As the United States-Israeli war with Iran sends tremors through the global economy, the poorest members of the Global South are the most exposed to the fallout.
In Asia, Africa and the Middle East, developing economies are bearing the brunt of surging energy costs prompted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on oil and gas facilities across the Gulf.
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From Pakistan to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, through to Jordan, Egypt and Ethiopia, policymakers are facing the double whammy of being both heavily dependent on imported energy and having limited financial firepower to absorb the shock of spiking prices.
In Pakistan, which imports about 80 percent of its energy from the Gulf and has lurched between economic crises for years, authorities have scrambled to roll out measures to conserve fuel.
Facing the depletion of the country’s petrol and diesel reserves within weeks, officials have closed schools, introduced a four-day working week for government offices, ordered half of the country’s public sector employees to work from home, and slashed fuel allowances for official business.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said last week that he had decided against a proposed hike in petrol and diesel prices before the Eid Al-Fitr celebration, saying the government would “bear the burden” of rising costs.
Sharif’s announcement came after the government had earlier this month approved a 55 rupee ($0.20) rise in the price of a litre (0.26 gallons) of petrol or diesel.
While government subsidies have helped cushion the blow for the public, there are fears that petroleum prices will surge and bring economic activity to a halt if the war drags on, said S Akbar Zaidi, the executive director of the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi.
“The overall shock is quite severe, although it has not been fully passed on to consumers and to industry,” Zaidi said.
“I expect the next few weeks to make things far worse once the disruption and price factors pass through.”
A man gets his motorcycle refuelled at a petrol station in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on March 9, 2026 [Munir Uz Zaman/AFP]
In Bangladesh, which imports about 95 percent of its oil and is expected to run through its fuel reserves within days, petrol pumps in some districts have run dry despite the introduction of fuel rationing.
Sri Lanka, which imports about 60 percent of its energy needs and is still reeling from an economic meltdown that began in 2019, has declared every Wednesday a public holiday and introduced a mandatory fuel pass for vehicle owners to conserve petrol and diesel, stockpiles of which are projected to run dry within weeks.
In Egypt, one of the biggest energy importers and among the most indebted economies in the Middle East, the government has ordered malls, shops and cafes to close by 9pm on weekdays and 10pm during weekends, and cut back on public lighting.
Facing growing pressure on public finances due to the government’s heavy subsidisation of fuel prices, Egyptian officials on March 10 announced price hikes of between 15 and 22 percent for petrol, diesel and cooking gas.
While acknowledging the burden on the public, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said the move was necessary to avoid “harsher and more dangerous outcomes”.
“For a majority of developing economies, especially those already grappling with debt and high import dependence, they are facing a potent mix of inflation, currency pressures and fiscal strains,” said Yeah Kim Leng, a professor of economics at the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia at Sunway University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“The hardest hit are net energy and food importers, especially those with fragile macroeconomic foundations and pre-existing vulnerabilities that typified countries with low per capita income and high poverty rates,” Yeah added.
Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Senegal, Egypt, Angola, Ethiopia and Zambia are among the most at risk, according to a recent analysis by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development, which looked at factors including dependence on fuel imports, public debt levels and foreign exchange reserve/import ratios.
Currency depreciation
The weakening of many developing countries’ currencies against the US dollar – the result of investors buying the greenback amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty – has compounded the situation by further driving up costs.
“Countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines have already seen their currencies at near record lows even before the start of the conflict, making imports, including oil, much more expensive,” said Azizul Amiludin, a non-resident senior fellow at the Malaysia Institute of Economic Research in Kuala Lumpur.
Much as the fallout of the war poses particular challenges for governments in developing countries, the effect on citizens is disproportionate, too.
In less advanced economies, citizens spend much more of their pay cheques on fuel and food, leaving them more exposed to rising living costs.
At the same time, governments in developing countries have less capacity to provide a safety net for those at risk of falling through the cracks.
“In vulnerable economies, governments often attempt to shield their populations from price hikes by subsidising fuel and food,” said Yeah, the Jeffrey Cheah Institute professor.
“However, with depleted fiscal buffers and shrinking revenues, this becomes unsustainable. The ensuing austerity, combined with hyperinflation, can trigger widespread social unrest and a full-blown fiscal crisis.”
Motorcyclists crowd a filling station and wait their turn to get fuel, in Lahore, Pakistan, on March 6, 2026 [K M Chaudary/AP]
With the US and Israel barely a month into their war and no clear timetable for its end in sight, many analysts expect things to get worse before they get better.
Khalid Waleed, a research fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad, said rising transport costs would soon be felt at supermarket checkouts.
“Diesel is the backbone of Pakistan’s freight and agricultural economy,” Waleed said.
“Trucking costs have started climbing, and that will feed into everything from flour to fertiliser in the weeks ahead.”
Once Pakistan’s wheat harvest gets under way in April, food prices could spike well beyond their current levels, Waleed said.
“Combine harvesters, threshers, tractors for haulage from field to market, and the trucks that move grain from fields to flour mills and storage facilities all run on high-speed diesel,” he said.
“For a country where wheat flour is the single largest item in the food basket of the bottom two income quintiles, this is not a marginal concern,” Waleed added.
“If diesel prices stay elevated through April and May, Pakistan will harvest its wheat at the most expensive input cost in years, and that cost will transmit directly into food inflation at a time when households have almost no capacity left to absorb further price shocks.”
Iran said Tuesday that a projectile hit within the premises of its nuclear power plant in Bushehr, southern Iran. Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA
March 24 (UPI) — An unidentified projectile struck the grounds of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday night, according to Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, the second time in a little more than two weeks that the facility has been threatened by the ongoing war.
The projectile struck at 9:08 p.m. local time, resulting in no casualties or damage, it said in a statement.
“Attacking peaceful nuclear facilities is not only a violation of international regulations and rights, but also seriously endangers #regional security,” Iran’s AEO said in a post tagging the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
“It is expected that international institutions will adopt a responsible and transparent stance in response to such actions.”
The IAEA said it was informed of the incident by Iran, adding that the plant was operating normally.
The agency’s director-general, Rafael Grossi, reiterated his call “for maximum restraint to avoid nuclear safety risks during conflict,” the IAEA said in a statement.
The incident comes eight days after an unidentified projectile struck near the plant on March 17, the first reported strike near Bushehr since the war between Iran and the United States and Israel began late last month.
Located near Bushehr city on Iran’s southwest Persian Gulf coast, the Bushehr plant began construction in 1975, but its original German contractor abandoned the project following the Islamic Revolution four years later. In the mid-1990s, Russia agreed to complete Bushehr Unit 1, Iran’s first reactor, which began operating in 2011, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
Iran’s paralysis of the Strait of Hormuz has led to major disruption in global oil and gas supply and many countries have begun tapping into their strategic oil reserves to evade an economic crisis.
Since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on February 28, Tehran, whose territorial waters extend into the Strait, has blocked the passage of vessels carrying 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) from the Gulf to the rest of the world. The strait is the only waterway to open ocean available for Gulf oil and gas producers.
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Last week, the price of Brent crude topped $100 a barrel compared to the pre-war price of around $65.
The United States Trump administration has tried and failed to re-open the strait. First, it called on Western nations to send warships to help escort shipping through the strait – an option all have declined or failed to respond to. Then, on Sunday, Trump gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the strait or face US attacks on its power plants.
However, on Sunday, Iran said it would hit back at power plants in Israel and those in the region supplying electricity to US military assets. And, on Monday, Iran said it would completely shut the Strait of Hormuz if US attacks on its energy infrastructure continue.
Following Iranian attacks on energy infrastructure across the Gulf over the past three weeks, countries including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq and Kuwait have also cut their oil output, raising further concerns about global oil and gas supply.
On Monday, Trump appeared to backtrack on his Hormuz ultimatum when he ordered all US strikes on power plants in Iran to be paused for five days and claimed the US was holding talks with Iran. Iran has denied this.
In the face of chaos, on March 11, the 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to release 400 million barrels of oil from their strategic emergency reserves – the largest stock draw in the agency’s history. It is far higher than the 2022 release of 182 million barrels of oil by the group’s members after Russia invaded Ukraine.
What are strategic oil reserves and which countries hold them?
What is a strategic oil reserve?
A strategic oil reserve or strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) is an emergency stockpile of crude oil which is held by the government of a country in government facilities.
This oil reserve can be drawn on in cases of emergencies like wars and economic crises. Governments generally buy the oil through agreements with private companies in order to keep their reserves filled.
According to the IEA, its members currently hold more than 1.2 billion barrels of these public emergency oil stocks with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held by private organisations but under government mandate to be available to supplement public needs.
Other reserves are also held by non IEA members like China.
Which countries have strategic oil reserves? Can they withstand the war in Iran?
China
Beijing is not an IEA member, but holds the world’s largest strategic oil reserve.
According to China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment, Beijing “started a state strategic oil reserve base programme in 2004 as a way to offset oil supply risks and reduce the impact of fluctuating energy prices worldwide on China’s domestic market for refined oil”.
“The bases are designed to maintain strategic oil reserves of an equivalent to 30 days of imports, or about 10 million tonnes,” according to a 2007 report from Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
These strategic oil reserves are primarily located along China’s eastern and southern coastal regions such as Shandong, Zhejiang and Hainan.
China does not officially publish information about its crude inventories so it is not clear how much oil the country has in reserve. However, according to energy analytics firm Vortexa, in 2025, “China’s onshore crude inventories (excluding underground storage) continued to rise… reaching a record 1.13 billion barrels by year-end”.
