The war in West Asia unravels for a third week as the United States and Israel traded fire with Iran, with attacks continuing on military, diplomatic and strategic infrastructure.
The conflict, triggered by the February 28 US-Israeli strikes on Iran, has spread across the region, roiling energy markets and pushing up oil prices as the Islamic Republic imposed a blockade on the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Israel has intensified attacks on Lebanon, launching a ground invasion targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah.
TOP DEVELOPMENTS
UAE shuts down the Habshan gas facilities in Abu Dhabi after an Iranian attack, while Saudi Arabia said two of its refineries were also attacked. Riyadh says “the little trust that remained in Iran has been completely shattered”
Trump says the US will retaliate if Iran attacks Qatar again: President Donald Trump pledged that Israel would make no more attacks on Iran’s major South Pars gas field, but if Iran attacked Qatar again, the U.S. would retaliate and “massively blow up the entirety” of the field.
The developments came after Israel attacked Iran’s navy in northern Bandar Anzali and the South Pars gasfield, with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of “uncontrollable consequences” that could “engulf the entire world”.
UAE, Qatar condemn strikes on gas field: In a rare rebuke, the United Arab Emirates called US-Israeli strikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field a “dangerous escalation”, while Qatar termed it a “direct threat to its national security.”
Iran nuclear plant hit: The UN nuclear watchdog said Iran reported a strike on its only operational nuclear power plant, but added there was no damage.
Mojtaba vows revenge over Larijani killing: Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said those behind the killing of security chief Ali Larijani in an Israeli strike “will have to pay for it.”
Iranian missile attacks have killed three Palestinian women in the occupied West Bank and a foreign worker in central Israel, medics said Thursday.
Falling shrapnel struck a hair salon in the West Bank town of Beit Awa near Hebron late Wednesday, killing the three women, according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, marking the first Palestinian deaths from Iranian attacks in the ongoing Middle East war.
Two waves of Iranian strikes caused "extensive damage" at Qatar's main gas hub, the country's state-run energy firm said on Thursday, with President Donald Trump warning Iran against further attacks on the facility.
Iran had vowed to target energy infrastructure across the Gulf after a strike that Trump said was carried out by Israel on Iranian facilities at South Pars field, Iran's part of the world's largest known gas reserve.
Saudi Arabia has not ruled out military action in response to repeated missile and drone attacks from Iran, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Thursday.
Speaking to reporters following a meeting in Riyadh of foreign ministers from the region, Prince Faisal said that Iran "tries to pressure its neighbours" with attacks.
"The kingdom is not going to succumb to pressure, and on the contrary, this pressure will backfire... and certainly, as we have stated quite clearly, we have reserved the right to take military actions if deemed necessary," he said.
The West Asia conflict, triggered on February 28 by Israeli-US strikes against Iran, has severely disrupted the transport of goods through the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which is effectively closed, to the Gulf region.
This blockade of key Gulf shipping routes is now driving up food bills at the checkout.
Iran executed three people convicted of killing police officers and carrying out operations in favour of the United States and Israel during unrest earlier this year, the judiciary said.
Qatari civil defence teams have contained fires that erupted at a major gas facility in the Gulf state's north following an Iranian attack, the interior ministry said Thursday.
"Civil Defence has fully brought all fires under control in the Ras Laffan Industrial Area without any reported injuries. Cooling and sites-securing operations are still ongoing," the ministry said in a post on X.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened to destroy Iran's key South Pars gas field if there were further attacks against Qatar's main gas plant.
Trump confirmed on his Truth Social platform that Israel had struck the South Pars field but said the United States "knew nothing" of the attack, which spurred Iran to launch an attack on Qatar's Ras Laffan facility.
"NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar - In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before," the US president wrote.
Qatar's state-run energy firm said new strikes on the Gulf nation's main gas hub on Thursday caused "extensive" damage.
QatarEnergy said in a statement that early Thursday "several of its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities were the subject of missile attacks, causing sizeable fires and extensive further damage" after a previous attack.
The company noted that the earlier attack on the Ras Laffan Industrial City on Wednesday had already caused extensive damage to a gas-to-liquids facility.
Israel will not carry out further attacks on Iran’s vital South Pars gas field, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday.
"Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran," he said in a post on Truth Social. "A relatively small section of the whole has been hit."
Trump was quick to distance Washington from the South Pars strikes, claiming it was solely an Israeli operation. "The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen," he said.
