Iran’s IRGC pounds Gulf energy hubs after Israel’s South Pars attack, torching Qatar’s LNG lifeline, affecting crypto markets, and dragging the global economy toward recession.

The Middle East war escalated sharply on Thursday as Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched waves of retaliatory strikes on energy facilities across the Persian Gulf, setting Qatari liquefied natural gas terminals ablaze and targeting oil refineries in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — sending global energy prices soaring and pushing the region to the brink of a wider economic catastrophe.

The attacks came in direct retaliation for Israeli airstrikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field — the world’s largest natural gas complex, jointly managed with Qatar — which Israel struck with reported U.S. support on Wednesday. The South Pars strike marked a qualitative shift in the conflict, now in its third week, as both sides explicitly began targeting each other’s critical energy infrastructure for the first time.

A Region’s Energy Lifeline Under Fire

The consequences were immediate and global. Brent crude surged above $110 per barrel during Thursday’s trading — a rise of more than 50% since the war began on February 28, when it was trading near $70 — briefly touching $116 before partially retreating. European natural gas benchmark TTF prices surged as much as 28–30%, having already doubled over the past month.

The most strategically significant strike hit Qatar’s Ras Laffan terminal, the world’s primary LNG export hub, which normally supplies approximately 20% of global LNG consumption. Qatari authorities confirmed the attack caused “extensive damage,” forcing QatarEnergy to suspend production — a decision that, if sustained beyond two months, would, according to energy analytics firm Wood Mackenzie, “fundamentally change the global gas market outlook.” Global LNG supply has already contracted by nearly 20% since QatarEnergy halted operations earlier this month.

Iran also struck Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi Refinery — one of the largest in the Middle East — via drone, with the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation confirming a “limited” fire at the facility. A drone struck a Saudi Aramco refinery in Yanbu, a joint venture with ExxonMobil on the Red Sea, with damage still being assessed. In a further escalation, Iran has entirely halted gas exports to Iraq, raising fears of a cascading regional energy crisis.

Tehran issued explicit threats to strike additional Gulf installations, naming Saudi Arabia’s Jubail Petrochemical Complex, the UAE’s Al Hosn Gas Field, and Qatar’s Mesaieed complex as “direct and legitimate targets.” The IRGC warned civilians in neighboring Gulf states to evacuate areas around oil and gas facilities.

JPMorgan responded by cutting its year-end S&P 500 target from 7,500 to 7,200 points, warning that oil prices rising more than 30% historically precede demand contractions and recession. Global equity markets fell, with European stocks declining as energy costs surged.​​

U.S. President Trump, who had threatened to “massively blow up” South Pars if Iranian attacks on Qatar continued, shifted tone by Thursday, calling for de-escalation of strikes on energy facilities. The war, which shows no signs of abating, has now placed the Persian Gulf’s energy infrastructure — supplying a substantial share of the world’s oil and gas — squarely in the crosshairs.

Crypto markets cracked alongside the energy spike, with Bitcoin sliding back below $70,000 after trading above $73,000 earlier in the week, while Ethereum dropped toward the low‑$2,200s and broader crypto market value retreated from the roughly $2.5 trillion area as traders unwound leverage and rotated into cash and short‑duration TradFi safe havens.