According to data from Kpler, China bought more than 80 percent of Iran’s shipped oil in 2025. As the war in Iran escalates, therefore, Chinese companies such as refiner Sinopec have begun pushing for permission to use oil from the country’s reserves according to a Reuters report on Monday.
“We basically won’t buy Iranian oil, this is pretty clear,” Sinopec President Zhao Dong told a company results briefing in March, according to Reuters.
“We believe the government is closely monitoring crude oil and refined fuel inventories and market situations, and will advance policies at the appropriate time to support refinery productions,” he added.
US
Of the IEA members, the US holds one of the largest strategic oil reserves with 415 million barrels of oil. The stores are maintained by the US Department of Energy. It has confirmed that it will release 172 million barrels of oil from its SPR over this year as its contribution to coordinated efforts with the IEA.
On Friday, the Trump’s administration announced that it has already lent 45.2 million barrels of crude from the SPR to oil companies.
The US created its SPR in 1975 after an Arab oil embargo triggered a spike in gasoline prices which badly affected the US economy.
The reserves are located near big US refining or petrochemical centres, and as much as 4.4 million barrels of oil can be shipped globally per day.
The SPR currently covers roughly 200 days of net crude imports, according to a Reuters news agency calculation.
US presidents have tapped into the stockpile to calm oil markets during war or when hurricanes have hit oil infrastructure along the US Gulf of Mexico.
In March 2024, US President Joe Biden announced oil would be released from the reserve to ease pressure from oil price spikes following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and amid subsequent sanctions imposed on Russian oil by the US and its allies.
Japan
An IEA member, Japan also has one of the world’s largest strategic oil reserves.
According to Japanese media Nikkei Asia, at the end of 2025, the country held about 470 million barrels of in emergency reserves which is enough to meet 254 days of domestic consumption. Out of this amount, 146 days worth of oil are government-owned, 101 days are owned by the private sector, and the remainder is jointly stored by oil-producing countries.
Japan set up its national oil reserve system in 1978 to prevent future economic disruptions following the global oil crisis in 1973. That oil crisis heightened Japan’s vulnerability and dependence on oil from abroad. The country remains one of the world’s largest oil importers, relying on fossil fuels from overseas for about 80 percent of its energy needs.
Japan’s reserves are primarily located in 10 coastal national stockholding bases with major storage sites in the Shibushi base in Kagoshima in southern Japan.
On March 16, Japan announced that it had begun releasing oil from its emergency reserves amid the global energy crisis sparked by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told journalists the country would unilaterally release 80 million barrels of oil from stockpiles amid supply concerns.
UK
As of February 26, according to the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero, the UK holds about 38 million barrels of crude oil and 30 million barrels of refined products, as strategic reserves. The reserves are thought to be able to last around 90 days.
The country established its reserves in 1974 following the oil crisis of the 1970s and also to meet its IEA obligations. Members of the organisation are required to maintain at least 90 days of net imports in reserve.
The UK’s strategic reserves are largely held by private oil companies, but are regulated by the government. Milford Haven in South Wales and Humber in northeast England are key locations of reserves.
The country is among the 32 IEA nations releasing oil from its reserve to address the oil crisis amid the war in Iran. The UK government will be contributing 13.5 million barrels as a part of the release.
EU
EU member nations including Germany, France, Spain and Italy, all IEA members, also hold strategic oil reserves.
Germany has 110 million barrels of crude oil and 67 million barrels of finished petroleum products which are held by the government and can be released in a matter of days, according to Germany’s economy ministry.
France reported about 120 million barrels’ worth of crude and finished products in reserve at the end of 2024, the most recent data publicly available. About 97 million barrels of that is held by SAGESS, a government-mandated entity, with a breakdown of about 30 percent crude oil, 50 percent gasoil, 9 percent gasoline, 7.8 percent jet fuel and some heating oil. Another 39 million barrels are held by the country’s oil operators.
On March 16, Spain approved the release of around 11.5 million barrels of oil reserves over 90 days to counter supply shortages caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Energy Minister Sara Aagesen told reporters. This is the country’s contribution to the IEA release. The country has around 150 million barrels of crude oil reserves in total.
Italy, by law, was holding about 76 million barrels of reserves, representing 90 days of Italy’s average net oil imports, in 2024.
Locals in northern India have a growing concern over essential resources like water, fuel and food, that have become costly due to the US-Israeli war on Iran. The conflict has brought implications on oil and gas prices, which has also affected bottled water and food costs.
IMPERIAL — Whenever the weather changes suddenly, or the skyline becomes shrouded in a windy haze, Fernanda Camarillo braces herself for an asthma attack.
Her condition has become more manageable, but the 27-year-old said it’s still scary when her chest tightens and she starts to wheeze. It was one of her first thoughts when she heard about plans to develop a massive data center next to her home in Imperial County, a farming community near the border of Mexico that struggles with poor air quality.
“A lot of people in the county are asthmatic,” she said, explaining that she worries the new center would add more pollution. “I’ve been anxious — so many of us are voicing our concerns.”
Data centers have existed for decades but are rapidly changing and expanding due to the worldwide boom in artificial intelligence, or AI as it’s known. States and communities nationwide havestarted pushing back, citing concerns that the projects could strain power grids, increase utility bills and have negative health and environmental impacts.
In California, state legislators are debating how to protect residents and natural resources without creating so much red tape that developers go elsewhere, taking their jobs and taxable earnings with them.
No Data Center signs are posted in the front yard of a home that is right behind the proposed site.
“We can be supportive of innovation and a technology that is needed but also protect our communities and our health and our environment,” said state Sen. Steve Padilla (D-San Diego). “We can do both at the same time.”
The California Legislature is considering bills to prohibit the projects from being exempted from the state’s stringent environmental law and to impose new tariffs on new major energy users that strain power supplies. Lawmakers also have proposed restrictions on new data centers, requiring companies to provide verifiable estimates on expected water and energy usage before they can be granted a business permit.
Imperial resident Fernanda Camarillo, who is an asthmatic, holds some of her medications.
Members of Congress also expressed concerns. Rep. Ro Khanna, speaking at a town hall about AI last month at Stanford University, said legislators must ensure data centers serve the communities that power them.
“We live in a new gilded age,” said Khanna (D-Fremont). “What kind of future are we going to build?”
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Eric Masanet, a professor at UC Santa Barbara specializing in sustainability science for emerging technologies, described the facilities as the “brains” of the internet. The sprawling centers are filled with banks of specialized computers that process online shopping orders, stream movies, host websites, encode Zoom and other videoconferencing apps, store data and serve as switching stations for the digital world that’s now woven into daily life.
Data centers, particularly those that power AI, use significant amounts of water and energy. The facilities accounted for about 4.4% of the nation’s total electricity consumption in 2023, up from 1.9% in 2018, according toa report provided to Congress from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The researchers projected that figure will reach 6.7% to 12% by 2028.
Many companies, including big tech giants like Meta, Google and Amazon, are making major investments in AI.
“We are building a lot more data centers faster than we ever did — and a new AI data center is 10 to 20, maybe 30 times, the size of the largest data centers we had before,” Masanet said.
The proposed site of the 950,00-square-foot data center is on a dusty parcel that is next to the Victoria Ranch housing community and adjacent to farmland in Imperial, Calif.
It’s unclear how many data centers are in the state. A California Energy Commission spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times it does not track this information. Data Center Map, a nongovernmental website that tracks data centers across the world, lists 289 facilities in California, with more than 4,000 nationwide.
The federal government has, so far, largely left it to states or localities to regulate data centers.
The facilities can generate significant revenue for local governments due to sales and property taxes.
But some new proposals are sparking a backlash. More than 200 community and environmental organizations, including a dozen from California, sent an open letter to Congress in December calling for a national moratorium on new data centers.
Robert Gould, a pathologist with San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility, one of the organizations that signed the letter, explained data centers are causing a shift away from renewable energy and back toward fossil fuels because the facilities need a reliable and constant stream of power.
Cornell Universityresearchers last year estimated that AI growth could add 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere annually by 2030, unless steps are taken to change course.
Gould said fossil fuel emissions are associated with various cancers, an increase in hospitalizations for older adults due to respiratory conditions, and asthma attacks or stunted lung growth in children. Particulate matter from fossil fuel emissions is also linked to cardiovascular events and negative effects on maternal fetal health.
Gould’s organization has noticed an alarming trend.
“These are generally placed in communities that are the least able to defend themselves,” he said.
Farmworkers toil in the noon heat to pick vegetables in Imperial. Agriculture is an important part of the Imperial Valley economy.
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The debate over data centers is heating up in the Imperial Valley, a rural desert region in southeastern California where a proposed center faces fierce opposition from residents.
The county in 2025 granted the project an exemption for the California Environmental Quality Act, known as CEQA. The landmark 56-year-old state law has been credited with helping to preserve California’s natural beauty and protecting communities from hazardous impacts of construction projects — but also blamed for stymieing construction.
Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, a California-based limited liability company that started two years ago, plans to develop a 950,000-square-foot facility in the county that’s designed for advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning operations. The company says it will use reclaimed wastewater and EPA-certified natural gas generators, and create 2,500 to 3,500 construction jobs and 100 to 200 permanent positions.
