War on Iran spreads to Gulf energy lines

Thewar between the US, Israel and Iranis entering a more dangerous phase, with strikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field followed by retaliatory attacks across the Gulf that are drawing the region’s energy infrastructure into the conflict and raising the risk of wider economic disruption. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted ballistic missiles targeting Riyadh and nearby energy sites, with debris injuring civilians and falling near a refinery south of the capital. The incident signals a shift in the war’s trajectory, extending the battlefield into systems that underpin global oil supply.

What began with coordinated US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February has widened into a new phase. The targeting of South Pars — the world’s largest natural gas field shared between Iran and Qatar — signals that the conflict is no longer confined to military assets. It isintersecting with global energy networks, exposing supply routes and transport corridors such as the Strait of Hormuz.

Roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil passes through the strait. Even limited instability has historically triggered sharp market volatility and markets are pricing in sustained disruption. Iran targeted Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, one of the world’s largest liquefied natural gas hubs, with Qatari authorities confirming damage to the facility after missile strikes.

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The development marks a widening of the conflict into shared energy infrastructure central to global gas supply. In an interview, Iran’s ambassador to South Africa,Mansour Shakib Mehr, said Tehran’s military response was directed at US bases rather than neighbouring states. “Our neighbours have never been our target,” he said, adding that Iran was acting within its right to self- defence. Mehr said Iran had substantial evidence that the territory and airspace of neighbouring countries were used in attacks against Iran.

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