Major escalation: Israel strikes Iran natural gas facility in coordination with U.S.
The Israeli Air Force struck a natural gas processing facility in southwestern Iran, two senior Israeli officials said.
Why it matters: This is the first time Israel has struck natural gas facilities in Iran, which are key to Iran’s economy.
- The Israeli officials said the strike was coordinated with and approved by the Trump administration. A U.S. Defense official confirmed that.
- The semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that several facilities in the South Pars gas field near Bushehr were targeted. According to the report, emergency teams were on the scene and trying to extinguish the fire.
- State media reported that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps had warned that several energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar should be evacuated due to potential attacks.
Driving the news: Several hours later, the Iranians conducted a missile strike on Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City and hit energy facilities, QatarEnergy said in a statement, noting that there was “extensive damage” but no known casualties.
- After the Iranian strike, the Qatari Foreign Ministry expelled the Iranian military and security attachés from Doha and warned against further violations of Qatari sovereignty.
Flashback: The Trump administration objected to Israel’s earlier strike on oil depots in Tehran and asked Israel not to hit energy infrastructure without U.S. approval.
Behind the scenes: Two Israeli and U.S. officials said the strike on the gas facility was coordinated between the Israeli prime minister’s office and the White House. [Continue reading…]
The strikes are significant because they signal a potential deepening of the war, with longer-term consequences for the global economy. While a cessation of hostilities could result in suspended gas and oil shipments returning within months, experts assess that any significant damage to production itself could have a years-long impact.
Warning of the impact of possible further escalations, Saul Kavonic, an analyst at MST Financial, told the Financial Times: “Something that takes out a few million barrels of production would have a bigger impact because it means there is no way to refill stocks even after the war ends.” Hitting a liquefied natural gas facility would be the worst, he added, because it could take several years to repair.
Oil prices shot up after the South Pars attack on the back of fears that disruption to global energy supplies would worsen. The disruption raises the political stakes for Donald Trump in the run-up to the US midterm elections. Diesel prices in the US have already risen above $5 a gallon for the first time since the 2022 inflation surge that eroded support for his predecessor Joe Biden. [Continue reading…]
Saudi Arabia intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles that were launched toward Riyadh on Wednesday, the Defence Ministry said, just ahead of a meeting of regional and Islamic foreign ministers in the Saudi capital.
“Scattered debris fell across various areas of the capital, with initial assessments indicating no casualties or damage,” the ministry said.
Several loud booms were heard and some of the city’s residents received phone alerts for the first time warning them of a hostile aerial threat.
Saudi air defences dealt with a “ballistic threat” in Riyadh on Wednesday, state TV said earlier.
The Gulf kingdom has come under attack from hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones since the U.S-Israeli war on Iran began last month, the vast majority of which authorities say have been intercepted.
But Wednesday’s attack marked the first time many in the city had heard blasts or received a warning. [Continue reading…]