(Bloomberg) — Iran pressed ahead with attacks on Gulf Arab states even after Israel signaled it would stop targeting the Islamic Republic’s energy infrastructure, further unsettling oil and financial markets.
The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia said they intercepted missiles and drones overnight and into Friday, while Bahrain reported a fire at a warehouse. Kuwait shut several units at its Al Ahmadi refinery after multiple strikes.
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Israel said it struck infrastructure across Iran, including in the capital Tehran, with hostilities showing no sign of easing.
The war, now three weeks long, has killed more than 4,200 people across the region and brought shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows — to a near standstill. Iran’s attacks on critical energy sites have eased from a peak earlier this week, yet crude prices maintained their rise after closing on Thursday at the highest since mid-2022.
The US is considering an operation to take over Kharg Island, Iran’s major oil-export site, to pressure the Islamic Republic to reopen the Strait, Axios reported, adding that a decision hasn’t been made. The US struck military sites on Kharg last weekend, but stopped short of targeting oil infrastructure.
Trump has consistently said the US has no plans to send ground troops into Iranian territory, but hasn’t ruled it out.
The risk of lasting damage to energy supplies from the war is great, even if fighting ends imminently. Qatar has said almost a fifth of its LNG production has been knocked out for as long as five years, while QatarEnergy said the attacks would cost about $20 billion a year in lost revenue.
The fallout of the war is spreading globally, with fuel, shipping and household costs on the rise. Central banks in Europe have pivoted toward potential interest-rate hikes to combat an expected rise in inflation, reversing a cutting cycle.
Israel said it would no longer target energy infrastructure after an attack on Iran’s largest gas field on Wednesday sparked retaliatory strikes on similar assets and a rebuke from US President Donald Trump.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said his forces would aid US efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and that the war would be over sooner than some anticipated — comments that helped calm markets on a day when energy prices had spiked once again.