“We are committed to Imperial County and to creating lasting economic opportunity,” the company website states. “The project will generate $28.75 million in annual property tax revenue for local schools, fire departments, libraries, and essential services.”
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors is moving toward finalizing the proposal.
Farmland spreads out in front of the Imperial Valley Fair near a proposed data center in Imperial.
Sebastian Rucci, an attorney and chief executive officer of Imperial Valley Computer Manufacturing, said he commissioned multiple studies assessing the proposed center’s potential effect on issues like traffic or the environment that found no or minimal harms. He threatened to pull his proposal if a CEQA review was required.
“CEQA leaves you in an unknown territory — some of the environmental groups have used it for extortion, they sue, they have no basis for the suit but they delay you, and then they can squeeze money out of you for settling the lawsuit,” said Rucci.
The exemption, however, has alarmed residents, who have spoken up at county board meetings and launched a community organization, Not in My Backyard Imperial, to protest the data center and demand a CEQA review.
“It feels like it’s us against the county,” said Camarillo, adding that many feel the board has dismissed their questions and concerns.
None of the Imperial County Board of Supervisors responded to requests for comment.
Resident Fernanda Camarillo’s home is right behind the proposed site of the data center in Imperial.
The center would be a neighbor to Camarillo’s house in Victoria Ranch, a family-friendly area with beige stucco homes topped with terracotta tile roofs. She worries about noise, pollution and spiking utility bills. Power companies that have to upgrade grids to meet data centers’ energy demands sometimes seek to recoup that cost by hiking up rates for all consumers.
Camarillo, a substitute teacher, is also scared for her students. The air quality in Imperial Valley is already so poor that schools use a system of color-coded flags to signal whether it’s safe for children to go outside during gym or recess, she said.
“I think they see [the valley] as easy pickings because we are a low-income community and we have such a large population of Latinos here,” Camarillo said.
A quick drive around the neighborhood shows others share her concerns. Signs protesting the data center pop up throughout the community, displayed on front lawns or nestled into rocky garden beds.
Victoria Ranch was quiet and peaceful on a sunny Sunday in late February. Francisco Leal, a resident and lead organizer for NIMBY Imperial, said that’s a major part of its appeal.
The colorful dusk sky hovers over a Little League baseball game at Freddie White Park in Imperial. The debate over data centers is heating up in the Imperial Valley, a rural desert region in southeastern California.
Leal wants answers about everything from potential health hazards and impacts on the local water supply to whether the fire department is equipped to handle a large-scale electrical blaze. But without a CEQA review, he says residents are left to trust assurances from the developer or privately hired consultants.
Leal plans to sell his property if the project goes forward, but the thought makes him emotional.
“It’s not just a house; it’s a home,” he said. “This is the only home my kids have ever known and all of our family memories are here.”
Gina Snow, another resident, isn’t necessarily against bringing a data center to the county. But she wants the proposal to undergo a CEQA review.
“Clearly we understand that there is economic development and the potential for that to be positive for the county, but at what cost?” she said.
Daniela Flores, executive director of Imperial Valley Equity and Justice, a nonprofit that works for social and environmental equality, stands on the site of the proposed data center.
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Daniela Flores, executive director of Imperial Valley Equity and Justice, a nonprofit that works for social and environmental equality, said the community has good reason to be wary. Various industries have come into the region over the years and made grand promises that never panned out.
“We became a sacrifice zone,” she said, adding industries use the area’s resources while ultimately doing little to permanently improve the lives of most residents.
Flores said the community continues to struggle with a range of problems, including poor air quality, high poverty rates, weak worker protections and crumbling infrastructure. She believes a data center could add new and potentially dangerous challenges.
The valley has long, brutal summers with temperatures that swell to 120 degrees. If the data center strains the grid and causes a lengthy blackout, or low-income residents have their power shut off because they can’t afford the rising bills, Flores fears the situation could quickly turn deadly.
The city of Imperial also has concerns. The city hasfiled a lawsuit calling on the county to halt the project, arguing it should not have received a CEQA exemption.
The controversy has drawn attention from Padilla, whose district includes Imperial Valley. Padilla has echoed residents’ calls for more transparency from the county and introduced Senate Bill 887, which would ban data centers from receiving exemptions from CEQA.
“I am not anti-data center or anti-artificial intelligence,” Padilla said. But, he added, we need to “find a way to do this right and make sure there is adequate review and understanding.”
A dusty haze settles over the city of Imperial at dusk near the site of a proposed data center.
Another measure from Padilla, Senate Bill 886, would direct the Public Utilities Commission to create an electrical corporation tariff to cover the cost of data center-related grid upgrades.
Other related legislation this year includes Assembly Bill 2619 from Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo) that would require data center owners to provide an estimate about expected water usage and sources before applying for a business license, and Assembly Bill 1577, by Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda), which would require data center owners to submit monthly information to a state commission about water and fuel consumption and energy efficiency.
While lawmakers weigh new policies at the statehouse, Camarillo said she hopes the priority will be protecting communities.
“Innovation is important, but innovation for the sake of innovation has never really been something that hasn’t had negative impacts,” she said. “Think about human lives.”
US President Donald Trump has threatened to ‘obliterate’ Iran’s power plants if Tehran fails to open the Strait of Hormuz to all vessels within 48 hours. This major escalation comes as Trump faces pressure over skyrocketing domestic energy prices due to the now three-week-long war.
Tehran responds to Trump’s threat by saying all US energy infrastructure in the region will be targeted if Iran is attacked.
Published On 22 Mar 202622 Mar 2026
United States President Donald Trump has threatened to attack Iran’s power plants if freedom of navigation is not fully restored at the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours, a dramatic escalation as the US-Israeli war on Iran continues for a fourth week.
The statement on Saturday came as Trump faces increasing pressure to secure the vital waterway that Iran has promised to keep closed to “enemy ships”, leading to soaring oil prices and plunging stock markets.
“If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST,” Trump, who is in his Florida home for the weekend, wrote on Truth Social at 23:44 GMT.
He did not specify which plant he was referring to as the biggest.
Following Trump’s threat, the Iranian army said it would target all energy infrastructure belonging to the US in the region if Iran’s fuel and energy infrastructure were attacked.
Trump’s escalatory comments came barely a day after he talked about “winding down” the war that he launched alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on February 28, when the US and Iran were engaged in nuclear negotiations.
In a social media post on Friday, Trump said the US was “getting very close to meeting our objectives as we consider winding down our great Military efforts in the Middle East”.
Key waterway
Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes through during peacetime, has virtually ground to a halt since the early days of the war.
Iran has said the Strait of Hormuz is open to all except the US and its allies, with Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi saying last week that he had been “approached by a number of countries” seeking safe passage for their vessels.
“This is up to our military to decide,” he told the US television network CBS, adding that a group of ships from “different countries” had been allowed to pass, without providing details.
The head of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, asserted on Saturday that Iran’s ability to attack vessels on the strait had been “degraded” after US fighter jets dropped 5,000-pound (about 2,300kg) bombs on an underground Iranian coastal facility storing antiship cruise missiles and mobile launchers earlier this week.
The strike also destroyed “intelligence support sites and missile radar relays” used to monitor ship movements, Cooper said.
Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera’s Manuel Rapalo said there seemed to be a “gap between what the White House appears to want in the Strait of Hormuz and what the US military says they have already accomplished”.
“It is interesting, to say at the very least, to hear Trump talking about a major escalation, given the fact that we’ve been hearing throughout the course of the day how much damage the US has done, supposedly, to Iran’s ability to target oil tankers and vessels navigating through the strait.”
Workers in India’s textile hub Surat are returning home after days without cooking gas, as an LPG crisis linked to Iran war disruptions halts supplies. Industries face shutdowns, while authorities invoke emergency measures to prioritise households.
Oil and gas facilities in the Gulf have been attacked since early in the war on Iran.
The war in the Middle East took a serious turn when Israel bombed Iran’s energy facilities, pushing Iran to step up attacks on its Gulf neighbours.
The damage has been significant and will take years to repair. It also has long-term consequences, with Qatar already warning of a reduction in exports.
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The escalation is dangerous, experts say, as energy exports from the Gulf region account for a fifth of global output.
So, what are the risks of turning energy facilities into battlefields?
Presenter: Imran Khan
Guests:
Mohsen Baharvand – Former Iranian ambassador to the United Kingdom
Jim Walsh – Research associate in MIT’s security studies programme
John Sfakianakis – Chief economist at the Gulf Research Center
From factories to supermarket shelves, the Iran war is disrupting global supply chains.
First came the energy shock. Now, the Iran war is hitting something even more basic: Food.
With the Strait of Hormuz blocked, vessels are being rerouted and supply chains are under strain.
The disruption is pushing up the costs of almost everything from factories to supermarket shelves thousands of miles away.
The longer the Iran conflict continues, the greater the pressure on businesses and consumers worldwide.
The United Nations warns that rising food, oil and shipping costs could push an additional 45 million people into acute hunger – taking the global total above its record of 319 million.
Gulf countries are coming increasingly under attack from Iranian strikes as the United States-Israeli war on Iran continues to escalate.
On Friday, Saudi Arabia intercepted multiple waves of Iranian drones and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said its Mina al-Ahmadi refinery had been targeted by several early-morning drone attacks, leading to some units being shut down.
Gulf countries have repeatedly insisted that their defences are sufficient to repel these Iranian strikes. However, they also have military partnerships and agreements in place with other countries which could potentially provide more assistance as tensions escalate.
