Iran issued a stark warning to Gulf neighbors on Wednesday that energy strikes were imminent, following the bombing of the South Pars gasfield by Israeli forces. The Revolutionary Guards named specific facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar as targets and ordered immediate evacuation. Oil prices surged nearly 5% to $108.60 a barrel as the warning triggered widespread alarm in global energy markets.
South Pars, the world’s largest natural gas reserve, is shared between Iran and Qatar and fundamental to Iran’s economic stability. The Israeli bombing of the field — reportedly authorized by the US — was the first time Iran’s fossil fuel sector had been directly attacked since the war began. Washington and Tel Aviv had carefully avoided this move until now, aware that doing so could trigger precisely the kind of sweeping retaliatory threat now materializing.
Iran’s state media named the Samref refinery and Jubail complex in Saudi Arabia, al-Hosn gasfield in the UAE, and Mesaieed and Ras Laffan in Qatar as targets for strikes in the coming hours. All personnel were urged to evacuate without delay. The Asaluyeh provincial governor described the US-Israeli decision as “political suicide” and declared the conflict had entered a total economic war phase.
European gas benchmarks surged more than 7.5% to above €55.50 per megawatt hour. Gulf oil exports had already fallen 60% from pre-war levels due to infrastructure damage and Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Iran had been the only Gulf nation able to ship crude through the strait unimpeded, while neighboring states saw their exports blocked entirely. The threat of Iranian strikes on Gulf energy facilities raised fears of a total collapse in regional export capacity.
Qatar’s government spokesperson Majid al-Ansari warned that attacking energy infrastructure endangered global energy security, the environment, and millions of regional residents. The stark and specific nature of Iran’s warning left little room for reassurance. With Iran’s clock running and its targets named, the Gulf had entered one of its most dangerous and consequential hours since the conflict began.