Iran warned countries around the Persian Gulf that a number of energy assets are now “legitimate targets” after Israel its giant South Pars gas field, sending further shockwaves through oil and gas markets.
Facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are on a list of assets now at risk of missile strikes, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday. Attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure “will not go unanswered,” the Fars news provider reported separately.
Israel carried out the strike on South Pars, a senior official from the country said, asking not to be named discussing sensitive matters. Iran shares the Persian Gulf field with Qatar, the latest example of other Middle East countries becoming embroiled in the 19-day war.
The Israeli targeting of South Pars “is a dangerous and irresponsible step,” Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said in a post on X.
Brent crude rallied after Iran’s warning, climbing above $108 a barrel.
Oil prices have soared almost 50% since the US and Israel began the war on Feb. 28, triggering a response from Iran that’s seen missiles and drones fired at countries across the Middle East. Regional energy giants have been forced to cut production in response, particularly due to the effective of the critical Strait of Hormuz.
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 countries other than the US should take responsibility for the waterway.
“US allies need to get a grip – step up and help open the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
Iran launched fresh waves of missiles and drones at the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait earlier on Wednesday 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.
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 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 said on Tuesday that 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. “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!”
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 , 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 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 neighboring country during the war.
Anwar Gargash, a top adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, said Iran 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 signaled the UAE .
“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 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 $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 in protest against the war, arguing that Israel had dragged the US into the conflict.