Oil prices surged after strikes against energy infrastructure in Iran and Qatar.
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 2.5 percent at $98.69 in Asian trade on Thursday, while Brent crude oil soared more than five percent to nearly $113 a barrel on fresh worries about energy supplies.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has said it has received a report of an “incident” four nautical miles (about 7km) east of Ras Laffan, Qatar.
“It has been reported to UKMTO that a vessel has been hit by an unknown projectile,” the agency said in a statement, adding that “all crew are reported safe and well.
“Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO while authorities continue to investigate,” it added.
Qatar’s Ministry of Interior has said that civil defence has now “fully contained two out of three fires in the Ras Laffan Industrial Area with no injuries reported”.
“Cooling and securing operations at the sites are ongoing,” the ministry added.
President Donald Trump pledged that Israel would make no more attacks on Iran’s major South Pars gas field, but if Iran attacked Qatar again, the U.S. would retaliate and “massively blow up the entirety” of the field.
Trump made his threat on social media Wednesday night as the war roiled global energy markets and Iranian missiles hit Qatar.
“I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran,” Trump said, but added that he would “not hesitate to do so,” if Qatar’s liquified natural gas sites were attacked again.
QatarEnergy says “sizeable fires” have broken out at several of its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities following the latest Iranian attacks on the Ras Laffan Industrial City.
These were “in addition to the previous attack on Ras Laffan Industrial City on Wednesday” that “resulted in extensive damage to the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility,” QatarEnergy said.
There has been “extensive further damage” from the new attacks, with emergency response teams “deployed immediately” and no reported casualties, QatarEnergy added.
QatarEnergy Statement on Missile Attacks on its LNG Facilities
— QatarEnergy (@qatarenergy) March 19, 2026
In addition to the previous attack on Ras Laffan Industrial City on Wednesday 18 March 2026 that resulted in extensive damage to the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility, QatarEnergy confirms that in the early hours…
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry has released another statement following Iran’s attack on its Ras Laffan gas facility.
“The brutal Iranian attacks on countries in the region have crossed all red lines by targeting civilians, civilian infrastructure and vital facilities,” the statement said.
“The ministry stresses the need to spare the region the consequences of these unjustified attacks and to work towards de-escalation in order to restore regional and international security and stability.”
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister offered harsh criticism Thursday of Iran after its overnight attacks on his country, saying: “What little trust there was before has completely been shattered.”
Prince Faisal bin Farhan made the comments after a meeting between foreign ministers of the Gulf Arab states and others over the Iranian attacks tearing at the wider Middle East.
“The attacks on my country and on my neighboring countries that are not involved in this conflict — that’s all I’m interested in,” Prince Faisal said. “We’re going to use every lever we have — political, economic, diplomatic and otherwise — to get these attacks to stop.”
An Iranian missile attack caused damage at Qatar's main gas facility on its north coast, the defence ministry said on Thursday.
The "State of Qatar was attacked (by) ballistic missiles, from Iran, which targeted Ras Laffan Industrial City and caused damages", the Qatari defence ministry posted on X.
Qatar had said overnight that attacks on the gas facility were a "direct threat" to its national security.
Abu Dhabi has shut down operations at a gas facility due to falling debris from missile interceptions, the Emirati capital's media office said on Thursday.
"Abu Dhabi authorities are responding to incidents at the Habshan gas facilities and at the Bab (oil) field caused by falling debris from the successful interception of missiles," Abu Dhabi's media office posted on X.
"The gas facilities have been shut down," it said, adding no injuries had been reported.
"These attacks constitute a serious escalation and a violation of the principles of international law," the ministry said in a statement posted on X.
Abu Dhabi authorities are responding to incidents at the Habshan gas facilities and at the Bab field caused by falling debris from the successful interception of missiles. The gas facilities have been shut down and no injuries have been reported.
— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@ADMediaOffice) March 18, 2026
The public is urged to obtain…
The Israeli military said on Wednesday it would not stop its "series of eliminations" of senior Iranian officials, after the country announced it had killed Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib.
Khatib's killing came soon after Israel killed Iran's powerful security chief Ali Larijani, and another powerful figure, Gholamreza Soleimani, head of the Basij paramilitary force.
"Over the past 24 hours, we have continued to track down and eliminate senior officials of the regime, murderers responsible for numerous terrorist operations," military spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said in a televised briefing. "We will continue to hunt down all of the regime's senior officials. The series of eliminations will not stop."