In this explainer, we look at what these partnerships are, how they are helping the Gulf and whether they could do more.
What military partnerships do the Gulf countries have?
The Gulf countries have a handful of military partnerships of different kinds.
Qatar
Qatar is home to the largest military base hosting US assets and troops in the region – Al Udeid.
The 24-hectare (60-acre) base, located in the desert outside the capital Doha, was established in 1996 and is the forward headquarters for US Central Command, which directs US military operations in a huge swath of regional territory stretching from Egypt in the west to Kazakhstan in the east.
It houses the Qatar Emiri Air Force, the US Air Force, the United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force, as well as other foreign forces.
Qatar is the second largest Foreign Military Sales (FMS) partner to the US after Saudi Arabia. FMS is the official, government‑run channel the US uses to sell weapons, equipment and services to other governments.
In January, the US State Department said that “recent and significant” sales to Qatar included the Patriot long-range missile system, the National Advanced Surface to Air Missile System, early warning systems, radars and attack helicopters.
On September 9, 2025, Israel struck a residential area of Qatar’s capital, Doha, targeting senior leaders of Hamas including negotiators for a ceasefire in Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
On September 29, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order reaffirming support for Qatar, saying: “The United States shall regard any armed attack on the territory, sovereignty, or critical infrastructure of the State of Qatar as a threat to the peace and security of the United States.”
On Wednesday, Israel struck Iran’s critical South Pars gasfield. Soon after, Iran retaliated, hitting a major gas facility at Qatar’s Ras Laffan plant.
In response, Trump wrote in a Truth Social post guaranteeing that Israel would not attack the South Pars field again unless Iran again “unwisely” attacked Qatar.
Trump added that, if it did, the US “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”.
There is also a Turkish military base in Qatar as the two countries collaborate via defence cooperation agreements and joint training.
In recent years, Qatar has also strengthened ties with the United Kingdom through joint training and exercises and with France from which it buys weapons.
Earlier this month, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he would send four additional Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar to help with defence.
Despite initially stating that the UK would not permit the US to use UK bases for strikes on Iran, Starmer partially relented on March 1 when he granted a US request to use UK bases for “defensive” strikes on Iranian capabilities.
Nevertheless, Starmer has stated that the UK will not send its own assets or troops or otherwise become involved in the ongoing war.
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia hosts US military assets and personnel at the Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB), located near Al Kharj, southeast of Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia is also the largest Foreign Military Sales (FMS) partner of the US.
There is no formal mutual‑defence treaty between the US and Saudi Arabia, similar to NATO’s Article 5. Instead, there are defence cooperation agreements between Riyadh and Washington.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have had a decades-long security partnership. This was strengthened in September 2025, when the two countries signed a formal mutual defence pact.
The extent to which Pakistan, which shares a 900km (559-mile) border with Iran in its southwest, can and will intervene is unclear, however.
On March 3, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told a news conference he had personally reminded Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi of Pakistan’s defence obligations to Saudi Arabia.
“We have a defence pact with Saudi Arabia, and the whole world knows about it,” Dar said. “I told the Iranian leadership to take care of our pact with Saudi Arabia.”
An estimated 1,500 to 2,000 Pakistani troops are stationed in Saudi Arabia.
United Arab Emirates
The UAE also hosts US assets and personnel at its Al-Dhafra airbase, including advanced aircraft such as F-22 Raptor stealth fighters and various surveillance planes, drones and airborne warning and control systems (AWACS).
On Thursday, the US announced an $8.4bn arms deal with the UAE, for the Gulf nation to buy drones, missiles, radar systems and F-16 aircraft.
Recently, the UAE has bolstered its military partnership with India. In January this year, the president of the UAE, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, visited India.
During this meeting, India and the UAE reaffirmed the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. Established in 2017, this is a bilateral agreement focused on defence cooperation, energy security and technology exchange.
The UAE and India do not have a mutual defence-style agreement in place, however.
Oman
The US has long-term access agreements for key air and naval facilities in Oman, notably the Port of Duqm and Port of Salalah, both of which have been subject to Iranian strikes over the past three weeks.
The UK and Oman also have a defence cooperation agreement and conduct regular joint exercises.
Pakistan and Oman also have military ties where they hold regular joint naval exercises.
However, there are no mutual defence commitments in place.
Bahrain
The US operates the Naval Support Activity (NSA) in Bahrain. Home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, the base provides security to ships, aircraft, detachments and remote sites in the region.
Bahrain and the UK also have a comprehensive security pact. Earlier this month, Starmer held talks with King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of Bahrain and confirmed that the UK would send aircraft to bolster Bahrain’s security.
Kuwait
Kuwait hosts Camp Arifjan, a major US Army installation that functions as the main logistics, supply and command hub for US military operations across the Middle East, especially within the US Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility.
On Thursday, the US announced an $8bn arms deal with Kuwait – for air and missile defence radar systems.
In 2023, Kuwait signed an agreement on military cooperation with Pakistan, focusing on joint training and military exercises.
These are not mutual defence agreements, however.
What could these partners be doing to better assist Gulf countries?
Experts say military allies of Gulf nations could provide naval escorts to ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. One-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies are shipped through this route in peacetime from Gulf producers.
On March 2, Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), announced that the Strait of Hormuz – through which 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas is transported – was “closed”. This has contributed to the recent surge in oil prices, which have surpassed $100 a barrel, compared with the pre-war Brent crude price of about $65.
In recent days, countries have been individually scrambling to negotiate safe passage for ships with Iran. A handful of mainly Indian, Pakistani and Chinese-flagged ships have been able to get through as a result.
“Pakistan and India are working with Iran to ensure of safe passage of tankers for their markets,” David Roberts, a senior academic in international security and Middle East studies at Kings College London, told Al Jazeera.
Roberts said that theoretically, the countries could also offer a naval escort for their tankers and other tankers.
“As neutrals, this might be a plausible gambit, but would need the acquiescence of Iran. Support establishing a shipping channel from the monarchies to China, Pakistan, India is plausible with concerted pressure from the three states, but Iran will be reluctant to give up that pressure point.”
Roberts said that European countries on the other hand, are “stretched thinly” when it comes to offering any such military support in the Strait of Hormuz.
He suggested the UK could send “another plane or two” to Qatar to join their joint Typhoon squadron. However, he added that it is difficult to make predictions about what support is likely to be forthcoming.
“Gulf states clearly need support. But it’s not clear what can be offered by anyone,” Roberts said.
He added they likely need more munitions for missile defence but stocks are tight everywhere.
Iran’s strike on Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas facility will cut an estimated 17% of the country’s Liquefied Natural Gas export capacity for up to five years, officials say. The damage is a major blow to the global energy market, which could disrupt supplies to Europe, Asia and beyond.
CEO Saad al-Kaabi says QatarEnergy may have to declare force majeure on long-term contracts for up to five years.
Published On 19 Mar 202619 Mar 2026
Iranian attacks on Qatar have wiped out 17 percent of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity, causing an estimated $20bn in lost annual revenue and threatening supplies to Europe and Asia, QatarEnergy’s CEO says.
Saad al-Kaabi told the Reuters news agency on Thursday that two of Qatar’s 14 LNG trains, the equipment used to liquefy natural gas, and one of its two gas-to-liquids facilities were damaged in Iranian strikes this week.
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The repairs will sideline 12.8 million tonnes of LNG production per year for three to five years, he said.
“I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar would be – Qatar and the region – in such an attack, especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan, attacking us in this way,” al-Kaabi said in an interview.
His comments came hours after Iran on Wednesday launched a series of attacks on oil and gas facilities across the Gulf region after the Israeli military bombed its South Pars offshore gasfield.
Tehran has been firing missiles and drones across the Middle East in response to the United States-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28.
It also has essentially blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a critical Gulf waterway through which about one-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG supplies transit, fuelling soaring petrol prices and global concerns about rising inflation.
Iran’s attacks on energy infrastructure have heightened tensions with its Arab Gulf neighbours, who have condemned the strikes as a violation of international law.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that his country would show “ZERO restraint” if its infrastructure is struck again as the Israeli attack on the South Pars gasfield continued to spur condemnation.
“Our response to Israel’s attack on our infrastructure employed FRACTION of our power. The ONLY reason for restraint was respect for requested de-escalation,” Araghchi wrote on X.
“Any end to this war must address damage to our civilian sites.”
‘Stay away from oil and gas facilities’
During Thursday’s interview with Reuters, al-Kaabi said QatarEnergy may have to declare force majeure on long-term contracts for up to five years for LNG supplies bound for Italy, Belgium, South Korea and China due to the two damaged trains.
“I mean, these are long-term contracts that we have to declare force majeure. We already declared, but that was a shorter term. Now it’s whatever the period is,” he said.
QatarEnergy had declared force majeure on its entire output of LNG after earlier attacks on its Ras Laffan production hub, which came under fire again on Wednesday. “For production to restart, first we need hostilities to cease,” al-Kaabi said.
The damaged units cost about $26bn to build, al-Kaabi said. He also told Reuters that the scale of the damage from the attacks has set the region back 10 to 20 years.
“If Israel attacked Iran, it’s between Iran and Israel. It has nothing to do with us and the region,” he said.
“And so now, in addition to that, I’m saying that everybody in the world, whether it’s Israel, whether it’s the US, whether it’s any other country, everybody should stay away from oil and gas facilities.”
