Middle East,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25942,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1414,4282,328,989,777,4559,3368,197,34,11876,196,10821,10820,768,1284,11584,81,1494,463,2445,69,2020,200,771,12282,12281,10819,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-26000","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tehran","8":"tag-activism","9":"tag-assault","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-diplomacy","12":"tag-energy-industry","13":"tag-espionage","14":"tag-fires","15":"tag-general-news","16":"tag-iran","17":"tag-iran-iraq-us-israel-trump-march-18-2026","18":"tag-iran-war","19":"tag-kentucky-news","20":"tag-louisville-news","21":"tag-military-and-defense","22":"tag-national","23":"tag-political-and-civil-unrest","24":"tag-politics","25":"tag-protests-and-demonstrations","26":"tag-religion","27":"tag-sanctions-and-embargoes","28":"tag-tehran","29":"tag-violence","30":"tag-war-and-unrest","31":"tag-washington-news","32":"tag-wdrb-kentucky","33":"tag-wdrb-louisville","34":"tag-wdrb-news","35":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26000","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26000"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26000\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}