| |
Iran Hits Back at Multiple Refineries 03/19 06:30
Iran intensified its attacks on its Gulf Arab neighbors' energy sites
Thursday, hitting a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea and setting Qatari liquefied
natural gas facilities and two Kuwaiti oil refineries ablaze as it struck back
following an Israeli attack on its main natural gas field, a major escalation
in the Mideast war that has sent global fuel prices soaring.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran intensified its attacks on its Gulf
Arab neighbors' energy sites Thursday, hitting a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea
and setting Qatari liquefied natural gas facilities and two Kuwaiti oil
refineries ablaze as it struck back following an Israeli attack on its main
natural gas field, a major escalation in the Mideast war that has sent global
fuel prices soaring.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked to as high as $118 a
barrel, up more than 60% since Israel and the United States started the war
Feb. 28 with strikes on Iran.
A ship was set ablaze off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another
was damaged off Qatar, underscoring the ever-present danger also facing vessels
due to Iran's stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway
through which a fifth of the world's oil is transported.
Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large volumes of oil west to avoid the strait
and ship it from the Red Sea, but the security of that route was called into
question after Iran's drone hit the country's SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea
port city of Yanbu.
Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said firefighters put
out a blaze at a major LNG facility after it was hit by Iranian missiles.
Production had already been halted there after earlier attacks but it said the
latest wave of missiles caused "sizable fires and extensive further damage."
Damage to the facility could delay Qatar in getting its supplies to the
market even after the Iran war ends.
A drone attack on Kuwait's Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery sparked a fire but caused
no injuries, the state-run KUNA news agency reported. The refinery is one of
the biggest in the Middle East, with a petroleum production capacity of 730,000
barrels per day. Shortly after, a drone attack set ablaze the nearby Mina
Abdullah refinery, officials said.
Authorities in Abu Dhabi said they were forced to shut down operations at
its Habshan gas facility and Bab field, calling Iranian overnight attacks on
the sites a "dangerous escalation."
Gulf states condemn Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure
Missile alert sirens sounded in multiple other areas around the Gulf, and
Israel warned of incoming Iranian fire multiple times.
Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all denounced the Iranian attacks, with
Saudi Arabia's top diplomat saying assaults on the kingdom meant "what little
trust there was before has completely been shattered."
Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit called the attacks a
"dangerous escalation" by Iran.
But Iran showed no signs of relenting, with Saudi Arabia intercepting six
drones in Riyadh and Eastern province before saying that the SAMREF refinery
was hit. The Saudi Defense Ministry said damage assessment was underway at
SAMREF, a joint venture between the kingdom's oil giant Saudi Aramco and
ExxonMobil.
In Israel, more than a half dozen waves of Iranian attacks targeting large
parts of the country sent millions of people to shelters. The strikes caused
damage to buildings but no significant casualties were reported.
Iran strikes back after Israel hits critical gas field
The Iranian attacks came after Israel hit South Pars, the Iranian part of
the world's largest gas field 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 Paris-based International Energy Agency, the attack directly
threatens the country's electricity supplies. Natural gas is also used to
supply household heating and cooking across the Islamic Republic.
Hitting the gas field is a "clear expansion of the conflict," the New
York-based Soufan Center said in a research note.
"Israel's target selection in this war has heavily focused on the
institutions, leaders and infrastructure," the think tank said. "It now seeks
to inflict additional pressure on the regime by making the living conditions
for civilians intolerable."
Iran condemned the strike on South Pars, with President Masoud Pezeshkian
warning of "uncontrollable consequences" that "could engulf the entire world."
In Washington, President Donald Trump said that Israel would not attack
South Pars again, but 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.
"I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because
of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran," Trump
said on social media.
Energy infrastructure targeted around Gulf region
Qatar Energy said on X that a missile hit on its massive Ras Laffan LNG
facility caused the blaze early Thursday.
A ship was also hit off the country's coast, according to the British
military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center. It was not clear
whether it was deliberately targeted or was struck by falling debris as Qatar
fired off missile interceptors at incoming Iranian barrages.
Saudi Arabia also reported downing Iranian drones targeting its natural gas
facilities overnight, and authorities in Abu Dhabi shut down the Habshan gas
facility and Bab field after interceptions over the sites.
Another ship was set ablaze early Thursday off the UAE coast. It was also
unclear whether it was targeted or hit with debris, the UKMTO said. It said the
vessel was just off the coast of Khor Fakkan, near the mouth of the Strait of
Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil is normally shipped.
More than 20 vessels have been attacked during the Iran war so far as Tehran
has kept a tight grip on shipping traffic through the waterway, which leads
from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean.
Iran insists the waterway is open, just not to the U.S. or its allies, and
while some vessels have sailed through, it has only been a trickle.
Iran executes 3 men detained during January protests
Iran announced the execution of three men detained in January's nationwide
protests, the first such sentences known to have been carried out, the
judiciary's Mizan news agency reported.
The men were accused of stabbing two police officers to death in Qom, some
130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, during the protests.
Iran put down the demonstrations with intense violence that killed thousands
of people and saw tens of thousands others detained, and activists have warned
that authorities might carry out mass executions of those detained.
Iran long has been accused by rights campaigners of extracting coerced
confessions from detainees and not allowing them to fully defend themselves in
court.
Death toll climbs in third week of war
More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli
strikes have displaced more than 1 million Lebanese -- roughly 20% of the
population -- according to the Lebanese government, which says 968 people have
been killed.
In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire, including a
Thai agricultural worker who died overnight after getting hit with shrapnel.
Three people were also killed in the occupied West Bank overnight by an Iranian
missile strike, the Palestinian Red Crescent said.
At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.
|
|
