War on Iran Enters Uncharted Phase

Dubai:Israel bombed Iran's South Pars, the world's largest gas field, and Tehran retaliated by intensifying its attacks on oil and natural gas facilities in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar in the Gulf region.

Hours later, six major powers, including Britain, France, Germany and Japan, said they were ready “to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz”. Though the US allies, including Italy and the Netherlands, refused US President Donald Trump's call to protect the Strait, Iran's massive retaliation across the region has forced the nations to reconsider its decision.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned that the attack on its key energy site with the largest known gas reserve on Earth, “could have uncontrollable consequences, the scope of which could engulf the entire world”.

Worried investors exited from all markets — stocks, gold, silver, and other metals — seeking refuge under the US greenback. Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked to $118 a barrel, up more than 60 per cent since the war began on February 28.

Iranian missiles targeted Qatar's Ras Laffan LNG facility, causing extensive damage to the world's largest liquefied natural gas export facility. Though the blaze was quickly brought under control, damage could delay Qatar's ability to get supplies to the market even after the war ends.

A drone attack on Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery sparked a fire. The refinery is one of the biggest in West Asia. Saudi Arabia reported that a drone had hit its Samref refinery in the port city of Yanbu on the Red Sea.

Authorities in Abu Dhabi said they were forced to shut down operations at its Habshan gas facility and Bab field, calling Iranian overnight attacks on the sites a “dangerous escalation.”

In a joint statement, the US allies said, “We call on Iran to cease its threats immediately, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the Strait to commercial shipping... Freedom of navigation is a fundamental principle of international law, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea."

The situation has left around 20,000 seafarers stranded on approximately 3,200 vessels west of the strait, according to the International Maritime Organisation.

Underscoring the danger to ships in the region, a vessel was set ablaze off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another was damaged off Qatar. But efforts to bypass the strait were also under pressure: An Iranian drone hit a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea, which the country had been hoping to use as an alternative exit route.

The spate of targeted killings launched by Israel has wiped out many of Iran's senior leaders, although Washington's top intelligence official said the government of the Islamic republic remained intact, albeit degraded, after nearly three weeks of war. It killed Iran's intelligence minister Esmail Khatib, a day after the assassination of security chief Ali Larijani. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said his country's military had been given authorisation to continue eliminating top officials “without the need for additional approval”.

“We warn you once again that you made a big mistake in attacking the energy infrastructure of the Islamic Republic, the response to which is being implemented,” the Revolutionary Guards announced 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, and our response will be much more severe than tonight's attacks.”

The region contributes 20 per cent of global crude supplies, and attacks on energy installations will push the world into a prolonged crisis, impacting people's travel and food production. In the last 20 days of the war, 3,114 were killed in Iran, 968 in Lebanon, 16 in Israel, 64 in Iraq and 28 in other countries.

With no signs of Iran backing down, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said there is no “time frame” for ending the war. “We wouldn't want to set a definitive time frame,” Hegseth told a news conference, adding that “we're very much on track” and that President Donald Trump will be the one to decide when to stop.

However, United Nations chief Antonio Guterres called on the United States and Israel to end the war before it spirals “out of control” and asked Iran to stop attacking its neighbours, who were never parties to the conflict.