{"id":354194,"date":"2026-03-19T10:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/354194\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T10:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T10:54:08","slug":"donald-trump-considers-sending-more-troops-to-middle-east-european-gas-prices-jump-35-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/354194\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump \u2018considers\u2019 sending more troops to Middle East; European gas prices jump 35% \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Main Points <\/p>\n

Iran<\/a> has halted gas supplies to Iraq<\/a> and threatened to attack oil facilities in Saudi Arabia<\/a>, the United Arab Emirates<\/a> (UAE) and Qatar<\/a>It comes after attacks on the huge Iranian South Pars gasfield, which according to Israeli media reports, were carried out by Israel in co-ordination with WashingtonDonald Trump has threatened to \u201cmassively blow up\u201d the entire South Pars gasfield if Iran carries out any more retaliatory attacks on Qatar\u2019s LNG gas facilitiesMore than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran \u200bsince the US-Israeli attacks began, the human rights group Hrana estimatesEU leaders will meet today to seek ways to curb the jump in energy prices triggered by the Iran warIn response to rising fuel and oil costs, the Irish Government will consider cutting excise duties<\/a>, said Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan<\/p>\n

Key Reads<\/p>\n

Jade Wilson – 15 minutes ago<\/p>\n

Cabinet expected to approve bundle of supports next week to soften the impact of steep energy costs <\/p>\n

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has said a coming package of Government support to soften the impact of steep energy costs will be designed to avoid inadvertently hurting the wider economy by pushing up inflation, Jack Power reporters from Brussels. <\/p>\n

Cabinet is expected to approve a targeted bundle of State supports next week, to respond to the surge in the price of oil and gas caused by the US and Israel\u2019s war in Iran.<\/p>\n

Martin said there were social protection \u201cinstruments\u201d that would enable help to be directed towards more vulnerable households. \u201cObviously we will look at the full gamut of areas where we can give some support to people,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur immediate priority is to try and alleviate pressures on people, on families in particular, and then to make sure that we can do it in a way that doesn\u2019t do any damage to the economy or doesn\u2019t create any secondary effects in terms of inflation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Martin was speaking in Brussels on his way into a summit of EU leaders that will be dominated by the continuing fallout of the Iran war. Tehran\u2019s decision to effectively close off the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route in the Gulf that a fifth of the world\u2019s oil and gas passes through, has seen global energy prices shoot up. <\/p>\n

European gas prices jump 35 per cent with attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf <\/p>\n

European natural gas prices rose as much as 35 per cent today after attacks to energy infrastructure in the Gulf intensified overnight.<\/p>\n

European gas prices have increased by more than 60 per cent since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28th, Reuters news agency reported.<\/p>\n

The price of Brent crude \u2013 the global benchmark \u2013 also increased to $112 a barrel today. It settled yesterday at $107.38 a barrel, according to reports, bringing the cost of crude oil up more than 48 per cent since the war began. It has not dropped below the $100 threshold since March 13th.<\/p>\n

Jade Wilson – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

What can EU leaders do about rising energy prices?<\/p>\n

In a letter to leaders, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the \u201cseismic\u201d shock of the war was already having \u201cprofound\u201d knock-on effects in Europe. Everyone is hoping the surge in the price of oil and gas is short-term. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been here before, whether with Ukraine, the pandemic or the energy crises,\u201d von der Leyen, the head of the EU\u2019s executive arm, wrote in the March 16th letter. <\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the plan? Irish Times Europe Correspondent Jack Power examines the issue in this<\/a> piece.<\/p>\n

Jade Wilson – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

Oil refinery targeted in Kuwait <\/p>\n

An oil refinery in Kuwait was targeted in a drone strike this morning, sparking a \u201climited\u201d fire , according to state media.<\/p>\n

The fire at the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery was contained and there were no reports of injuries, the Kuwait News Agency reported, citing the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.<\/p>\n

It is one of the largest oil refineries in the Middle East, with a petroleum production capacity of 730,000 barrels per day.<\/p>\n

Jade Wilson – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

More than 3,000 killed in Iran and 900 killed in Lebanon <\/p>\n

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran \u200bsince the US-Israeli attacks began, the US-based Iran human rights group HRANA estimates.<\/p>\n

Authorities in Lebanon say 900 have been killed there and 800,000 forced to flee their homes. Iranian attacks have killed people in Iraq and across the Gulf states, and at least 13 US military service members have been killed in the war. <\/p>\n

\"FirefightersFirefighters work to extinguish a fire on a building that has collapsed after an IDF air strike in Beirut, Lebanon. Photograph: Adri Salido\/Getty Images \"AA child searches for kitchen tools among the debris of a building that has collapsed after an IDF air strike in Beirut, Lebanon. Photograph: Adri Salido\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Jade Wilson – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

EU leaders seek to curb energy prices as gas prices increase by more than 60 per cent<\/p>\n

European Union leaders will seek ways to curb the jump in energy prices triggered by the Iran war when they meet on Thursday but they have few \u200beasy options. <\/p>\n

European gas prices have increased by more than 60 per cent since the war on Iran began on February 28th.<\/p>\n

Jade Wilson – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

Foreign ministers of 12 Muslim-majority countries call for immediate halt to Iran\u2019s strikes <\/p>\n

The foreign ministers of 12 Muslim-majority countries meeting in Riyadh denounced Iran\u2019s strikes on Gulf neighbours, calling for an immediate halt.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s targeting of residential areas and civilian infrastructure, such as oil facilities, airports and desalination plants, could not be justified under any circumstances, the ministers said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis pressure from Iran will backfire politically and morally and certainly we reserve the right to take military actions, if deemed necessary,\u201d Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a press conference after the diplomats met.<\/p>\n

Interceptors were seen fired from near the Riyadh hotel where the conference was held around the time the ministers gathered for the consultative meeting on the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Jade Wilson – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

Trump considers sending more troops to the Middle East<\/p>\n

With no sign of de-escalation, Trump is considering sending thousands more US troops to the Middle East, a \u2060US official and three other people familiar with the planning told Reuters.<\/p>\n

Those troops could be used to \u2060restore the safe passage of oil tankers through the narrow Strait of \u200bHormuz, a chokepoint for a fifth of the world\u2019s oil trade.<\/p>\n

Trump this week asked US allies to help reopen the strait, but his request has so far been rebuffed. Iran\u2019s closure of the strait has spiked energy prices and fuelled fears of a rise in inflation globally.<\/p>\n

Jade Wilson – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n

Trump threaten to \u2018blow up\u2019 South Pars gas field if Iran retaliates <\/p>\n

Donald Trump has threatened to \u201cmassively blow up\u201d the entire South Pars gas field if Iran carries out any more retaliatory attacks on Qatar\u2019s LNG gas facilities. <\/p>\n

The US president also said in a post on his Truth Social platform that the US \u201cknew nothing\u201d about Israel\u2019s Wednesday attack at the South Pars field, which Iran shares with Qatar, and neither did Doha. Trump said \u201cno more attacks will be made by Israel\u201d on the field \u2013 unless Iran \u201cdecides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar\u201d. <\/p>\n

Trump added: \u201cIn which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Israel reportedly struck the giant South Pars gasfield on Wednesday, marking a major escalation of the war, hours after Israeli forces killed the regime\u2019s intelligence minister and launched some of the most intense airstrikes in Beirut for decades.<\/p>\n

The UAE government has described Iran\u2019s retaliatory strikes a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d in the war. – Guardian <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Main Points Iran has halted gas supplies to Iraq and threatened to attack oil facilities in Saudi Arabia,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,11829,3410,43,40,38,41,39,115,90],"class_list":["post-354194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-israel","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}