Iran has warned Gulf states that it will attack their critical energy infrastructure if the US launches fresh strikes on its territory.
Donald Trump threatened last week to hit Iranian bridges and power plants if a deal was not reached to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, has now warned several of Washington’s allies in the Gulf that any such attack would lead Tehran to strike US military assets and energy facilities across the region.
Mr Araghchi urged his Saudi, Turkish and Qatari counterparts, as well as Pakistan’s army chief, to counsel Mr Trump against renewed attacks, according to Reuters.
Several regional sources with knowledge of the conversations told the news agency that Mr Araghchi’s message was consistent.
“The Iranian warning was unequivocal: if America targeted Iran’s infrastructure, they would retaliate by striking Gulf energy facilities and other regional targets,” one Gulf source said.
Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, warned that Tehran would hit critical infrastructure including refineries and oil fields – AFP via Getty Images
An Iranian official said his country’s warning applied to infrastructure critical to Gulf economies, including energy facilities, refineries, electricity grids, water infrastructure, transport networks and oil fields. Iran and its allied militias have already attacked dozens of sites across the region.
Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, subsequently spoke to Mr Trump and pressed him to pursue a ceasefire instead of further military action.
Mr Araghchi’s diplomatic overtures demonstrate a renewed attempt by Tehran to pit Gulf states against Washington, putting them in a difficult position by using the threat of escalation as leverage against further attacks.
Iranian leadership has repeatedly called for the closure of US bases in Gulf states and has launched frequent attacks on the assets.
On the same day that Mr Trump threatened to strike Iranian energy infrastructure, Tehran launched an unprovoked surprise attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, killing three American soldiers.
But despite pleas from Gulf allies, one day later the US bombarded Iran with a “heavy” wave of strikes after the US president warned Tehran it would get a “beating” in retaliation for the attack on Jordan.
However, after making another threat to hit Iran with the heaviest strikes of the war on Sunday, Mr Trump backed off, “subject to being able to rapidly make a deal”.
Mr Trump’s decision to call off the attacks was reportedly because of Pentagon warnings that the US had used up “virtually all” of its missiles and had “burnt through” most of its stockpile of the critical interceptors used to protect US bases.
NBC News reported that on Friday night, the US defence department’s second-in-command held crisis talks with top military and defence officials about the weapons shortage after he received an angry phone call from Mr Trump. The White House called the reports “100 per cent fake news”.
According to the Iranian official, Tehran believes the US president faces two unpalatable options: escalate, and trigger a widening of the conflict throughout the Gulf that could disrupt energy supplies, or accept a deal to end the war that would fall short of a decisive victory.
Believing that “further escalation will only bring more destruction”, Saudi Arabia urged Mr Trump to return to the negotiating table but warned Iran that strikes on its territory would be met with a military response, two Gulf sources told Reuters.
Saudi Arabia’s Khurais oil processing plant was attacked by missiles and drones in 2019 – Fayez Nureldine/AFP
Iran, in turn, has assessed that Gulf states do not want to suffer the high costs of retaliation against their energy infrastructure, and is seeking to convince them to press the US president to hold off.
“The enemy continues to threaten Iranian infrastructure. If Iran suffers damage, it will inflict far greater damage in return,” the Iranian official said.
“They still remember Saudi Arabia’s Aramco,” he added, referring to a series of drone and missile attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais facilities in September 2019 that temporarily knocked out more than half of the country’s crude oil production.
The Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks that revealed the vulnerability of energy infrastructure in the Gulf.
Both facilities were also attacked last week by Iran-backed militias, leading Saudi Arabia to join the US in launching retaliatory strikes against “Iran-aligned terrorists” in Iraq.
