Qatar has reported extensive damage at the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas hub after Iranian missile and drone strikes, raising fresh fears for global energy supplies .
Tehran said it attacked the giant LNG facility in retaliation for an Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field, which forms part of the world’s largest natural gas reservoir shared with Qatar .
Oil prices jumped about five percent and European gas prices surged roughly 35 percent as markets reacted to the risk of prolonged disruption to gas exports from the Gulf .
US President Donald Trump warned Iran to stop attacking Qatar, threatening that the United States would massively blow up the entire South Pars gas field if Tehran continued its strikes .
In a social media post, Trump said Washington knew nothing about Israel’s earlier attack on South Pars, describing it as an angry response, and added that Israel would not hit the field again unless Iran kept targeting Qatar .
Qatar, one of the world’s top LNG exporters alongside the United States, Australia and Russia, said through state energy firm QatarEnergy that two waves of Iranian strikes caused sizeable fires and extensive further damage to several facilities at Ras Laffan .
The hub has already been repeatedly targeted since the war began, compounding earlier disruption to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries around one fifth of global oil and LNG shipments .
Analysts said the latest attack, which directly hit production infrastructure rather than just storage or shipping, marks a significant escalation in the Middle East conflict and warned that the economic fallout could last for years .
Gulf states had earlier condemned Israel’s strike on South Pars, with Qatar calling it dangerous and irresponsible and the United Arab Emirates describing it as a dangerous escalation that threatened global energy security .
After the Ras Laffan strikes, Qatar ordered Iran’s military and security attaches and their staff to leave the country, signalling a sharp deterioration in relations between the two gas producers .
Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait reported drone attacks on two oil refineries, while Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted drones aimed at energy infrastructure in the east and reserved the right to take military action in response .
The wider war began on February 28 when US and Israeli forces launched strikes on Iran, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and setting off a wave of Iranian missile and drone attacks on Israel and US allies and interests across the Gulf and Iraq .
Israel has since claimed responsibility for killing several senior Iranian officials, including national security chief Ali Larijani and intelligence chief Esmail Khatib, prompting new vows of retaliation from Khamenei’s successor, Mojtaba Khamenei .
China condemned Larijani’s killing, calling the assassination of Iranian state leaders and attacks on civilian targets unacceptable, while a US based rights group has reported more than 3,000 people killed in Iran since the war began, a figure that has not been independently verified .
Iranian missiles have also struck Israel, killing a Thai worker and bringing the death toll there to 15, while debris from attacks has killed three Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank, according to aid groups .
In Lebanon, Israeli airstrikes on central Beirut killed at least 12 people, as fighting intensified with Iran backed Hezbollah following the group’s rocket attacks after Khamenei’s death .
US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that Iran’s government remains intact but largely degraded, and noted that Tehran has not resumed nuclear enrichment despite the escalating conflict .
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