{"id":484599,"date":"2026-03-19T20:26:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:26:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/484599\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T20:26:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T20:26:07","slug":"iran-says-it-will-show-zero-restraint-if-energy-infrastructure-is-targeted-again-us-israel-war-on-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/484599\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran says it will show \u2018zero restraint\u2019 if energy infrastructure is targeted again | US-Israel war on Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran said on Thursday it would show \u201czero restraint\u201d if its energy infrastructure was targeted again as Qatar<\/a> revealed that almost a fifth of its liquefied natural gas export capacity had been knocked out in an Iranian strike that is likely to have a years-long impact.<\/p>\n

The warning, delivered by the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, followed Israel\u2019s attack<\/a> on Iran\u2019s massive South Pars gasfield \u2013 which it shares with Qatar \u2013 which triggered Iranian retaliatory strikes on Qatar\u2019s Ras Laffan gas complex and other Gulf neighbours, sending stock markets tumbling globally and triggering sharp increases in gas prices<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ras Laffan supplies about 20% of the world\u2019s liquefied natural gas. Israel<\/a> also confirmed on Thursday that the Bazan Group refinery in Haifa had been hit and damaged in a claimed Iranian strike.<\/p>\n

Araghchi said in a post on X: \u201cOur response to Israel\u2019s attack on our infrastructure employed FRACTION of our power. The ONLY reason for restraint was respect for requested de-escalation. ZERO restraint if our infrastructures are struck again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Map<\/a><\/p>\n

Amid warnings of an unprecedented energy crisis, and a growing sense of panic in global capitals, Israeli officials dismissed Donald Trump\u2019s claim that their attack on the gasfield had not been coordinated with Washington, as Trump asked Congress for an additional $200bn (\u00a3150bn) to pay for his war.<\/p>\n

On Thursday Trump recast his denial, saying he had told the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, not to attack Iranian gasfields again, but he appeared unable to explain the logic of how the junior partner in a wartime military alliance had felt able to act unilaterally with such internationally damaging consequences.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told [Netanyahu] don\u2019t do that, and he won\u2019t do that,\u201d Trump told reporters as he met Japan\u2019s prime minister. \u201cWe get along great. It\u2019s coordinated, but on occasion he\u2019ll do something\u201d that the US opposed, he said.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu, when asked if Israel had told Trump about the attack, told reporters: \u201cIsrael acted alone \u2026 President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks and we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump with Japan\u2019s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, in the Oval Office on Thursday. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Trump also suggested he would not send ground troops to Iran, despite the deployment of 2,000 US marines to the region. Reuters had reported he was considering deploying thousands of troops to reinforce the operation in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Possible next steps in the campaign against Iran include securing safe passage for oil tankers through the strait of Hormuz, a mission that would be accomplished primarily through air and naval forces, the sources said. But securing the strait could also mean deploying US troops to Iran\u2019s shoreline.<\/p>\n

Underlying the growing anxiety, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan issued a joint statement expressing \u201cdeep concern\u201d about the escalating conflict and calling on Iran to \u201ccease immediately its threats, laying of mines, drone and missile attacks and other attempts to block the strait to commercial shipping\u201d, and to comply with a UN security council resolution.<\/p>\n

They said they were ready \u201cto contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the strait [of Hormuz]\u201d, warning: \u201cThe effects of Iran\u2019s actions will be felt by people in all parts of the world, especially the most vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Map<\/a><\/p>\n

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose as much as 10% to $119 a barrel at one point, before slipping back to $110 a barrel, a gain of 3.3%. Crude prices have soared by 60% since the war started on 28 February.<\/p>\n

European and UK gas prices also jumped, climbing as much as 24% before easing back. They have more than doubled since before the war.<\/p>\n

Stock markets reeled under a heavy sell-off, with steep falls on Japanese, South Korean and Hong Kong markets bleeding into Europe. The UK\u2019s FTSE 100 closed down 2.35% at 10,063 points, and there were similar falls on Germany\u2019s Dax and France\u2019s CAC.<\/p>\n

Airlines said the rise in fuel prices would drive up fares<\/a> and urged passengers to book early. Long-haul airlines such as Air France-KLM and Lufthansa said they would be adding more flights via Asia, as Gulf carriers\u2019 hubs are either shut or operating at a reduced level.<\/p>\n

With the war at risk of spiralling wildly out of control, Trump and his officials continued to deliver chaotic messaging, even as unnamed Israeli officials were quoted by Reuters as suggesting the gasfield attack was not likely to be repeated.<\/p>\n

Iranian strikes also hit Saudi Arabia\u2019s Red Sea refinery, located at the end of a pipeline that bypasses the strait of Hormuz, and two Kuwaiti oil refineries.<\/p>\n

The chief executive of QatarEnergy, Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, said about $20bn in damage had been done to its facilities and that repairs would sideline 12.8m tons per year of gas for three to five years, threatening supplies to some European countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar would be \u2013 Qatar and the region \u2013 in such an attack, especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan, attacking us in this way,\u201d al-Kaabi said.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia\u2019s foreign minister said his country had not ruled out military action in response to the attacks. However, most analysts said there was still a widespread reluctance among Gulf countries, even Saudi Arabia, to entangle themselves in Trump\u2019s conflict.<\/p>\n

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said in Brussels: \u201cI hope everybody returns to reason,\u201d noting the infrastructure attacks\u2019 potential long-term impact on global markets and calling for a moratorium on such strikes, as well as those on civilians.<\/p>\n

The insistence by Israeli officials that Trump had been informed of the South Pars attack came amid contradictory messaging from Washington that suggested Trump was seeking a way to distance himself from the latest dangerous Israeli escalation even as he threatened to bomb the field himself.<\/p>\n

The scramble to find a coherent message extended to key Trump officials, with the US treasury secretary suggesting on Fox that the US lift oil sanctions on some Iranian cargoes already at sea, while the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, delivered his own warning to Iran in bellicose language.<\/p>\n

Pete Hegseth accused the press of trying to convince the American public that it was \u201cspinning toward a forever war\u201d. Photograph: Win McNamee\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cOur objectives, given directly from our America-first president, remain exactly what they were on day one,\u201d Hegseth told reporters. \u201cThese are not the media\u2019s objectives, not Iran\u2019s objectives, not new objectives. Our objectives: unchanged, on target and on plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cThe world, the Middle East, our ungrateful allies in Europe, even segments of our own press should be saying one thing to President Trump \u2013 thank you. Thank you for the courage to stop this terror state from holding the world hostage with missiles while building or attempting to build a nuclear bomb. Thank you for doing the work of the free world.\u201d<\/p>\n

He accused the press of trying to convince the American public that it was \u201cspinning toward an endless abyss, or a forever war, or a quagmire\u201d. He said: \u201cNothing could be further from the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additional reporting by Graeme Wearden<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran said on Thursday it would show \u201czero restraint\u201d if its energy infrastructure was targeted again as Qatar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":484600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-484599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/484600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}