(AFP) – Iranian attacks on the world’s largest LNG plant in Qatar and refineries in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait sent shock waves through energy markets Thursday as the US said there was no time frame to end the Middle East war. Amid growing fears over the economic damage from the war, Trump stated that Iran’s key South Pars gas field would not be attacked again, after Israel struck it on Wednesday, but warned of a furious American response if Tehran did not end its attacks on Qatari energy sites. Tehran responded that it would have “zero restraint” if its own energy infrastructure was hit again.
Oil markets have already been shaken by Iran’s blocking of the Strait of Hormuz, but prices surged again amid fears of further attacks on energy sites. The international benchmark Brent surged 10 percent to $119 a barrel before falling back to $112, while European gas prices rose 35 percent after Iranian missiles hit Qatar’s huge Ras Laffan liquified natural gas complex in retaliation for the Israeli strike on South Pars. The nighttime attack left Ras Laffan, a repeated target since the start of the war on February 28, at a complete standstill.
Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry stated that a drone crashed into the Samref refinery in the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Additionally, in Kuwait, drone attacks sparked fires at the Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries, which have a combined capacity of 800,000 barrels per day. Saudi Arabia said it reserved the “right to take military actions” over repeated attacks on its facilities. The United Arab Emirates added that the strikes pose a “direct threat to global energy security.”
Later on Thursday, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani declared that Iran’s attack on Ras Laffan was “clear proof” against Tehran’s claims of only targeting US interests in the Gulf. He noted that the attacks “bring no direct benefit to any country, rather, they harm and directly impact populations.”
Trump indicated he was unaware of Israel’s raid on Iran’s gas field, which supplies about 70 percent of the Islamic republic’s domestic needs. However, the United States and Iran have exchanged threats since then. Trump warned that the United States would “blow up” the South Pars gas field if Tehran did not cease its attacks on Qatar. Iran responded defiantly, with the military’s Khatam Al-Anbiya operational command vowing the “complete destruction” of Gulf energy infrastructure if the Israeli attack were to be repeated, according to a statement from Fars news agency. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated on social media there would be “zero restraint” if the country’s infrastructure was hit again.
Concerns are growing among the world’s major economies regarding the fallout from the conflict. Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands stated they would “contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” but provided few details. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the “reckless escalation” in attacks and called for “direct talks between the Americans and Iranians on this matter.” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office warned that “attacks on critical infrastructure risked pushing the region further into crisis,” following discussions with Macron and NATO chief Mark Rutte. India and China also expressed new concern about supplies that depend on the shipping route. Fuel shortages have triggered long queues at petrol stations across Asia, where many economies are heavily reliant on oil.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed there is no time frame for ending the war but stated, “we’re very much on track,” adding that Trump would determine when to conclude it. “It will be at the president’s choosing, ultimately, where we say, ‘Hey, we’ve achieved what we need to,'” he told a Washington news conference. On Thursday, Trump remarked, “I’m not putting troops” on the ground in Iran, amid ongoing speculation that a Marine expeditionary force being sent to the region could be used for ground operations.
Commentators noted that the energy attacks reveal disparities between the United States and Israel regarding war tactics. “The conflict is drifting into a war of attrition— with no clear signs of regime collapse in Iran,” said Danny Citrinowicz, a senior fellow at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies, on X. He observed that the attacks “underscored just how unstructured this campaign has become— lacking strategic clarity, long-term planning, and a defined end state.” US media reported that the administration could seek more than $200 billion in additional war funding from Congress. “I think that number could move. Obviously, it takes money to kill bad guys,” Hegseth commented on the figure.
Iran is gearing up for the key holiday of Nowruz, the Persian new year. A US-based rights group has reported over 3,000 deaths in Iran due to the US-Israeli strikes, a figure that could not be independently verified. However, in Tehran, there was little indication that the country was enveloped in war or had lost its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other key officials in US-Israeli strikes. Tehran’s city center was bustling with traffic jams, and street vendors were haggling over the prices of clothes and fruit on Thursday. Security was heightened, with heavily armed forces visible on certain streets and an increased presence of armored vehicles.
burs-tw/dcp – AFP teams in Doha, Tehran, Jerusalem, Beirut, and Washington.
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