The US-Israeli war with Iran has roiled energy markets as the conflict escalates pressure on the region\u2019s energy sector. The price of oil has surged on international markets, increasing the cost of gasoline and other goods while squeezing the global economy.<\/p>\n
Global oil prices rose on news of the South Pars attack due to fears of Iranian retaliation on Gulf energy infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Iran and Israel trade attacks on fuel facilities in Middle East, heightening global supply fears. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Trump said in his post that the US \u201cknew nothing\u201d about the attack, but a person familiar with the matter said earlier Wednesday that the US was informed about Israel\u2019s plans to strike the gas field but did not take part.<\/p>\n
Hours after the attack on the field, authorities in Qatar said a ballistic missile hit the country\u2019s key natural gas site, sparking a fire that caused \u201cextensive\u201d damage, and Qatar ordered some Iranian Embassy officials out of the country.<\/p>\n
Iran has been striking its Persian Gulf neighbours\u2019 energy facilities since the war started February 28 and has made the Strait of Hormuz shipping channel, through which one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil travels, nearly impassable. Iran and Hezbollah also have been firing drones and missiles at Israel.<\/p>\n
Ship hit by a projectile off coast of Qatar<\/p>\n
A projectile hit a ship off the coast of Qatar on Thursday morning, authorities said.<\/p>\n
The British military\u2019s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre reported the incident off Ras Laffan, an important natural gas supply point which had been repeatedly hit by Iranian fire overnight.<\/p>\n
The UKMTO said the ship\u2019s crew was safe.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t immediately clear whether the vessel had been deliberately targeted or potentially struck by falling debris as Qatar fired off missile interceptors at incoming Iranian barrages.<\/p>\n
South Pars gas crucial for Iran<\/p>\n
Attacking Iran\u2019s South Pars natural gas field, which it shares with Qatar in the Persian Gulf, threatens electricity supplies in the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n
Some 80% of all power generated in Iran comes from natural gas, according to the Paris-based International Energy Agency.<\/p>\n
It also is used to supply household heating and cooking across the Islamic Republic.<\/p>\n
That is why Iran responded with an aggressive series of attacks targeting gas fields and infrastructure in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
From under repeated airstrikes by the US and Israel, as well as beneath state suppression, images of life in the Middle Eastern nation are starting to eke out. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s foreign minister lashes out at Macron<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s foreign minister lashed out Thursday at French President Emmanuel Macron over his comments on Tehran attacking Qatar.<\/p>\n
Macron early Thursday morning wrote he spoke with US President Donald Trump and Qatar\u2019s emir over Iran\u2019s attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is in our common interest to implement, without delay, a moratorium on strikes targeting civilian infrastructure, particularly energy and water supply facilities,\u201d Macron wrote on X.<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, channeling Trump, called Macron\u2019s comments \u201csad!\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Iranian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/iranian-foreign-minister-abbas-araghchi-OBMLYYV5JZDM7O5NUKU5LXXQNA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
\u201cMacron has not uttered one word of condemnation of the Israel-US war on Iran,\u201d Araghchi wrote on X. \u201cHe did not condemn Israel when it blew up fuel storage in Tehran, exposing millions to toxins. His current \u201cconcern\u201d didn\u2019t follow Israel\u2019s attack on our gas facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
Satellite images show damage to UAE air base<\/p>\n
Satellite images show damage at Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates after repeated Iranian attacks targeting the facility hosting American troops.<\/p>\n
The images, taken Sunday by an Airbus Defence and Space\u2019s Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellite and analysed by The Associated Press, showed damage at one set of hangars to the northwest of the facility in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/an-image-from-an-airbus-defence-and-spaces-pleiades-neo-sate-ITCOJ4JVE5CTBPIFR7B4CSGWEA.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
An image from an Airbus Defence and Space’s Pl\u00e9iades Neo satellite of damage after Iranian attacks targeting Al Dhafra Air Base in Abu Dhabi. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Another hangar to the southeast of the facility appears shredded by fire, with an adjacent hangar sustaining roof damage.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear what had been in the hangars.<\/p>\n
Al Dhafra had hosted some 2000 US troops and has served as a major base of operations for everything from armed drones to F-35 stealth fighters in recent years.<\/p>\n
The US military for years only vaguely referred to Al Dhafra as a base in \u201csouthwest Asia\u201d before the UAE became more willing to acknowledge the US presence there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US President Donald Trump pledged the US would “massively blow up the entirety” of the world\u2019s largest gas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[65,42,5107,43,64,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-337061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-north-america","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}