The conflict reached what many observers called its darkest hour on Wednesday when Israel bombed the South Pars gasfield and Iran promised strikes against Gulf energy infrastructure in response. The Revolutionary Guards named specific facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar and ordered immediate evacuation. Oil prices surged toward $110 a barrel as the promise of strikes against the Gulf’s energy backbone sent global markets into turmoil.
South Pars holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves and is shared between Iran and Qatar. The Israeli bombing — reportedly conducted with US consent — was the first direct attack on Iranian fossil fuel production in the conflict. Washington and Tel Aviv had previously maintained this restraint, but crossing this line triggered Iran’s most specific, expansive, and threatening military promise of the war — one backed by named targets and evacuation orders.
Iran’s state broadcaster identified Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan facilities as targets for imminent strikes. All personnel were instructed to evacuate without delay. Asaluyeh governor Eskandar Pasalar called the US-Israeli attack “political suicide” and declared the war had entered a full-scale economic phase that would leave no part of the Gulf energy sector untouched.
Brent crude rose nearly 5% to $108.60 per barrel, while European gas benchmarks surged more than 7.5%. Gulf oil exports had already fallen 60% from pre-war levels due to infrastructure damage 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 advantage that had shaped the entire conflict’s economic dimension and now threatened to be extended through a new wave of devastating strikes.
Qatar’s government spokesperson Majid al-Ansari warned that attacking energy infrastructure endangered global energy security and the welfare of millions across the region. The darkness of the hour was reflected in surging oil prices, empty evacuation zones, and a world watching in alarm as the Gulf’s energy heartland faced its most direct and credible military threat since the war began. The promised strikes had yet to come — but their potential consequences were already being felt around the world.