After Iran escalates attacks on Gulf energy sites, Israel says it will stop striking its gas field

Dubai, Mar 20 (AP) Iran has intensified its attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf, raising the stakes in a war that is rattling energy markets and the global economy.

The strikes on Thursday, in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, sent fuel prices soaring and risked drawing Iran’s Arab neighbors directly into the conflict. Global fuel supplies were already under pressure because of Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Thursday that, at the request of President Donald Trump, Israel will hold off on any further attacks on the Iranian gas field.

Since the US and Israel launched the war on February 28, Iran’s top leaders have been killed in airstrikes and the country’s military capabilities have been severely degraded. Netanyahu said in a televised address that Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles, although he didn’t provide evidence.

Still, Iran — now led by the son of the supreme leader killed in the war’s opening salvo — remains capable of missile and drone attacks rattling its Gulf Arab neighbors and a global economy dependent on the energy they produce.

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. Efforts to bypass the strait were also under pressure: An Iranian drone hit a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea, which the country had hoped to use as an alternative route.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, briefly surged above USD 119 a barrel, up more than 60 per cent since the war started. The European benchmark for natural gas prices also rose sharply and has roughly doubled in the past month.

**Energy infrastructure is targeted around the Gulf Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE denounced the Iranian attacks. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called them a “dangerous escalation.” But Iran showed no signs of backing down. Saudi Arabia said its SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu was hit. Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large volumes of oil west toward the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said extensive damage was caused by Iranian missiles hitting the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility, where production had already been halted after earlier attacks. Damage to the facility could delay Qatar’s ability to get supplies to the market even after the war ends.

Two oil refineries in Kuwait and gas operations in Abu Dhabi also were targeted by Iran, local authorities said.

In Israel, waves of Iranian attacks sent millions of people to shelters and caused damage to buildings but no significant casualties were reported.

After the latest Iranian barrage, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said power was briefly knocked out in parts of the north and a refinery sustained minor damage.

**Hegseth says more Iranian leaders could be targeted Trump and Netanyahu have cited various war objectives, including degrading Iran’s missile capabilities and its nuclear program, and killing its senior leaders.

Speaking Thursday, Netanyahu said: “Iran’s air defenses have been rendered useless, their navy is lying at the bottom of the sea … their air force is nearly destroyed.” The Israeli leader said he hopes the Iranian people will rise up against the Islamic Republic that has ruled for nearly half a century, but he conceded “it’s too early” to say whether that will happen. There’s been no sign of such an uprising since the war began, after Iranian authorities crushed mass protests in January.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth implied that more leaders could be targeted, referring specifically to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij force, a powerful internal security unit whose leader was killed by Israel earlier this week.

“The last job anyone in the world wants right now, senior leader for the IRGC or Basij, temp jobs, all of them,” Hegseth said.

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that US forces continue to attack deeper into Iranian territory, with warplanes hunting Iranian boats in the strait and helicopters striking Iranian drones. Caine said the US military has also dropped 5,000-pound bombs on underground weapons-storage facilities.

Iran’s state TV, quoting a Revolutionary Guard statement, said the country’s air defense system hit an F-35 fighter jet. US Central Command said an F-35 fighter was forced to make an emergency landing after flying a combat mission over Iran. A spokesman for the command, Capt. Tim Hawkins, said the aircraft landed safely, the pilot was in “stable” condition and the incident was under investigation.

In a sign of the Iran war’s rising price tag, the Pentagon is seeking USD 200 billion in additional funds, a senior administration official said. The department sent the request to the White House, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information. (AP) RHL RHL

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