Iran’s IRGC pounds Gulf energy hubs after Israel’s South Pars attack, torching Qatar’s LNG lifeline, affecting crypto markets, and dragging the global economy toward recession.
Iran’s IRGC hits Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG hub and refineries in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, forcing major output shutdowns and stoking supply fears.
Brent crude rips above $110 and European gas jumps over 25% as markets price in lasting damage to Gulf energy capacity and rising global recession risk.
Trump pivots from threatening to “blow up” South Pars to urging de-escalation as energy infrastructure across the Persian Gulf becomes a primary war target.
The Middle East war escalated sharply on Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched waves of retaliatory strikes on energy facilities across the Persian Gulf, setting Qatari liquefied natural gas terminals ablaze and targeting oil refineries in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — sending global energy prices soaring and pushing the region to the brink of a wider economic catastrophe.
The attacks came in direct retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field — the world’s largest natural gas complex, jointly managed with Qatar — which Israel struck with reported U.S. support
The consequences were immediate and global. Brent crude surged above $110 per barrel during Thursday’s trading — a rise of more than 50% since the war began on February 28, when it was trading near $70 — briefly touching $116 before partially retreating. European natural gas benchmark TTF prices surged as much as 28–30%, having already doubled
U.S. President Trump, who had threatened to “massively blow up” South Pars if Iranian attacks on Qatar continued, shifted tone by Thursday, calling for de-escalation of strikes on energy facilities. The war, which shows no signs of abating, has now placed the Persian Gulf’s energy infrastructure — supplying a substantial share of the world’s oil and gas