Iran promised to turn Gulf energy infrastructure into a battlefield on Wednesday after Israeli forces hit the South Pars gasfield for the first time in the conflict. The Revolutionary Guards named specific facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar as targets for imminent strikes and ordered workers and residents to evacuate. Oil prices surged toward $110 a barrel as the promise of turning Gulf energy into a battlefield sent shockwaves through global markets.
South Pars, the world’s largest natural gas reserve, is shared between Iran and Qatar and has been at the heart of Iran’s energy economy throughout the conflict. The Israeli hit — reportedly with US authorization — was unprecedented in its direct targeting of Iranian fossil fuel production. Washington and Tel Aviv had previously avoided this move, but crossing this threshold triggered Iran’s most specific and alarming military promise of the entire war.
Threatened battlefield targets listed by Iran’s state media included Saudi Arabia’s Samref refinery and Jubail complex, the UAE’s al-Hosn gasfield, and Qatar’s Mesaieed and Ras Laffan facilities. All workers and residents were told to leave without delay. Asaluyeh governor Eskandar Pasalar condemned the US-Israeli hit as “political suicide” and declared the war had entered a full-scale economic phase.
Brent crude rose to $108.60 per barrel — a nearly 5% gain — while European gas benchmarks surged more than 7.5%. Gulf oil exports had already been cut by 60% from pre-war volumes due to sustained infrastructure strikes and Iran’s Strait of Hormuz blockade. Iran had maintained its own crude exports through the strait unimpeded while blocking Gulf neighbors from doing so — an asymmetry that had given it significant leverage and that now threatened to be dramatically compounded.
Qatar’s government spokesperson warned that targeting energy infrastructure was a threat to global energy security and millions of regional residents. The promise to turn Gulf energy into a battlefield was one that Iran had been building toward since the conflict began — and with specific targets named, evacuation orders issued, and a tight window set, the promise appeared closer to fulfillment than at any previous point. The world’s energy markets were living that promise in real time.