Iran intensified its attacks on oil and natural gas facilities across the Gulf on Thursday, raising the stakes in a war that is sending shockwaves through the global economy. The escalation followed Israel’s bombing of South Pars, the world’s largest natural gas reserve, located offshore in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, 18 March 2026.
Iran hit Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG facility early on Thursday, causing extensive damage, as part of a broader campaign that also included attacks on energy infrastructure in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, raising serious concerns about global energy supplies. Iran also fired missiles at Kuwait, Bahrain and the Israeli oil refinery city of Haifa.
In Washington, President Donald Trump said Israel would not attack South Pars again, but warned on social media that if Iran continued striking Qatar’s energy infrastructure, the US would retaliate and “massively blow up the entirety” of the field. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration might lift restrictions on Iranian oil already loaded onto vessels, as attacks rattled markets.
The Human and Economic Cost
Iranian attacks knocked out 17% of Qatar’s LNG export capacity, causing an estimated $20 billion in lost annual revenue and threatening energy supplies to Europe and Asia. Qatar has had to halt all gas production due to the counterattacks, disrupting global supplies and the production of fertiliser. Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi said he never imagined Qatar would face such an attack, “especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan,” adding that the damage could take up to five years to repair.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani condemned the strikes plainly: “This attack has significant repercussions for global energy supplies. Such attacks bring no direct benefit to any country, rather, they harm and directly impact populations.” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a stark warning on X, stating that Iran had used only a “fraction” of its power in its response and that it would show “zero restraint” if its infrastructure were hit again.
Brent crude climbed to $116 per barrel about 6% higher, while the European natural gas benchmark surged roughly 15%, with intraday gains touching 30% at the peak. Iran also launched at least six waves of missiles at Israel overnight, including new attacks using cluster bombs; one strike killed a Thai agricultural worker in central Israel’s Sharon area. Four people were also killed in the occupied West Bank overnight by an Iranian missile strike. At least 13 US military members have been killed since the war began.
Three Weeks of War
On 28 February 2026, the United States and Israel initiated coordinated airstrikes on Iran under Operation Epic Fury, targeting military facilities, nuclear sites, and leadership, resulting in the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran responded with missile barrages on Israeli cities and US bases in the Gulf, including in the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain, while the IRGC issued warnings prohibiting vessel passage through the Strait of Hormuz, leading to an effective halt in shipping traffic.
The closure of the Strait has been described as the largest disruption to the energy supply since the 1970s oil crisis. The Pentagon has now requested an additional $200 billion to fund and resupply US defences as the war grinds through its third week. India’s External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal told reporters that India was in ongoing discussions with Iran to get 22 ships through the Strait, with two vessels already having reached India via the passageway.
European leaders, meanwhile, said they were ready to join “appropriate efforts” to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and called for a moratorium on strikes against energy and water facilities. A satellite image confirmed that a projectile struck just 350 metres from Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant reactor on Wednesday, an alarming near-miss that experts flagged as a significant escalation risk.
The Logical Indian’s Perspective
What began as a military conflict between states has rapidly become a crisis that reaches into the homes of ordinary people, not just in the Gulf, but across Asia, Europe and beyond. Surging fuel and gas prices are not abstractions; they translate directly into costlier food, heating, transport and goods for families in Mumbai, Manila, Milan and millions of places in between.
For India, a nation deeply enmeshed with the Gulf through energy imports, trade and a diaspora of nearly nine million workers, this war is not a distant event, it is arriving at the doorstep. The near-miss at the Bushehr nuclear plant adds yet another dimension of dread to an already alarming situation. In a world this interconnected, there are no bystanders, only those who haven’t yet felt the full force of consequences.
