Dubai, United Arab Emirates — Iran intensified its attacks on oil and gas facilities across the Gulf on Thursday, significantly raising the risks In war This is sending shock waves through the global economy.
The strikes, in response to 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 increases pressure on global supplies that are already under pressure due to Iran’s stranglehold on oil Strait of HormuzIt is a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.
Emphasizing on Danger to ships in the areaA ship caught fire off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another was damaged off Qatar. But efforts to bypass the strait were also under pressure: An Iranian drone struck a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea, which the country had hoped to use as an alternative exit route.
Brent crudeThe international benchmark has risen to $118 per barrel, more than 60% since Israel and the United States began the war on February 28 with strikes on Iran.
Before the European Union summit, which was overshadowed by the impact of the conflict on energy prices, French President Emmanuel Macron condemned what he described as a “reckless” escalation and urged a truce and negotiations with the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE condemned the Iranian attacks. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit described it as a “dangerous escalation.”
But Iran has shown no signs of backing down. Saudi Arabia intercepted six drones in Riyadh and its eastern region before announcing that the SAMREF refinery in the coastal city of Yanbu on the Red Sea had been bombed.
Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large amounts of oil westward toward the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. The Saudi Ministry of Defense and Shell said damage assessment was underway at the facility.
Qatar, a major exporter of natural gas to global markets, said firefighters extinguished a fire at the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility after it was hit by Iranian missiles. Production had already stopped there after previous attacks. State-owned Qatar Energy said the fire caused “catastrophic” damage and energy giant Shell said it was assessing it.
Ras Laffan is the largest liquefied natural gas export facility in the world, according to Qatar Energy Company. Damage to the facility could delay Qatar’s ability to get supplies to market until after the war ends.
Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) reported that a drone attack on the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery in Kuwait led to a fire, but no casualties were reported. The refinery is one of the largest in the Middle East. Soon after, a drone attack set fire to the nearby Mina Abdullah refinery, officials said.
Authorities in Abu Dhabi said they had to shut down operations at the Habshan gas facility and Bab field, and described overnight Iranian attacks on the sites as a “dangerous escalation.”
In Israel, more than six waves of Iranian attacks targeting large parts of the country have sent millions of people to shelters. The raids damaged buildings, but no major casualties were reported.
The Iranian attacks came after Israel struck the South Pars field, which is the Iranian part of the largest gas field in the world located off the coast of the Arabian Gulf and jointly owned by Qatar.
Although about 80% of the total energy generated in Iran comes from natural gas, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency, the attack directly threatens the country’s electricity supply. Natural gas is also used to provide home heating and cooking throughout the Islamic Republic.
The New York-based Soufan Center said in a research note that striking the gas field is “a clear expansion of the conflict.”
The research center said: “Israel’s choice of targets in this war focused largely on institutions, leaders, and infrastructure.” It now seeks to put additional pressure on the regime by making the living conditions of civilians unbearable.
Iran condemned the strike South ParsPresident Masoud Pezeshkian warned of “uncontrollable consequences” that “could sweep the entire world.”
In Washington, President Donald Trump said Israel would not attack South Pars again, but warned on social media that if Iran continued to strike Qatar’s energy infrastructure, the United States would retaliate and “blow up the entire field on a massive scale.”
“I do not want to allow this level of violence and destruction because of the long-term ramifications it will have on the future of Iran,” Trump said on social media.
Iran announced the execution of three men arrested in nationwide protests in January, the first sentences of its kind to be carried out, the judiciary’s Mizan news agency reported.
The men were accused of stabbing two police officers to death in the city of Qom, about 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, during the protests.
Iran Put down the demonstrations With severe violence that led to the killing of thousands of people and the arrest of tens of thousands of others, activists warned that the authorities might carry out mass executions of detainees.
Human rights activists have long accused Iran of extracting forced confessions from detainees and not allowing them to fully defend themselves in court.
More than 1,300 people were killed in Iran during the war. Israeli strikes against the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon have displaced more than 1 million people — about 20% of the population — according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 900 people have been killed.
In Israel, 15 people were killed by Iranian missile fire. Four people were also killed in the occupied West Bank overnight by an Iranian missile attack, according to officials.
At least 13 US military personnel were killed.
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Melzer reported from Tsukim, Israel and rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands, Julie Watson in San Diego and Fatima Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.