Iran hits back after Pars field strike Trump says he didn't know about

IN BRIEF

• Trump says Israel won't attack Iran gas field again after it "violently lashed out"

• "Extensive damage" as Iran hits Qatari gas supply complex

• Saudi Arabia intercepts four ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh

• Drones strike Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea and cause fires at two others in Kuwait

• UAE shuts down its Habshan gas facility after missiles intercepted

• In Kuwait, drone attacks spark blazes at two refineries

• Saudi Arabia says it reserves the right to act militarily against Iran

• Trump said the US did not have advance knowledge of Israel's attack on Pars

• Iran considers levying transit fees on vessels in the Strait of Hormuz

• Iran's Foreign Minister calls for regional vigilance against "destabilizing and escalatory actions" by US and Israel

IN DETAIL

Trump says Israel won't attack Iran gas field again after it 'violently lashed out'

US President Donald Trump said an angry Israel had "violently lashed out" and attacked Iran's major gas field, a significant escalation in the US-Israeli war, but said Israel would not make further such attacks unless Iran retaliated.

Wednesday's attack on the huge South Pars gas field drove oil prices higher and prompted a threat by Iran to attack oil and gas targets across the Gulf, while it fired missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The escalation heightens the unprecedented disruption of global energy supplies that has raised the political stakes for Trump, who joined Israel in attacking Iran nearly three weeks ago.

State oil giant QatarEnergy reported "extensive damage" after Iranian missiles hit the Ras Laffan Industrial City that processes about a fifth of global gas supply.

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh on Wednesday and an attempted drone attack on a gas facility in its east.

On Thursday, Iran again attacked Qatar's gas facilities, and its missiles also targeted the Saudi capital. QatarEnergy reported "sizable fires" and extensive damage at several of its liquefied natural gas facilities hit by missile attacks early on Thursday.

Saudi port hit, UAE shuts gas facility

Drones struck a Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea and caused fires at two others in Kuwait as Iran stepped up attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia's defense ministry said a drone crashed into the Samref refinery in the industrial zone of the Red Sea port of Yanbu, adding that damage assessment was underway.

Yanbu is the destination of Petroline, the overland oil pipeline that gives Saudi exports an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz – currently choked off by Iran, meaning Yanbu is the only export outlet for Gulf Arab countries' crude.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Thursday issued an evacuation warning to several oil facilities across Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, including Samref, a joint venture between Aramco and Exxon Mobil.

The UAE shut down its Habshan gas facility after it intercepted missiles fired in what its foreign ministry called a "terrorist attack" by Iran.

Thursday's attacks follow major damage at the world's biggest gas hub, Qatar's Ras Laffan, on Wednesday as Iran retaliated for Israeli strikes on its South Pars gas field.

In Kuwait, drone attacks sparked blazes at the Mina Abdullah and Mina Al-Ahmadi refineries, which have a combined capacity of 800,000 barrels per day. 

The state Kuwait National Petroleum Company later said the fires were contained.

Saudi Arabia: We reserve right to military action against Iran

Saudi Arabia reserves the right to act militarily against Iran and any trust with Tehran has been shattered, the Saudi foreign minister said early on Thursday, after Riyadh was targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles.

In the harshest comments to come out of the Gulf kingdom in nearly three weeks of war, Farhan accused Iran of premeditated hostile actions against its neighbors, both directly and via an array of regional proxies which he urged Tehran to rein in.

"This pressure from Iran will backfire politically and morally and certainly we reserve the right to take military actions if deemed necessary," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a news conference after a meeting of top diplomats from the region met in Riyadh.

Interceptors were seen fired from near the Riyadh hotel where the conference was held around the time foreign ministers from roughly a dozen countries including Turkey, the UAE, Jordan, Qatar and Syria gathered for the consultative meeting on the Iran war.

Saudi Arabia has come under attack by hundreds of Iranian missiles and drones since the start of the conflict, the vast majority of which authorities say have been intercepted.

But Wednesday's attacks marked the first time many in the city had heard blasts or received warning messages via text.

Trump: US did not know Israel would attack Pars

Trump said the United States did not have advance knowledge of Israel's attack and that Qatar had not been involved – although The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump had approved of Israel's plan to attack Iran's natural gas field.

"Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran," Trump posted on X on Wednesday.

"Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar's LNG Gas facility.

"NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar.

"In 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."

South Pars is the Iranian sector of the world's largest natural gas deposit, which Iran shares with Qatar, a close US ally and host of the United States' biggest military base in the Gulf.

Iran considers levying transit fees on ships in Hormuz Strait 

Iran is considering a proposal to levy transit fees on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a lawmaker said on Thursday. 

The Iranian Students' News Agency quoted the lawmaker as saying parliament was considering a bill under which countries using the strait for shipping, energy transit and food supplies would be required to pay tolls and taxes to Iran.

An adviser to Iran's supreme leader said "a new regime for the Strait of Hormuz" will follow the war's eventual end, allowing Tehran to apply maritime restrictions on states that have sanctioned it.

"By using the strategic position of the Strait of Hormuz, we can sanction (the West) and prevent their ships from passing through this waterway," Mohammad Mokhber said on Thursday, according to Mehr news agency.

Iran urges regional vigilance against 'destabilization' 

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called for vigilance and coordination among regional countries to counter what he described as "destabilizing and escalatory actions" by the United States and Israel, Iranian state media reported on Thursday.

Araghchi made the remarks in separate phone calls with his counterparts in Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan.

He said recent US and Israeli attacks on Iranian infrastructure were aimed at escalating tensions and added that Iran would spare no effort in defending its sovereignty and security.