The logo of state-owned petroleum company QatarEnergy in front of the headquarters, in Doha, Qatar, March 3. QatarEnergy has halted production of liquefied natural gas and related products due to military attacks on its facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City. Photo by Hannibal Hanschke/EPA
March 19 (UPI) — Iran on Thursday attacked major energy facilities in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates after vowing to retaliate for Israel striking its gas field a day earlier, escalating a war that is driving up energy prices and rattling global markets.
Qatar said Iranian ballistic missiles struck its Ras Laffan Industrial City, the centerpiece of the nation’s LNG production and export, while the United Arab Emirates said its Habshan gas facilities and Bab field had come under attack.
Several liquefied natural gas facilities at the Ras Laffan Industrial City, which is responsible for about one-fifth of global LNG supplies, were struck early Thursday, igniting what state-owned QatarEnergy said in a statement were “sizeable fires.” Extensive damage was reported.
Two of three fires that ignited from the attack were contained as of 5 a.m. local time Thursday, according to a statement from Qatar’s Ministry of the Interior.
Iran attacked the complex’s Pearl gas-to-liquids facility late Wednesday, which was dealt “extensive damage” and prompted emergency teams to be deployed to the site.
Rockets launched at the UAE facilities were successfully intercepted, but falling debris prompted Abu Dhabi authorities to respond to unspecified incidents at the Habshan gas facilities and the Bab gas field, the Abu Dhabi Media Office said in a statement.
The facilities have been shut down in response, it said, adding that no casualties were reported.
Iran also targeted gas facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia, but all projectiles and drones were intercepted, its Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The attacks mark an escalation in the war, and come after Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars gas field, one of the world’s largest resources of natural gas.
Israel’s attack was condemned by several countries, including Qatar. Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said it was “a dangerous & irresponsible step amid the current military escalation in the region.”
“Targeting energy infrastructure constitutes a threat to global energy security, as well as to the peoples of the region & its environment,” he said in a statement.
Following Iran’s attack on Wednesday night, Qatar gave Tehran’s embassy officials 24 hours to leave the country.
The targeting of Persian Gulf energy facilities is expected to further drive surging energy costs. On Thursday, Brent crude reached nearly $110 a barrel, up sharply from $71 before the war began in late February.
Iran had vowed to attack the region’s energy facilities after Israel attacked its South Pars gas field.
Oil facilities “associated with America are now on par with American bases and will come under fire with full force,” Alireza Tangsiri, chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy, said on X.
“You have heard a lot about #hell; we will paint its picture for you,” the IRGC said Thursday in a social media statement.
“Stay away from energy facilities…”
Following the attacks, U.S. President Donald Trumpsaid on his Truth Social platform that there would be no more Israeli attacks on the South Pars field.
Trump claimed the United States “knew nothing” about Israel’s plan to attack the gas site and that Qatar was also neither involved.
He said Iran was unaware of that, but warned that if it again attacks Qatar, the United States will join Israel and “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.”
Iranian strikes come after Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars gasfield, with President Pezeshkian warning of ‘uncontrollable consequences’ that could ‘engulf the entire world’.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
The energy war in the Middle East heated up on Wednesday with an Israeli attack on the South Pars gas field Iran shares with Qatar. The strike, which exacerbates the diminishing of oil exports already experienced during the war, was reportedly carried out in coordination with the United States.
“The Israeli Air Force struck a natural gas processing facility in southwestern Iran,” Axios reported, citing two senior Israeli officials. The attack “was coordinated with and approved by the Trump administration,” the outlet noted, adding that a U.S. defense official confirmed that.
Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported that several facilities in the South Pars gas field near Bushehr were targeted. According to the report, emergency teams were on the scene and trying to extinguish the fire. The extent of the damage is not yet known.
Things are taking a darker turn.
Israeli airstrikes have hit Iran’s massive South Pars gas field, along with key infrastructure, including the Asaluyeh petrochemical complex.
In response, Tehran has issued an urgent warning, calling for the evacuation of petrochemical sites… pic.twitter.com/KGEjEIgKtl
There are suggestions that the attack on South Pars could interfere with Iran’s refinery capabilities for a long time to come.
I think these are Sulfur Recovery Units (CRUs) in the 6th refinery of the Iranian South Pars onshore fields. The targets are selected to be limited but effective enough to stop to the entire process of the refinery for a long time. https://t.co/XvYj5vC3L9
Qatari officials decried the attack, calling it “a dangerous & irresponsible step amid the current military escalation in the region.”
The Israeli targeting of facilities linked to Iran’s South Pars field, an extension of Qatar’s North Field, is a dangerous & irresponsible step amid the current military escalation in the region.
Targeting energy infrastructure constitutes a threat to global energy security, as…
— د. ماجد محمد الأنصاري Dr. Majed Al Ansari (@majedalansari) March 18, 2026
In the wake of the attack on South Pars, “Iran issued an evacuation warning for several oil facilities across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, saying they would be targeted by strikes ‘in the coming hours,’” Reuters reported, citing Iranian media.
“The warning was directed at Saudi Arabia’s Samref Refinery and Jubail Petrochemical Complex, the United Arab Emirates’ Al Hosn Gas Field, and Qatar’s Mesaieed Petrochemical Complex, Mesaieed Holding Company and Ras Laffan Refinery,” the outlet added.
“These centers have become direct and legitimate targets and will be targeted in the coming hours. Therefore, all citizens, residents, and employees are requested to immediately leave these areas and move to a safe distance without any delay,” the warning said.
Tehran Warns of Retaliation After Attacks on Key Oil and Gas Infrastructure
Iranian officials say U.S. and Israeli strikes damaged parts of the South Pars field one of the world’s largest gas reserves while the IRGC reportedly ordered personnel in regional petrochemical sites to… pic.twitter.com/e4dSYQcEDQ
This event marks a new and dangerous escalation after the U.S. said it would not attack Iran’s energy infrastructure, notes Bismarck Analysis senior analyst Marko Jukic.
Until yesterday, we were assured the U.S. was leaving Iran’s energy infrastructure untouched to prevent escalation or more global energy shocks. Iran pledged to wipe out the Gulf’s energy if its own was attacked.
Now that Israel has crossed the line into hitting Iranian energy infrastructure, Kharg Island could be added to the target list. The facility handles 90% of Iran’s oil exports. The U.S. already attacked the island’s military facilities on March 14, but spared hitting any energy-related targets. That could change and doing so would likely leave Iran with a years-long rebuilding process, crippling the government’s economic lifeline.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday hinted that America end its role protecting the Strait after Epic Fury ends. Meanwhile, Gulf nations are watching events unfold and have expressed fears that they will be left to defend the Strait on their own.
“I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Straight?’” Trump postulated on his Truth Social site. “That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!!”
Trump: “I wonder what would happen if we ‘finished off’ what’s left of the Iranian Terror State, and let the Countries that use it, we don’t, be responsible for the so called ‘Straight?’ That would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!!! President DJT” pic.twitter.com/pwbF1lYELS
As we previously reported, the U.K., Germany, Luxembourg, Japan and Australia rejected Trump’s demand while other countries were on the fence. In a post on X, Axios reported that the U.K. has drafted a plan for a Strait of Hormuz coalition and shared it with the U.S. and several other countries.
After the allies pushed back, Trump on Tuesday said he no longer wanted their help.
BREAKING: Trump now says he doesn’t need any help for Iran & Strait of Hormuz:
The United States has been informed by most NATO “Allies” that they don’t want to get involved in our military operation against Iran, despite agreeing that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon.
Before Trump’s latest statement on the Strait, a key waterway through which 35% of global crude oil and 20% of global liquefied natural gas used to flow, Gulf Arab nations stated their desire that Iran be “neutered, if not dismantled, when the conflict ends—so the ordeal is never repeated,” The Wall Street Journal reported.
Iran’s decision to interrupt Strait traffic “represents an attack on the entire world rather than just the Gulf states, and will hit low-income nations especially hard,” Sultan al-Jaber, the U.A.E. minister of industry and advanced technology, told the newspaper.
“By taking Hormuz hostage, Iran is committing global economic warfare,” he said. “This is a global economic issue. It is not a regional problem. The disruption is going to increase inflation, it will slow economies, it will affect everyday lives. Families will end up paying more for food.”
Leaving Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz after the U.S. ends Epic Fury would be a disaster for the Gulf states, said Muhanad Seloom, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar.
“The Iranian regime has crossed every red line,” he told the Journal. “Now it is in everyone’s interest, and this includes the Gulf countries, to have the U.S. finish the job. Imagine if the war stops now, and Iran declares victory saying that the U.S. has been defeated? Iran would hold the whole region hostage, and every time Iran would be under pressure, it would hit the Gulf countries—because that taboo has been broken, and hitting them worked.”
Leaving Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz once the guns fall silent would be a disaster for the Gulf states, said Muhanad Seloom, a professor at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar. “The Iranian regime has crossed every red line,” he said. “Now it is in… https://t.co/aFlAql6vcL
A maritime industry official confirmed to us that the Egyptian-owned, Maltese-flagged container ship SAFEEN PRESTIGE was struck again overnight and is burning following an initial attack in the Strait on March 4. The last previous attack on shipping in the region took place on March 11, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) office. UKMTO has received 20 reports of incidents affecting vessels operating in and around the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, and Gulf of Oman since Epic Fury began on Feb. 28. That includes 15 reported attacks and five reports of suspicious activities.
