Iran launched what officials described as an energy offensive on Wednesday after Israeli forces struck the South Pars gasfield, naming Gulf energy targets and ordering evacuations in a sweeping retaliatory declaration. The Revolutionary Guards identified specific facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar as imminent targets. Oil prices surged toward $110 a barrel as the scale of Iran’s intended response became clear.
South Pars is the world’s largest natural gas reserve, shared between Iran and Qatar. The Israeli strike on the field — reportedly authorized by the US — was the first direct attack on Iranian fossil fuel production in the conflict. Both countries had previously avoided this move, calculating that the global economic consequences of targeting Iranian energy infrastructure were too severe to risk. That caution had now been set aside.
Named targets included Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan facilities. All workers and residents were ordered to evacuate immediately. Asaluyeh governor Eskandar Pasalar said the US-Israeli attack had opened a new and devastating front — a full-scale economic war — and called it the most consequential miscalculation of the conflict.
Oil prices climbed to $108.60 per barrel, while European gas markets jumped more than 7.5% to above €55.50 per megawatt hour. Gulf oil exports had already fallen 60% from pre-war levels, a product of sustained infrastructure attacks and Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Iran’s own crude had continued to flow through the strait unimpeded while Gulf neighbors’ exports were blocked. The threat of strikes on Gulf energy facilities raised the prospect of a further dramatic deepening of the global supply crisis.
Qatar’s government spokesperson warned that attacking energy infrastructure was a threat to global energy security and the region’s populations. With Iran’s energy offensive now announced, its targets named, and its clock running, the Gulf was facing its most dangerous moment since the conflict began. The world watched with growing anxiety as one of the most consequential energy standoffs in modern history reached its climax.