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Iran Warns Gulf Nations of Major Response After Gas Field Strike
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March 18, 2026
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6:16Now PlayingWill Kennedy, Bloomberg News Director for EMEA, discusses the oil market response to an attack on a major gas field in Iran.
Iran warned countries around the Persian Gulf that a number of energy assets are now “legitimate targets” after Israel attacked its giant South Pars gas field, sending further shockwaves through oil and gas markets.
Facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are on a list of assets now at risk of missile strikes, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday. Attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure “will not go unanswered,” the Fars news provider reported separately.
Israel carried out the strike on South Pars, a senior official from the country said, asking not to be named discussing sensitive matters. Iran shares the Persian Gulf field with Qatar, the latest example of other Middle East countries becoming embroiled in the 19-day war.
The Israeli targeting of South Pars “is a dangerous and irresponsible step,” Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said in a post on X.
Brent crude rallied after Iran’s warning, climbing above $108 a barrel.
Oil prices have soared almost 50% since the US and Israel began the war on Feb. 28, triggering a response from Iran that’s seen missiles and drones fired at countries across the Middle East. Regional energy giants have been forced to cut production in response, particularly due to the effective shuttering of the critical Strait of Hormuz.
US President Donald Trump — who has repeatedly complained about a lack of interest from erstwhile allies in joining the war or helping to secure Hormuz — said on social media early Wednesday that countries other than the US should take responsibility for the waterway.
“US allies need to get a grip – step up and help open the Strait of Hormuz,” he said.
Trump temporarily waived a century-old shipping mandate to lower the cost of transporting oil, gas and other commodities around the US, his latest bid to combat the rise in energy prices.
Iran launched fresh waves of missiles and drones at the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait earlier on Wednesday after confirming the assassination of its security chief, Ali Larijani. It also struck Tel Aviv, killing two people. Israel and the US maintained their bombardment of Iran. Tehran’s military vowed to avenge the death of Larijani as well as that of Gholamreza Soleimani, the head of the Basij paramilitary unit, which maintains internal security in Iran. Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib was also killed. The US said it dropped 5,000-pound bunker-buster munitions on Iranian missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz late on Tuesday. That’s part of Trump’s efforts to reopen the vital waterway to commercial vessels.
Iran, meanwhile, has been moving its own oil through the strait at close to pre-war levels. Crude loadings at Kharg Island also appear to continue undisturbed, despite US strikes on the export hub.
“We need to design new arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz and the way ships pass through it in the future,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera. The rules should “guarantee that safe passage through the strait takes place under specific conditions.”
Read More: Hormuz Reopening Looks Unlikely Without a Ceasefire in Iran War
In Iran, a strike hit an area at the Bushehr nuclear power plant, according to Russia’s state atomic firm Rosatom, which operates the facility. No Rosatom employees were injured, and about 480 Russian citizens remain at the plant, Chief Executive Officer Alexey Likhache. In parallel with the war in Iran, Israel has stepped up an offensive in Lebanon, where it’s fighting the Tehran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israeli strikes in the country have killed more than 900 people, according to the Lebanese government.
That brings the war’s death toll to more than 4,000, with more than three quarters of the fatalities in Iran. Dozens of others were killed in the rest of the Middle East, while the US has lost 13 military personnel.
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