Iran said the US and Israel struck its giant South Pars gas field in the Persian Gulf, the latest attack on energy assets in the region-wide conflict.
Oil prices jumped after Iranian state TV reported the airstrike, which raised fears of further risks to global crude and gas supplies. Gulf producers have significantly reduced output during the 19-day war, particularly due to the effective shuttering of the Strait of Hormuz.
If confirmed, the assault would mark the first time the US and Israel have targeted Iran’s upstream oil and gas facilities since starting the war on February 28. The Islamic Republic has responded with strikes on Israel and Arab states, upending financial and energy markets.
US President Donald Trump – who has repeatedly complained about a lack of interest from erstwhile allies in joining the war or helping to secure Hormuz – said on social media early Wednesday that perhaps countries other than the US should take responsibility for the critical waterway, which separates Iran from Oman.
“I wonder what would happen if we “finished off” what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called “Straight?” he said.
Iran launched fresh waves of missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait after confirming the assassination of its security chief, Ali Larijani. It also struck Tel Aviv, killing two people. Israel and the US maintained their bombardment of Iran.
European gas futures pared some losses after the South Pars news. Brent futures rose as much as 1.8 percent to trade briefly above US$105 a barrel.
Iran’s military vowed to avenge the death of Larijani as well as that of Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij paramilitary unit, which maintains internal security in Iran. Israel said Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib has also been killed.
The US said it dropped 5,000-pound bunker-buster munitions on Iranian missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz late on Tuesday. That’s part of Trump’s efforts to reopen the vital waterway to commercial vessels.
Iran, meanwhile, has been moving its own oil through the strait at close to pre-war levels. Crude loadings at Kharg Island also appear to continue undisturbed, despite US strikes on the export hub.
“We need to design new arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz and the way ships pass through it in the future,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera. The rules should “guarantee that safe passage through the strait takes place under specific conditions.”
Trump again said the US would soon be ready to end the war.
“If we left right now, it would take them 10 years to rebuild,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday. “We’re not ready to leave yet. But we’ll be leaving in the near future.”
On Wednesday, he posted that Iran “is considered, by everyone, to be the NUMBER ONE STATE SPONSOR OF TERROR. We are rapidly putting them out of business!”
Trump threatened to expand strikes on Kharg Island after weekend attacks on military installations there. The president has abandoned efforts to recruit partners from Europe and Asia to help reopen Hormuz with naval escorts. That was after most countries showed reluctance or flat-out refused to join such a mission, which military analysts say would be risky without a ceasefire.
In Iran, a strike hit an area at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, according to Russia’s state atomic firm Rosatom, which operates the facility. No Rosatom employees were injured, and about 480 Russian citizens remain at the plant, Chief Executive Officer Alexey Likhachev said, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.
In parallel with the war in Iran, Israel has stepped up an offensive in Lebanon, where it’s fighting the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israeli strikes in the country have killed more than 900 people, according to the Lebanese government.
That brings the war’s death toll to more than 4,000, with more than three quarters of the fatalities in Iran. Dozens of others were killed in the rest of the Middle East, while the US has lost 13 military personnel.
Iran set a massive natural gas field in the UAE ablaze on Monday as it stepped up attacks on key energy sites, the first time the Islamic Republic has damaged an oil or gas upstream facility in the neighbouring country during the war.
Anwar Gargash, a top adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, said Iran miscalculated by firing upon Arab states in the Gulf. The attacks will drive them closer to Israel and the US, while demonstrating why the region can’t accept Iranian nuclear and missile programs, Gargash said.
He signalled the UAE may be willing to help secure the Hormuz strait.
“This is the responsibility not only of the United States, but of countries in Asia, countries in the region, countries in Europe,” he said.
Trump scolded North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies for their reluctance to join such an effort. “I’ve long said I wonder whether or not NATO would ever be there for us,” he said. “This was a great test because we don’t need them, but they should have been there.”
Trump also reiterated he started the war – which began with US and Israeli bombings of Iran on February 28 – to disarm a potent nuclear threat. He claimed, without providing evidence, that Iran was just two weeks away from acquiring a weapon that they would have used “very gladly.” Iran has long denied pursuing atomic weapons and nuclear experts mostly disagree it could have built weapons that quickly.
US gasoline prices have soared in recent weeks, rising to around US$3.79 a gallon, according to the American Automobile Association. That’s the highest level since October 2023 and is piling pressure on the administration ahead of the November midterm elections. White House officials are claiming energy prices will drop rapidly once the war ends and are urging Americans to be patient.
In the latest sign of growing domestic opposition to the conflict, Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official, announced he is resigning in protest against the war, arguing that Israel had dragged the US into the conflict.
by Kateryna Kadabashy, Hadriana Lowenkron & Sherif Tarek, Bloomberg
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