Iran moved to weaponize the Gulf’s own energy infrastructure against its neighbors on Wednesday after Israeli forces attacked the South Pars gasfield — the world’s largest natural gas reserve. 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 Iran’s strategy of turning the Gulf’s energy assets into weapons against their owners became shockingly clear.
South Pars, shared between Iran and Qatar, has been the cornerstone of Iran’s gas export economy throughout the conflict. The Israeli attack — reportedly with US backing — was the first direct strike on Iranian fossil fuel production in the conflict. Washington and Tel Aviv had previously avoided this move, but the decision to proceed was immediately met with Iran’s strategy of threatening to strike the Gulf’s own energy infrastructure as retaliation.
Iran’s state broadcaster named Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan facilities as targets. All workers and residents were told to leave without delay. Asaluyeh governor Eskandar Pasalar condemned the US-Israeli strike as “political suicide” and declared the conflict had entered a full-scale economic warfare phase.
Brent crude climbed nearly 5% to $108.60 per barrel, while European gas markets surged more than 7.5%. Gulf oil exports had already fallen 60% from pre-war levels 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 it enormous economic leverage throughout the conflict and now threatened to be compounded by a devastating wave of strikes.
Qatar’s government spokesperson warned that attacking energy infrastructure threatened global energy security and the welfare of millions. The strategy of weaponizing the Gulf’s own energy infrastructure against its owners was a new and deeply alarming dimension of the conflict — one with implications that extended far beyond the Gulf to energy consumers and markets around the world. With specific targets named and Iran’s clock running, the strategy appeared on the verge of becoming reality.