Iran threatens Israel and the United States after the biggest attack on the world's largest gas field

BarcelonaThe world's largest natural gas field, located in the Persian Gulf, was struck on Wednesday, in a move that has escalated the conflict between Tehran, Israel, and the United StatesIranian authorities have warned that neighboring countries' energy facilities would be targeted by their missiles "in the coming hours." The attack affected the South Pars gas facility, part of the shared reserve between Iran and Qatar, which is crucial for Iranian exports.

The impact of the projectiles caused several fires at Iran's gas extraction facilities, damaging gas tanks and parts of a refinery, according to the Iranian news agency Fars. Workers were evacuated to safety, while emergency teams moved to the scene and successfully extinguished the blazes. "The situation in the area is completely under control," the governor of the region told the Iranian news agency Tasnim, adding that there were no fatalities. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack, but Israeli media report that it was launched from Israeli aircraft with US consent. A report by the US media outlet Aixos confirms that the action was coordinated and approved by the White House. Qatar, a traditional US ally that hosts the largest US air base in the region, has attributed the attack to Tel Aviv, without mentioning any involvement by the Pentagon. The spokesman for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has warned that this is a "dangerous and irresponsible step" that jeopardizes global energy security. The lack of a clear assumption of responsibility has not prevented Iran from threatening to damage Washington and Tel Aviv's infrastructure in the region. "As we have already warned, if our country's fuel, energy, gas, and economic infrastructure is attacked by the American Zionists, we will vehemently attack the source of the aggression and the enemy," an Iranian spokesman stated. Iran's Revolutionary Guard has issued evacuation orders for five energy facilities in Gulf countries: the Samref refinery, the Al-Jubail petrochemical complex, the Masaiid Holding company (in Saudi Arabia), and the Ras Laffan gas field and refinery (in Qatar). The latter evacuated its workers from the facilities following the Iranian warning.

Why is it strategic?

Located in the heart of the Persian Gulf, the South Pars/North Dome field is the world's largest natural gas condensate deposit, covering an area of ​​9,700 square kilometers. The majority, 6,000 square kilometers, lies within Qatari territorial waters, in what is known as the North Dome. The remaining 3,700 square kilometers are in Iranian territorial waters, in what is called South Pars, where the projectiles struck on Wednesday. It is estimated that there are approximately 51 trillion cubic meters of hydrocarbons in this field, a volume of gas that could sustain Catalonia's current consumption for 10,200 years. This represents 20% of the world's gas reserves. In short, it is the largest fossil fuel reserve on the planet, as its energy production capacity surpasses that of the Ghawar oil field, the world's largest.

At the beginning of 2026, before the start of the war, Qatar was producing approximately 524 million cubic meters of gas per day, representing 80% of the Qatari government's revenue. In contrast, due to sanctions and mismanagement, Iran was already having more difficulty exploiting its side of the field, and was "only" extracting about 57 million cubic meters per day. Even so, it accounted for 70% of the Islamic Republic's total gas production, according to BBC data.

Oil and gas prices are soaring

The air offensive against the South Pars facilities and the subsequent threat from Tehran have pushed up the price of natural gas and oil this WednesdayThe price of natural gas has soared since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Thus, the price of liquefied natural gas on the Amsterdam TTF market rose 7.64% compared to the previous day, to around 55 euros per megawatt hour (MWh). Furthermore, Brent crude, the European benchmark, increased by 5.9% compared to Tuesday, reaching nearly $109 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the US benchmark, rose 2.74% to $98.15 per barrel. Another immediate consequence of the attack has been the disruption of Iranian gas shipments to Iraq, a Baghdad official told Reuters. Tehran supplies between one-third and 40% of Iraq's gas and energy needs. This Wednesday's attack is the latest in a series of attacks against Iranian energy facilities. The most relevant episode took place on March 14, when The United States bombed military targets on Iran's Kharg IslandThe facility, considered the heart of the country's oil industry because it stores 90% of the crude oil that Iran exports worldwide, was targeted in the attacks. Following these attacks, Iran threatened to destroy "all US-related oil, economic, and energy infrastructure" in the Middle East if its energy facilities were attacked again.