Ras Laffan Industrial City is the largest liquefied natural gas export facility in the world, according to the website of QatarEnergy, the state-owned oil and gas company.
On X, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry condemned the attack and said it marked a dangerous escalation. The ministry wrote that Qatar would not hesitate to respond to attacks on its security and sovereignty.
Saudi Arabia intercepted four ballistic missiles on Wednesday, with a fragment falling near a refinery south of Riyadh, its defence ministry said, as Iran threatened Gulf gas facilities following US-Israeli attacks on its own infrastructure.
"Four ballistic missiles launched toward the city of Riyadh were intercepted and destroyed, a fragment of one of the ballistic missiles landed near a refinery south of Riyadh," the ministry said in a statement on X.
Egypt's foreign ministry said it stood in solidarity with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and condemned attacks on their oil and gas facilities. It also condemned a reported US-Israeli attack on Iran’s natural gas field as “a dangerous escalation” and “a flagrant violation of international law.”
The United States was informed about Israel’s plans to strike Iran’s massive South Pars natural gas field, but did not take part in it, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The person, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, would not say if the US administration agreed with the Israeli decision to attack the gas field — part of the world’s largest such resource and a pillar of Iran’s energy supplies.
Democratic senators pressed the US government's top intelligence official at annual worldwide threats hearings on Wednesday about the war with Iran, including whether she had advised President Donald Trump that Tehran was likely to block the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial passageway for oil and gas from the Persian Gulf, if attacked.
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, repeatedly deflected questions about the intelligence she had offered the Republican president. That exasperated Democrats who tried to use a rare public forum to extract answers about the widening conflict in the Middle East.
She sidestepped when asked by Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, whether she had advised Trump that Iran would attack Gulf nations and shut down the strait if the country was targeted by US strikes.
"I have not and won't divulge internal conversations. I will say that those of us within the intelligence community continue to provide the president with all of the best objective intelligence available to inform his decisions," she said.
Iran's president warned on Wednesday of the risk of "uncontrollable consequences" of attacks on energy infrastructure, after facilities in the giant Iranian South Pars gas field were targeted in the US-Israeli war against the Islamic republic.
"This will complicate the situation and could have uncontrollable consequences, the scope of which could engulf the entire world," Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X, adding that such attacks "will yield nothing" for Iran's foes the US and Israel.
Parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf added in a separate post on X that after the attacks on energy facilities "an eye-for-an-eye sum is in effect, and a new level of confrontation has begun."
Iran's new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Wednesday in a written message that the killers of security chief Ali Larijani, who died in an Israeli strike, "will have to pay for it."
"Without a doubt, the assassination of such a figure attests to his importance and to the hatred that the enemies of Islam harbour toward him," Mojtaba Khamenei said, in a message published on his official Telegram channel on the day of Larijani's funeral in Tehran.
"Every drop of spilled blood comes at a price, and the criminal murderers of these martyrs will soon have to pay it," added Mojtaba Khamenei, who has yet to appear in public after taking office following the killing of his father, ex-supreme leader Ali Khamenei at the start of the war.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed on Wednesday that Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib had been killed in the war with the US and Israel, blasting a "cowardly assassination."
In a post on X, Pezeshkian did not say who had carried out the attack but earlier Israel's defence minister announced that Khatib had been "eliminated."
"The cowardly assassination of my dear colleagues Esmail Khatib, Ali Larijani and Aziz Nasirzadeh, along with some of their family members and accompanying team, has left us in mourning," he said, referring to Iran's recently killed security chief and defence minister.
The UAE condemned the targeting on Wednesday of Iranian facilities in a gas field shared with Qatar, calling the attack attributed by Iran to the US and Israel a "dangerous escalation" in a rare rebuke.
"The United Arab Emirates affirmed that targeting energy facilities linked to the South Pars gas field in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is an extension of the North Field in the sisterly State of Qatar, constitutes a dangerous escalation," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Targeting energy infrastructure poses a direct threat to global energy security... It also entails serious environmental repercussions and exposes civilians, maritime security, and vital civilian and industrial facilities to direct risks," it added.
Qatar said on Wednesday that Iranian attacks on its main gas facility situated on its north coast were a "direct threat to its national security".
"Qatar expresses its strong condemnation and denunciation of the brutal Iranian attack targeting Ras Laffan Industrial City... Qatar considers this assault a dangerous escalation, a flagrant violation of its sovereignty, and a direct threat to its national security," the Gulf state's foreign ministry said in a statement.
