Iran targeted energy facilities across the Gulf and threatened further destructive attacks after a key gas field was hit, raising fears Thursday of a wider assault on fuel supplies that could jolt already rattled global markets.
The warning came after Israel killed the Islamic republic’s intelligence chief Esmail Khatib, the latest in a string of strikes that have decimated its leadership since the war began nearly three weeks ago.
Tehran, following a strike on its South Pars field, said it would respond forcefully to any further attacks on its energy sector.
“We warn you once again that you made a big mistake in attacking the energy infrastructure of the Islamic republic,” the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian media.
“If it is repeated again, further attacks on your energy infrastructure and that of your allies will not stop until it is completely destroyed.”
The Israeli military did not comment on the South Pars attack, while US officials said Washington was aware but not involved.
Iran’s threat of further retaliation came after Qatar’s state energy company said a missile strike sparked a fire causing “extensive damage” at its main gas facility — the world’s largest — prompting Doha to expel two Iranian diplomats.
Saudi Arabia also said it intercepted drones targeting energy infrastructure in the east, while debris from a ballistic missile landed near a refinery south of Riyadh.
Oil prices, already elevated by the near-total disruption of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, surged again — with the main US benchmark for crude adding more than three percent on Thursday.
- ‘Cowardly assassination’ –
French President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken to his US counterpart Donald Trump and the Emir of Qatar, and called for a moratorium on strikes targeting civilian infrastructure.
“Civilian populations and their essential needs, as well as the security of energy supplies, must be preserved from military escalation,” he posted on social media.
The killing of Khatib followed the death of security chief Ali Larijani, as Israel presses a campaign to eliminate senior Iranian officials.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian condemned Khatib’s killing as a “cowardly assassination”, while the country’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed retaliation.
“Every drop of spilled blood comes at a price,” he said in a written message.
Khamenei has not appeared in public since taking power after the death of his father, Ali Khamenei, in the opening strikes of the war.
Local authorities said Larijani would be buried at a shrine popular with pilgrims in the city of Qom.