BREAKING: Although we can’t say for sure, it appears that the Egyptian-owned, Maltese-flagged container ship SAFEEN PRESTIGE (9593517) may have been struck again overnight as she is suddenly burning following the initial strike on 2026-03-04 in the Strait of Hormuz. pic.twitter.com/jwCYmRYhUe
— TankerTrackers.com, Inc. (@TankerTrackers) March 18, 2026
Though Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, some oil tankers are making a safe transit, The Associated Press reported.
About 90 ships, including oil tankers, have crossed the Strait since Epic Fury was launched and Iran “is still exporting millions of barrels of oil at a time when the waterway has been effectively closed,” the wire service reported, citing maritime and trade data platforms.
“Many of the vessels that passed through the strait were so-called ‘dark’ transits evading Western government sanctions and oversight that likely have ties to Iran, maritime data firm Lloyd’s List Intelligence said,” AP noted. “More recently, vessels with ties to India and Pakistan have also successfully crossed the strait as governments stepped up negotiations.”
89 ships got through Hormuz March 1st-15th. “More than one-fifth of the 89 vessels were believed to be Iran-affiliated, while Chinese and Greece affiliated ships are among the rest, it said.” https://t.co/c7DzauV8ya
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz following Iranian strikes and fears of Houthi attacks in the Red Sea “have prompted shipping lines to suspend bookings and reroute goods,” Financial Times reported.
There was a bit of positive news when it comes to Iranian attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure. Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil refinery “restarted operations after an attack forced its closure earlier this month,” Bloomberg News reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
“State oil giant Saudi Aramco, which operates the 550,000-barrel-a-day Ras Tanura plant, shuttered production on March 2 as a precaution after a drone strike in the area,” the outlet added.
Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil refinery has restarted operations after being halted due to a drone attack earlier this month https://t.co/5955jHVM5q
The growing energy war is taking a hit on the global economy, with reduced exports adding to existing problems with limited global spare capacity, the Kpler global trade intelligence firm explained.
“The implications for oil markets are profound,” it stated.
Global oil markets under pressure: Inside the US–Iran supply shock
Day 19 of the US–Iran conflict and the impact on global energy markets is intensifying. From mounting disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz to significant supply shut-ins, we are witnessing one of the largest… pic.twitter.com/blH7pjA46r
In just one example of the war’s impact, Brent Crude, a leading indicator for the oil industry, was trading at nearly $110 per barrel as of Wednesday morning Eastern Standard Time, according to OilPrice.com. While the price has fluctuated wildly, dipping to about $95 per barrel on March 12, it still represents a major increase since the start of Epic Fury. All this has a cascading effect on trucking and shipping, meaning the costs of food and goods are rising as well.
UPDATES
Our coverage has ended for the day. Stay tuned for more.
UPDATE: 5:15 PM EST –
Oil prices shot over $110 per barrel as the energy war in the Middle East heats up.
The publication also reported that Trump doesn’t want any more attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure, saying it got the message. However, the president is not ruling out future attacks, depending on Iran’s actions in the Strait.
Trump knew of South Pars attack and approved of it. But now he’s against strikes on Iranian energy sites, believing Tehran received the message that it must reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump open to future attacks on Iranian energy facilities depending on Iran’s SoH actions. pic.twitter.com/rHfOgtQf6d
Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian is reportedly resigning over the IRGC freezing him out of all decision making and even access to the new Supreme Leader.
BREAKING 🔴
Channel 14 reports Pezeshkian is weighing resignation. He told aides: “The IRGC blocks me from all military and strategic decisions and won’t even let me speak to the Supreme Leader. I feel useless.” pic.twitter.com/ZmYKYGPxKO
Explosions from either missiles or interceptors were reported in the Saudi capital of Riyadh as the first meeting of Gulf foreign ministers convened since Epic Fury was launched, CNN reported.
“We witnessed the interceptors taking off and we could hear the explosions of the intercepts or the missiles coming down. It’s unusual Iran would make the targeting here when this first high level, face to face meeting is happening.”@NicRobertsonCNN reports from Riyadh pic.twitter.com/xDxGQDANGR
The bodies of five Iranians were found in a house hit by a U.S. airstrike in the Jadriyah section of Baghdad, according to local media. One of the Iranians reportedly supervised attacks on U.S. interests.
In Baghdad, 5 Iranian bodies found at a destroyed house at the site of yesterday’s airstrike on the Jadriyah area. 1 of the Iranians was the adviser to Iranian aligned Iraqi militias. His role was not just advising; he supervised attacks on US interests. https://t.co/lBGGp4RxmX
More footage emerged of Iranian cluster munitions attacking Israel.
UPDATE: 4:32 PM EST –
In addition to the attack on the Qatari refinery, Iran is also striking a liquified natural gas (LNG) refinery in Bahrain, according to the official Iranian FARS News Agency.
IRGC-affiliated Fars News Agency claims that a missile attack is ongoing against the LNG refinery in Bahrain
The FBI announced that it found “possible energetic material” in a suspicious package found outside the MacDill Air Force Base visitor center on March 16. That discovery, as we previously noted, caused the main gate of the base and the visitor center to be shut for several hours. Since then, security at the base was raised to Force Protection Condition Charlie, the second-highest level possible. On Wednesday, the base was on lockdown for several hours after “a threat was made,” according to the base.
MacDill, it should be noted, is the home of CENTCOM, which is running the war in Iran, as well as U.S. Special Operations Command, many other mission partners and two Air Force refueling wings that have been instrumental in supporting Epic Fury.
This is an #FBI Tampa investigative update to the suspicious package found on March 16 outside MacDill AFB Visitor Center: Field screening was conducted on the contents of the package and identified possible energetic materials. Final lab analysis is not yet complete. The… pic.twitter.com/IcMO4fvlME
A top Russian official today honored Larijani’s role in boosting Iran-Russia relations.
Meanwhile, the country’s new Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, took to X to offer his condolences.
With deep sorrow, I received the grievous news of the martyrdom of Dr. Ali Larijani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and the Leader’s Representative in that Council, along with the martyrdom of his worthy son and several of his colleagues.
— Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei (@MKhamenei_ir) March 18, 2026
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of Iranian proxies who have battled U.S. forces there for years, released a new video claiming to show a swarm of Murad-5 drones hitting American installations in that country.
Islamic Resistance in Iraq releases coordinated strike footage showing a swarm deployment of Murad-5 drones targeting U.S. installations, with mapped objectives including the Victoria base near Baghdad Airport and additional airbase infrastructure pic.twitter.com/U3qfnCfMcL
Kuwaiti police reportedly uncovered a second Hezbollah cell in the country planning terror attacks.
Kuwait’s Police uncovered a second Hezbollah cell planning terror attacks against vital facilities in the country. The Kuwaiti Interior Ministry said it apprehended 10 citizens belonging to Hezbollah, who sought to spy on its behalf to provide them with coordinates of critical… https://t.co/WgnBK4nbNFpic.twitter.com/Gq5gp4kvet
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) March 18, 2026
UPDATE: 3:17 PM EST –
ABC News was given rare access to one of Israel’s Arrow anti-ballistic missile defense batteries. You can read more about Arrow in our deep dive into Israel’s vaunted integrated air defense system here.
A proposal from the UN’s shipping agency on Wednesday calls for a safe maritime corridor to free some 20,000 seafarers stranded in the Gulf by the war, Reuters noted.
“The proposal submitted by Bahrain, Japan, Panama, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates and backed on Wednesday by the United States called for ‘a framework such as a safe maritime corridor,’” the outlet added.
It was submitted at a meeting of the UN’s International Maritime Organization (IMO) governing council in London.
“The purpose of this framework would be to facilitate the safe evacuation of merchant ships,” it said. “This measure aims to protect the lives of seafarers.”
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian “strongly” condemned the attack on South Pars.
I strongly condemn attacking Iran’s energy infrastructure. Such aggressive acts will yield nothing for the Zionist–American enemy & their supporters. This will complicate the situation & could have uncontrollable consequences, the scope of which could engulf the entire world. https://t.co/FGtTZZjA6Y
The South Pars attack was designed as a warning to Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz, the Times of Israel reported.
“Israel assisted operationally in order to send an American message,” a senior Israeli official tells Channel 12. “Either…Hormuz will be opened and the mines will be removed…or the entire [natural gas] facility will be destroyed, as will other[s]”https://t.co/hc6DtgfGDj
CENTCOM released more video of its attacks on Iranian targets.
Israel attacked Iranian missile boats in the Caspian Sea, Axios reporter Barak Ravid reported on X. It should be noted that the Caspian Sea is also an important shipping route between Iran and Russia.
🚨Israel conducted strikes against Iranian navy missile boats in the Caspian sea, Israeli official says. More than five vessels were targeted
Trump arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware this afternoon for the dignified transfer of six airmen killed in the March 12 crash of a KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling jet in Iraq.
This is the second time the president attended this solemn ceremony. He was there for the dignified transfer of six U.S. service members who were killed by a drone strike at a command center in Kuwait.
FOX: We should point out that at the request of the families, the dignified transfer is going to remain private. There will not be any cameras. pic.twitter.com/y0ivcJuPp6
QatarEnergy confirmed that its Ras Laffan Industrial City was struck by Iranian missiles. As we noted earlier in this story, Iran threatened to hit energy infrastructure in the region after its South Pars gas field was attacked by Israel.
QatarEnergy Statement on Missile Attacks on Ras Laffan Industrial City
QatarEnergy confirms that Ras Laffan Industrial City this evening has been the subject of missile attacks.
Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the resulting fires, as extensive…
The Qatari Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned the attack.
بيان | دولة قطر تدين وتستنكر الاستهداف الإيراني الغاشم لمدينة رأس لفان الصناعية
الدوحة | 18 مارس 2026
تعرب دولة قطر عن إدانتها واستنكارها الشديدين للاستهداف الإيراني الغاشم الذي استهدف مدينة رأس لفان الصناعية، وتسبب في حرائق نتجت عنها أضرار جسيمة في المنشأة، وتعدّ هذا الاعتداء… pic.twitter.com/IFFccWEsFt
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that a structure 350 meters from Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant reactor was hit and destroyed. There was no damage to the reactor or injuries to personnel.
Following information from Iran of a projectile incident on Tuesday evening, the IAEA can confirm that a structure 350 metres from the Bushehr NPP reactor was hit and destroyed.
“Although there was no damage to the reactor itself nor injuries to staff, any attack at or near… pic.twitter.com/HtNXQntEgU
— IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency ⚛️ (@iaeaorg) March 18, 2026
However, the IAEA does not know the status of the new Iranian enrichment facility in Isfahan that is in an underground nuclear complex, agency chief Rafael Grossi said on Wednesday.
“Grossi said because the inspectors had to cancel their visit, the agency does not know ‘whether it is simply an empty hall’ or hosts concrete pads awaiting the installation of centrifuges – the machines that enriched uranium for power plants and nuclear weapons – or whether…
The U.K. Defense Ministry offered its latest war update.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by Iranian missiles.
Researcher Tal Inbar shared dramatic video of an Iranian Khrramshahr missile with about 80 bomblets exploding near his home in Israel.
More images and videos are emerging of damage caused by Iranian attacks to U.S. facilities in the region.
A hangar on the apron area used by the U.S. Air Force at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia was hit.
The U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain appears to have been heavily damaged.
New images show heavy damage inside NSA Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, after weeks of pummeling by Iranian drone and missile attacks. pic.twitter.com/NUevp2lfvp
can be heard as it strafes Iranian-backed militias in Kirkuk, Iraq.
During her testimony to the Senate, Gabbard reminded that the U.S. intelligence community last year warned that Iran had the capacity to shut down the Strait.
Wyden to Gabbard: “Last year, your agencies testified that ‘Iran’s large conventional forces are capable of inflicting substantial damage to an attacker, executing region strikes and disrupting shipping, particularly energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz.’ In other words,… pic.twitter.com/mjHZvpt3Ce
At the same hearing, CIA Director John Ratcliffe testified that Iran has been a constant threat and “posed an immediate threat at this time.”
In prepared written remarks for the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee hearing into the war, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard wrote that as “a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was obliterated. There has been no efforts since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.”
She added that “the entrances to the underground facilities that were bombed have been buried and shuttered with cement. We continue to monitor for any early indicators on what position the current or any new leadership in Iran will take with regard to authorizing a nuclear weapons program.”
‼️ Tulsi Gabbard: Even if the regime remains intact, the IC is that internal tensions are likely Tom increase as #Iran’s economy worsens .. If a hostile regime survives, it will likely seek to begin a years long effort to rebuild its military, missiles and UAVs. pic.twitter.com/SdgCmh3GX7
“Overnight (Wednesday), the Israeli Air Force, acting on IDF intelligence, eliminated the Iranian terrorist regime Minister of Intelligence, Esmaeil Khatib, in a targeted strike in Tehran,” the IDF stated.
Khatib had been appointed Minister of Intelligence by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in 2021, the IDF explained. In his role, Khatib oversaw the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, the regime’s primary intelligence organization.
There was no immediate response from Iran and The War Zone cannot independently verify this claim.
🔴ELIMINATED: Esmaeil Khatib, the Iranian terrorist regime Minister of Intelligence, in a targeted strike in Tehran.
Khatib played a significant role during the recent protests throughout Iran, including the arrest & killing of protestors and led terrorist activities against… pic.twitter.com/654lpYCZ1c
The killing of two top Iranian leaders in an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday. won’t affect the regime, say officials in Tehran who confirmed the deaths and vowed revenge.
“Iran’s response to the assassination of the secretary of the supreme national security council will be decisive and regrettable,” Iranian Army commander Amir Hatami said after Tehran confirmed Larjani’s death.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera that the Islamic Republic is built to withstand shocks and no single figure can destabilise the system.
Iran’s FM Abbas Araghchi is pushing back after the killings of top officials Ali Larijani and Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani, saying the Islamic Republic is built to withstand shocks and no single figure can destabilise the system.
Israel said it will ramp up attacks on Iranian leaders.
“We have authorized the IDF to eliminate any Iranian official once a “targeting circle” has been closed on them, without the need for additional approval,” said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.
Israeli Defense Minister Katz:
Significant surprises are expected today across all fronts that will escalate the war to a new level.
We have authorized the IDF to eliminate any Iranian official once a “targeting circle” has been closed on them, without the need for additional… pic.twitter.com/MqyrTsHskS
Bloomberg News posited that Iran “is running on autopilot” in the wake of attacks on its leadership.
Larijani’s funeral drew huge crowds in Tehran.
Iran’s Basij paramilitary forces, whose leader was recently assassinated by Israel as we noted above, continues to hide under bridges, according to a video submitted to Iran International, the London-based, Persian language media outlet.
A Basij checkpoint on the Karaj-Tehran highway was operating under a bridge in western Tehran over fears of Israeli strikes, a citizen said in a video sent to Iran International. pic.twitter.com/J2TWO5d4Xd
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) March 18, 2026
Israel also said it killed a Hamas commander in Gaza.
The IDF says it killed a Hamas commander in the Gaza Strip yesterday who advanced the terror group’s “precision missile project.”
The strike killed Yahya Abu Labda, a commander in Hamas’s supply and logistics department.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) March 18, 2026
With future Iranian threats in mind, NATO is deploying a second Patriot missile-defense system to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base to bolster the alliance’s air defenses.
“In addition to the measures taken at the national level to ensure the security of our airspace and citizens, another Patriot system assigned by the Allied Air Command in Ramstein/Germany to the existing Spain Patriot system stationed in Adana is being deployed in Adana,” Turkey’s Defense Ministry announced. Adana is the home of Incirlik.
Since March 4, NATO air-defense systems in the eastern Mediterranean have intercepted three missiles launched from Iran toward Turkish airspace,Bloomberg News noted. “The attacks were likely designed to test the alliance’s capacity to respond,” people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg earlier.
“NATO can confirm that it has deployed another Patriot air defence system to Türkiye. It joins two others, including one Spain has deployed there for over a decade,” a NATO official told us. “While we cannot provide additional details about the deployment for operational security purposes, the system provides additional capability to further strengthen NATO’s defensive posture against any potential threat, as Iran continues its indiscriminate attacks across the region.”
Hava sahamızın ve vatandaşlarımızın güvenliğini sağlamak amacıyla millî düzeyde alınan tedbirlerin yanı sıra Adana’da konuşlu mevcut İspanya Patriot sistemine ilave olarak Ramstein/Almanya’daki Müttefik Hava Komutanlığı tarafından görevlendirilen bir Patriot sistemi daha Adana’da… pic.twitter.com/FmO8NuK0ti
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) March 18, 2026
CENTCOM released its latest update on Epic Fury. The command said that so far, it has struck more than 7,800 targets, flown more than 8,000 combat sorties and destroyed or damaged more than 120 Iranian ships.
CENTCOM
CENTCOM released video showing targeting pod footage of a U.S. combat aircraft dropping bombs on the entrance of an Iranian missile base tunnel.
Targeting pod footage of an American fighter dropping a stack of bombs into the entrance of an Iranian missile base tunnel last Friday night. pic.twitter.com/c4MKweiRD1
The U.S. Navy’s America class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and San Antonio class amphibious warfare ship USS New Orleans were most recently spotted off the coast of Malaysia near Port Klang, according to open source investigator MT Anderson.
The ships were “pushing NW through the Strait of Malacca completely unescorted,” he noted.
As we previously reported, the Tripoli was ordered by the Pentagon to head toward the Middle East. The vessel is the centerpiece of an Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) that typically includes an assault ship, two transport docks, and a support vessel that carries an embarked Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of at least 2,200 Marines.
THE NAKED SPRINT: Tripoli ARG Transits Malacca Unescorted
OSINT Update (MAR 17): The USS Tripoli (LHA-7) and USS New Orleans are currently off the coast of Malaysia near Port Klang, pushing NW through the Strait of Malacca completely unescorted.
Though the deployment of the Tripoli has sparked speculation that the U.S. could invade Iran’s Kharg Island or attempt to recover enriched uranium from Pickaxe Mountain, officials in Jerusalem are downplaying such possibilities.
“Despite numerous reports in recent days about a potential imminent and multi-sided US invasion of parts of Iran, including plans to retrieve 60% enriched uranium, The Jerusalem Post understands that these reports are exaggerated,” the publication reported. “It is still possible that the US could use ground forces in some fashion. But the images of a large-scale invasion and specifically the idea of an extended mission in Isfahan to retrieve the 60% enriched uranium, which is part of Iran’s nuclear program, do not appear to be in the cards, the Post has learned.”
