Iran’s Revolutionary Guards made Gulf energy infrastructure their primary target on Wednesday after Israeli forces struck the South Pars gasfield — the world’s largest natural gas reserve. Facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar were named for imminent strikes and workers ordered to evacuate. Oil prices surged toward $110 a barrel as the Guards’ primary targeting of energy infrastructure across three countries raised fears of a global supply catastrophe.
South Pars is shared between Iran and Qatar and has been central to Iran’s energy economy throughout the conflict. The Israeli strike — reportedly with US authorization — was the first direct attack on Iranian fossil fuel production in the conflict. Both countries had previously avoided this step, but crossing it immediately triggered Iran’s most expansive and specific military threat of the entire war — one in which Gulf energy infrastructure had been elevated to the Guards’ primary target.
Iran’s state media named Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan facilities as targets for strikes in the coming hours. All personnel were instructed to evacuate without delay. Asaluyeh governor Eskandar Pasalar called the US-Israeli attack “political suicide” and declared the conflict had entered a full-scale economic warfare phase.
Brent crude climbed to $108.60 per barrel — a nearly 5% gain — while European gas prices jumped more than 7.5%. Gulf oil exports had already fallen 60% from pre-war levels due to infrastructure damage and Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Iran had maintained its own crude exports through the strait while preventing Gulf neighbors from doing so — a strategic asymmetry that had shaped the conflict’s economic character throughout.
Qatar’s government spokesperson warned that targeting energy infrastructure was a direct threat to global energy security and the welfare of millions. The elevation of Gulf energy infrastructure to the Guards’ primary target was a historic and deeply alarming development — one that placed some of the world’s most critical energy assets in direct military jeopardy and threatened to reshape global energy supply for years to come.