Iran’s energy offensive threatened to destabilize global oil and gas markets on Wednesday after Israeli forces struck the South Pars gasfield and the Revolutionary Guards announced imminent strikes against Gulf energy infrastructure. Specific facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar were named and workers ordered to evacuate. Oil prices surged toward $110 a barrel as the offensive raised fears of a supply disruption that would be felt in every corner of the global economy.
South Pars is the world’s largest natural gas reserve, shared between Iran and Qatar, and has been at the center of Iran’s energy economy throughout the conflict. The Israeli strike — reportedly with US authorization — was the first time Iran’s fossil fuel sector had been directly attacked. Both Washington and Tel Aviv had previously avoided this step, but the decision to proceed immediately triggered Iran’s most expansive and destabilizing energy offensive of the war.
Iran’s state media named Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan installations as imminent targets. Workers and residents near these sites were told to leave immediately. The Asaluyeh governor called the US-Israeli attack “political suicide” and declared the conflict had entered a full-scale economic war.
Brent crude rose to $108.60 per barrel, while European gas benchmarks jumped more than 7.5% to over €55.50 per megawatt hour. Gulf oil exports had already been cut by 60% from pre-war volumes due to sustained infrastructure damage and Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Iran had maintained its own crude exports through the strait unimpeded while blocking Gulf neighbors from doing so. The energy offensive threatened to push the global supply crisis past a point of manageable disruption.
Qatar’s government spokesperson warned that attacking energy infrastructure was a direct threat to global energy security and regional populations. The destabilizing potential of Iran’s energy offensive extended far beyond the Gulf — to the energy-importing nations of Europe, Asia, and beyond that depended on Gulf supply to power their economies. With specific targets named and Iran’s clock running, the offensive had the potential to be the most consequential single episode of the global energy crisis yet.