After Iran escalates attacks on Gulf energy sites, Israel says it will stop striking its gas field

Since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Feb. 28, Iran’s top leaders have been killed in airstrikes and the country’s military capabilities have been severely degraded. Netanyahu said in a televised address that Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles, although he didn’t provide evidence.

Still, Iran — now led by the son of the supreme leader killed in the war’s opening salvo — remains capable of missile and drone attacks rattling its Gulf Arab neighbors and a global economy dependent on the energy they produce.

Underscoring the danger to ships in the region, a vessel was set ablaze off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another was damaged off Qatar. Efforts to bypass the strait were also under pressure: An Iranian drone hit a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea, which the country had hoped to use as an alternative route.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, briefly surged above $119 a barrel, up more than 60% since the war started. The European benchmark for natural gas prices also rose sharply and has roughly doubled in the past month.

Energy infrastructure is targeted around the Gulf

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE denounced the Iranian attacks. Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called them a “dangerous escalation.”

But Iran showed no signs of backing down. Saudi Arabia said its SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu was hit. Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large volumes of oil west toward the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said extensive damage was caused by Iranian missiles hitting the Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility, where production had already been halted after earlier attacks. Damage to the facility could delay Qatar's ability to get supplies to the market even after the war ends.

Two oil refineries in Kuwait and gas operations in Abu Dhabi also were targeted by Iran, local authorities said.

In Israel, waves of Iranian attacks sent millions of people to shelters and caused damage to buildings but no significant casualties were reported.

After the latest Iranian barrage, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said power was briefly knocked out in parts of the north and a refinery sustained minor damage.

Hegseth says more Iranian leaders could be targeted

Trump and Netanyahu have cited various war objectives, including degrading Iran’s missile capabilities and its nuclear program, and killing its senior leaders.

Speaking Thursday, Netanyahu said: “Iran's air defenses have been rendered useless, their navy is lying at the bottom of the sea ... their air force is nearly destroyed.”

The Israeli leader said he hopes the Iranian people will rise up against the Islamic Republic that has ruled for nearly half a century, but he conceded “it’s too early” to say whether that will happen. There’s been no sign of such an uprising since the war began, after Iranian authorities crushed mass protests in January.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth implied that more leaders could be targeted, referring specifically to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij force, a powerful internal security unit whose leader was killed by Israel earlier this week.

“The last job anyone in the world wants right now, senior leader for the IRGC or Basij, temp jobs, all of them,” Hegseth said.

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Thursday that U.S. forces continue to attack deeper into Iranian territory, with warplanes hunting Iranian boats in the strait and helicopters striking Iranian drones. Caine said the U.S. military has also dropped 5,000-pound bombs on underground weapons-storage facilities.

Iran’s state TV, quoting a Revolutionary Guard statement, said the country’s air defense system hit an F-35 fighter jet. U.S. Central Command said an F-35 fighter was forced to make an emergency landing after flying a combat mission over Iran. A spokesman for the command, Capt. Tim Hawkins, said the aircraft landed safely, the pilot was in “stable” condition and the incident was under investigation.

In a sign of the Iran war's rising price tag, the Pentagon is seeking $200 billion in additional funds, a senior administration official said. The department sent the request to the White House, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private information.

Iran’s strikes were retaliation for Israeli attack on a critical gas field

Iran stepped up its attacks on Gulf energy facilities after Israel hit South Pars, the Iranian part of the world’s largest gas field, which is located offshore in the Persian Gulf and owned jointly with Qatar.

With some 80% of all power generated in Iran coming from natural gas, according to the International Energy Agency, the attack threatens the country’s electricity supplies. Natural gas is also used to supply household heating and cooking across the Islamic Republic.

Iran condemned the strike on South Pars, with President Masoud Pezeshkian warning of “uncontrollable consequences” that “could engulf the entire world.”

Trump said Wednesday that Israel would not attack South Pars again. But he warned on social media that if Iran continued striking Qatar’s energy infrastructure, the U.S. would retaliate and “massively blow up the entirety” of the field.

Asked later about the possibility of U.S. ground troops being deployed to Iran, Trump responded, “No. I’m not putting troops anywhere.”

Death toll climbs in third week of war

More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli strikes against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon have displaced more than 1 million people — roughly 20% of the population — according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 1,000 people have been killed. Israel says it has killed more than 500 Hezbollah militants.

In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. Four people were also killed in the occupied West Bank overnight by an Iranian missile strike.

At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.

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Melzer reported from Tzukim, Israel, Rising from Bangkok and Corder from The Hague, Netherlands. Associated Press writers Lisa Mascaro in Washington, Julie Watson in San Diego, and Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.