Iran said on Wednesday that airstrikes had hit the infrastructure of the vast South Pars offshore gas field as well as oil and petrochemical facilities in the southern city of Asaluyeh.
It was the largest attack on Iran’s energy production since the war began nearly three weeks ago.
An Israeli airstrike killed Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmaeil Khatib, on Wednesday, continuing Israel’s systematic targeting of high-ranking officials that has decimated the upper ranks of the government in Tehran. The Israeli military said in a statement that Khatib’s ministry had overseen espionage and covert operations against Iranians as well as Israeli and American targets across the world.
Qatar, which shares the expansive offshore field with Iran, blamed Israel for the strikes and warned that targeting joint energy infrastructure was a “dangerous and irresponsible step” that could put global energy security at risk.
Oil and gas warning
Iran’s state television published a threat on Wednesday, saying the Islamic Republic would be attacking oil and gas infrastructure in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The threat resembled other attack warnings put out by Iran during the war, copying the style used by the Israeli military.
Iran specifically threatened Saudi Arabia’s Samref Refinery and its Jubail Petrochemical Complex. It also threatened the UAE’s Al Hasan Gas Field and the petrochemical plants and a refinery in Qatar.
Mojtaba condolence
Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a rare statement on X, sending condolences for slain top security official Ali Larijani.
“With deep sorrow, I received the grievous news of the martyrdom of Dr. Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and the Leader’s Representative in that Council, along with the martyrdom of his worthy son and several of his colleagues,” he wrote.
Lebanon pummelled
Israeli warplanes hit central Beirut in the early hours of Wednesday, destroying apartment buildings in some of the most intense airstrikes on the centre of the Lebanese capital for decades.
Riyadh booms
Saudi air defences dealt with a “ballistic threat” in Riyadh on Wednesday, state TV said, after several loud booms were heard and some of the city’s residents received phone alerts for the first time warning them of a hostile aerial threat.
It was followed up by a message saying the threat had passed, urging residents not to approach “the impact site”.
Venezuela curbs eased
US companies will be allowed to do business with Venezuela’s state-owned oil and gas company after the treasury department eased sanctions, with some limitations, on Wednesday as the Trump administration looks for ways to boost world oil supplies during the Iran war.
The Treasury issued a broad authorisation allowing Petróleos de Venezuela S.A, or PDVSA, to directly sell Venezuelan oil to US companies and on global markets, a massive shift after Washington for years had largely blocked dealings with Venezuela’s government and its oil sector.
Jones Act relaxed
The Trump administration said on Wednesday that it would temporarily relax a maritime law that restricts the way oil is shipped within the US.
Relaxing the law, known as the Jones Act, could reduce the cost of transporting fuel and agricultural
products by ship between American ports, but analysts and some shipping executives expect the move to have only a marginal impact on gasoline prices.
US President Donald Trump is waiving the Jones Act requirements for 60 days “to mitigate the short-term disruptions to the oil market as the US military continues meeting the objectives of Operation Epic Fury”, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary said on X.
Bushehr hit
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi said damage to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear site did not appear to be “very significant” and that a strike on the facility may have hit a small building containing a laboratory.
Aircraft damage
Israel said on Wednesday three private aircraft were damaged in recent days at Ben Gurion International Airport by fragments of intercepted Iranian missiles.
CIA missile claim
CIA director John Ratcliffe told lawmakers at a Senate hearing on Wednesday that an unencumbered Iran could have developed missiles with a range of 3,000km that could strike Europe.
Ratcliffe also said Iran would have developed the ability to threaten the US if it had continued to work on its booster technologies.
New York Times News Service and Agencies