A new and dangerous front opened in the Middle East conflict on Wednesday as Iran threatened to wage energy war against Gulf states following an Israeli strike on the South Pars gasfield. The Revolutionary Guards named specific facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar as imminent targets and ordered evacuation. Oil prices surged toward $110 a barrel as the new front placed the world’s most energy-critical region under unprecedented military pressure.
South Pars, shared between Iran and Qatar, holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves and has been the backbone of Iran’s energy economy throughout the conflict. The Israeli strike — reportedly with US backing — was the first direct attack on Iranian fossil fuel production. Both Washington and Tel Aviv had deliberately avoided this move, but the decision to proceed triggered the most specific and credible retaliatory declaration of the war.
Iran’s state broadcaster identified Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan installations as targets for strikes within hours. All workers and residents were ordered to evacuate without any delay. The governor of Asaluyeh condemned the US-Israeli escalation as “political suicide” and declared the conflict had entered a full-scale economic warfare phase.
Brent crude rose to $108.60 per barrel, while European gas benchmarks surged more than 7.5%. Gulf oil exports had already been reduced by 60% from pre-war volumes due to infrastructure attacks and Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Iran had continued to export its own crude through the strait unimpeded while blocking Gulf neighbors from doing so — a strategic asymmetry that had given Tehran a significant economic weapon throughout the conflict.
Qatar’s government spokesperson Majid al-Ansari warned that attacking energy infrastructure threatened global energy security and the welfare of millions. The new front that Iran had opened was unlike any that had come before — one in which the Gulf’s energy wealth was itself the battlefield, and in which the consequences for global supply and prices extended far beyond the Middle East. The world watched the new front unfold with growing alarm and diminishing hope for a rapid resolution.