EXCLUSIVE: Reports of large US invasion to seize Iran’s 60% enriched uranium buried under rubble at Isfahan which could be potentially used for nuclear weapons likely overblown: https://t.co/319qC42nn0
An Iranian strike “impacted an area at the Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, where the Australian Defense Force (ADF) has a long‑standing presence,” Australia’s Defense Ministry announced on X. “No ADF personnel were injured in the incident, and all ADF personnel deployed to the Middle East are safe and accounted for. The strike resulted in minor damage to an accommodation block and medical facility in the Australian section of the base.”
Statement on strikes on Al Minhad Air Base
On the morning of 18 March 2026 (AEDT), an Iranian strike impacted an area at the Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, where the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has a long‑standing presence.
Brent crude oil prices reached $110 a barrel on Wednesday afternoon, after Iranian state media reported that part of the South Pars gas field, the largest plant in Iran, and the Asaluyeh oil facility were struck by Israel.
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Moreover, the US oil benchmark WTI also rose and is trading at $98 a barrel at the time of writing.
In response to the latest Israeli attacks, the IRGC announced that some Gulf energy sites are once again “legitimate targets”.
The prospect of escalation and prolongation of the conflict in the Middle East, resulting in further destruction of energy infrastructure, and consequently disruption to global markets, has sent oil prices higher once again.
The climb occurs despite other positive news that would normally have a dampening effect on energy markets.
Saudi Arabia confirmed on Wednesday that its biggest oil refinery, Ras Tanura, restarted operations on 13 March.
Additionally, the Trump administration officially announced a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act, a century-old maritime law that restricts the movement of cargo between US ports to vessels that are American-built, American-owned, American-flagged and crewed.
However, in the face of increased tensions and more attacks on oil infrastructure, these potentially mitigating developments have not had any effect in taming prices.
Trump administration confirms Jones Act waiver
The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, confirmed the Trump administration’s decision to issue a 60-day waiver of the Jones Act.
The measure lifts the restriction on the movement of cargo between US ports, allowing foreign tankers temporarily and cheaply to transport vital resources such as oil, gas and fertilisers along the US coastline.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Leavitt explained that the decision is “just another step to mitigate the short-term disruptions to the oil market as the US military continues meeting the objectives of Operation Epic Fury.”
The last Jones Act waiver was issued in October 2022 for a tanker supplying Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona.
Before that, the Biden administration temporarily eased the law in 2021 for refiner Valero Energy, after a cyberattack crippled a major East Coast fuel pipeline.
Trump renews pressure on allies to secure the Strait of Hormuz
In a separate development, US President Donald Trump has renewed pressure on allies to join a naval escort mission in order to secure the Strait of Hormuz and normalise the circulation of vessels in the region.
In a post on Truth Social, President Trump argued that allied countries need to use the Strait of Hormuz while the US does not, and warned that they could be left managing it on their own in the aftermath of the war.
Since President Trump’s original request, no firm commitments have emerged, but on Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the White House plans to announce as early as this week that multiple countries have agreed to join the escort mission.
The report also stated that officials are still deliberating whether such an operation would start before or after the war ends.
After meeting in Brussels, EU foreign ministers discussed extending the bloc’s Aspides naval mission to the Strait of Hormuz, but ultimately declined to participate.
March 17 (UPI) — An unidentified projectile struck the premises of Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant on Tuesday evening, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said, raising fresh concerns about the risks the U.S.-Iran war poses to nuclear facilities in the region.
Little information about the strike was made public in the carefully worded and brief statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which said it had been informed that “a projectile hit the premises of the Bushehr NPP on Tuesday evening.”
“No damage to the plant or injuries to staff reported,” it said.
The IAEA’s director general, Rafael Grossi, reiterated his call “for maximum restraint during the conflict to prevent risk of a nuclear accident,” the agency said.
Located near Bushehr city on Iran’s southwest Persian Gulf coast, the Bushehr plant began construction in 1975, but its original German contractor abandoned the project following the Islamic Revolution four years later. In the mid-1990s, Russia agreed to complete Bushehr Unit 1, Iran’s first reactor, which began operating in 2011, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
Rosatom, Russia’s state atomic energy corporation, said the projectile struck near the metrology service building in the vicinity of the plant’s operating power unit at 6:11 p.m. local time, according to Russian state-run TASS news agency.
“There were no casualties among personnel of the Rosatom State Corporation. Radiation levels at the site are normal,” Rosatom General Director Alexei Likhachev said.
The strike was the first on the premises of the nuclear power plant since the war between Iran and the United States and Israel began late last month, he noted.
The national power grid comes back on after Cuba’s 10 million people were plunged into darkness overnight.
Published On 18 Mar 202618 Mar 2026
Cuba has reconnected its power grid and brought online its largest oil-fired power plant, energy officials said, putting an end to a nationwide blackout that lasted more than 29 hours amid a United States move to choke off the island’s fuel supply.
After the country’s 10 million people had been plunged into darkness overnight, the Caribbean island’s national power grid had fully come back online by 6:11pm (22:11 GMT) on Tuesday. However, officials said power shortages may continue because not enough electricity is being generated.
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In addition to cutting off oil sales to Cuba, US President Donald Trump has escalated his rhetoric against the Communist-run island, saying on Monday he could do anything he wanted with the country.
A US State Department official blamed the Cuban government for the grid collapse, calling blackouts a “symptom of the failing regime’s incompetence”.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel fired back at Washington, criticising its “almost daily public threats against Cuba”.
“They intend to and announce plans to take over the country, its resources, its properties, and even the very economy they seek to suffocate in order to force us to surrender,” Diaz-Canel wrote on social media on Tuesday night, shortly after power returned nationwide.
Cuba has yet to say what caused Monday’s nationwide grid failure, the first such collapse since the US cut off the island’s oil supply from Venezuela and threatened to slap tariffs on countries that ship fuel to the nation.
By midday on Tuesday, grid workers successfully fired up the Antonio Guiteras power plant, a decades-old behemoth that underpins the country’s power grid.
Daily blackouts
Electricity generation, hampered by dire fuel shortages and antiquated power plants, is still far below what is necessary to meet demand, providing scarce relief for Cubans already exhausted from months of blackouts.
Most Cubans, including those in the capital, Havana, were seeing 16 or more hours of blackout daily even before the latest grid collapse.
“It affects every aspect of our lives,” said Havana resident Carlos Montes de Oca, noting that the outages had thrown simple necessities such as food and water supply into disarray. “All we can do is sit, wait, read a book… otherwise the stress gets to you.”
Much of Cuba was overcast through the afternoon on Monday as a cold front neared the island, casting shadows on the solar parks that account for a third or more of daytime generation.
Cuba has received only two small vessels carrying oil imports this year, according to LSEG ship tracking data seen by Reuters on Monday. On Tuesday, a Hong Kong-flagged tanker that could be carrying fuel to Cuba resumed navigation after suspending its course weeks ago in the Atlantic Ocean, the data showed.
Cuba and the US have opened talks aimed at defusing the crisis, among the most acute since 1959, when Fidel Castro forced a US ally from power on the island.
Neither side has provided details of the ongoing negotiations, although Trump has portrayed Cuba as desperate to make a deal.
Cubans, no strangers to hardship, saw little choice but to stay calm.
“We still don’t have power at my house,” said Havana resident Juana Perez. “But we’ll take it in stride, as we Cubans always do.”
US President Donald Trump has reacted to the resignation of the US National Counterterrorism Centre’s director, Joe Kent, saying that he couldn’t work with somebody who didn’t believe Iran was a threat. Trump also said his decision to bomb Iran avoided a ‘nuclear holocaust’.
March 17 (UPI) — U.S. gasoline prices have surged by 27% and diesel by 34% since the start of U.S. attacks on Iran last month, fuel costs reported Tuesday indicate.
AAA reported that the national average cost for a gallon of gas in the United States was $3.79 Tuesday morning. Diesel was $5.044 per gallon, topping the $5 threshold for the first time in three years, CNBC reported.
A year ago, those prices were $3.078 and $3.592, respectively. A month ago, they were $2.917 and $3.651.
Fuel prices have been on the rise globally since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28 amid negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The attacks, which killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prompted Tehran to effectively close down the Strait of Hormuz by banning ships linked to the United States or Israel. About 20% of the world’s oil runs through the waterway that separates Iran and Oman.
Brent Crude, the benchmark price for oil worldwide, rose about 2% to $102 a barrel Tuesday, The New York Times reported. The West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose to $95 a barrel.
Diesel prices are particularly tied to the U.S. economy, which depends on it for the transportation of goods via trucks, trains and barges. Recent surges in prices could have a cascading effect.
Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said Tuesday that trucking and rail companies have begun increasing their fuel surcharges in response to the fuel hikes.
“One should really be worried about higher diesel prices,” he said in a note published by CNBC.
President Donald Trump this week put pressure on other nations that rely on oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz to join a coalition to police the transit route and reopen traffic.
Speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said the United States doesn’t need to be involved in reopening the Strait of Hormuz because little of its oil passes through the waterway. About 7% of the United States’ crude oil and condensate imports passed through the strait in the first half of last year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.
He said the United States was protecting it “almost like we do it for habit” and to help “some very good allies that we have in the Middle East.”
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said Monday, “until we see a meaningful resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, upward pressure on fuel prices is likely to persist.”
Iranians attend a funeral for a person killed in recent U.S.-Israel airstrikes at Behesht-e Zahra cemetery on the southern outskirts of Tehran in Iran on March 9, 2026. Photo by Hossein Esmaeili/UPI | License Photo
