U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that the United States' objectives in the war against Iran have not changed since strikes started on February 28. The United States has carried out strikes against 7,000 targets inside Iran so far, and hit more than 40 Iranian mine-laying vessels and 11 submarines, according to the Pentagon. "Our objectives, given directly from our America-first president, remain exactly what they were on day one," Hegseth told reporters. "These are [Read more]
Europe scrambles to limit effects of energy escalation in Iran war
European countries scrambled to cushion the impact of soaring oil prices on Thursday after tit-for-tat strikes on Gulf energy plants, including the world's largest gas plant in Qatar - the most economically significant escalation of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. State oil giant QatarEnergy reported "extensive damage" after Iranian missiles hit the Ras Laffan Industrial City, which processes about a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas, in response to Israel's bombing of Iran's major gas [Read more]
Iran war leaves deep, costly scar on Mideast energy: Bousso
The Iran war has shattered the fragile coexistence among Gulf energy producers that long underpinned regional stability. Oil and gas marketswill now carry a higher Middle East risk premium for years — if not decades. Now in its third week, the conflict has pushed the Middle East’s vast energy infrastructure directly into the line of fire. Tehran has targeted dozens of energy installations across the region, striking at its neighbours’ - and the West’s - economic lifeline and signalling its reach [Read more]
ADNOC CEO says regional energy infrastructure, including ADNOC’s, targeted in attacks
ADNOC Group Chief Executive Sultan Al Jaber said on Thursday that critical energy infrastructure across the region, including that of ADNOC in the United Arab Emirates, has come under attack. "This is an unjustified, unprovoked and illegal attack on a peaceful nation," Al Jaber said in a LinkedIn post. "But it is not just a regional issue - it is global economic warfare. Energy flows are being weaponised." (Reporting by Yousef Saba; Writing by Tala Ramadan; Editing by Alison Williams) [Read more]
Oil majors’ output in the Middle East
Most oil and gas majors operate in the Middle East, where the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran has disrupted shipping and output. Shell’s Pearl plant and Saudi Arabia’s SAMREF refinery were reported damaged, while TotalEnergies said 15% of production is offline. Here are some details on the majors' production in the region, in alphabetical order: * BP BP's oil and gas output in the Middle East in 2025 was around 503,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, or 22% of BP's overall production, [Read more]
Saudi port of Yanbu stops oil loadings, two sources say
The Saudi port of Yanbu, one of two major remaining export routes for Gulf Arab oil after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz, has stopped oil loadings, two sources told Reuters on Thursday, after the Saudi defence ministry said it intercepted a ballistic missile over the city. The ministry said earlier that a drone crashed at the SAMREF refinery, with damage assessment underway. (Reporting by Nidhi Verma and Siyi Liu. Editing by Mark Potter) [Read more]
Gulf states request urgent debate at UN Human Rights Council, documents show
Gulf states have requested an urgent debate at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva over Iran's strikes on civilians and energy infrastructure across the Middle East, documents show. A diplomatic note sent by Gulf states, seen by Reuters, describes the ballistic missile and drone strikes on Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as a "situation of serious concern for international peace and security," with severe human rights [Read more]
Prolonged Iran crisis to push buyers to non-Mideast supply, JERA executive says
A prolonged U.S.-Israeli war with Iran could push buyers to non-Middle East suppliers such as the U.S. and Canada, said a senior executive at Japan's biggest power generator JERA, as the conflict spreads to energy infrastructure across the region. "With 90 million metric tons from the Middle East absent from the global LNG market, the longer this persists, the greater the impact," Senior Managing Executive Officer Ryosuke Tsugaru said in an interview on Wednesday. Later on Wednesday, [Read more]
Trump says Israel won’t attack Iran gas field again after it ‘violently lashed out’
U.S. President Donald Trump said an angry Israel had "violently lashed out" and attacked Iran's major gas field, a significant escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war, but said Israel would not make further such attacks unless Iran retaliated. Wednesday's attack on the huge South Pars gas field drove oil prices higher and prompted a threat by Iran to attack oil and gas targets across the Gulf, while it fired missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The escalation heightens the unprecedented [Read more]
Saudi Aramco-Exxon refinery SAMREF in Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu targeted, source says
Oil giant Saudi Aramco's SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea port of Yanbu was targeted in an aerial attack on Thursday, an industry source said, adding there was minimal impact. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Thursday issued an evacuation warning to several oil facilities across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, including SAMREF, which is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Exxon Mobil. Yanbu is currently the only export outlet for any crude oil out of Gulf Arab countries as [Read more]