Israel widened the scope of its attacks on Iran late on March 18, saying it launched air strikes in the north of the country, with Israeli media saying Iranian naval vessels were being hit on the Caspian Sea coast.
As Israel attacked in the north, it also hit Iranian energy infrastructure sites in the Gulf, with Tehran retaliating by firing at Gulf Arab countries’ oil and gas facilities, with the already widespread conflict threatening to spin out of control.
Israel’s attack in the north would be the first in that portion of Iran since the start of the US-Israeli war on February 28, with most of its previous strikes focused on Tehran, central Iran, and in the west.
“The Israeli Air Force, acting on navy and IDF intelligence, began striking targets in northern Iran for the first time during Operation Roaring Lion,” the military said, referring to the Israel Defense Forces.
According to Israeli media, Israeli warplanes were attacking Iranian naval vessels at the port city of Bandar Anzali on the Caspian Sea coast.
The reports could not immediately be verified and there was no information about the effects of the strikes.
The word of the strikes in the north comes as the Iran war continues to spill over with violence to other areas of the region, with Tehran targeting US allies, especially the Gulf Arab states.
Iran Hits Energy Sites, Threatens More
Iran threatened to attack energy facilities throughout the region after saying its massive South Pars gas field was hit on March 18 in the first reported strike on the country’s Gulf infrastructure since the US-Israeli bombing campaign began.
Israeli media reported the attack was carried out by Israel with US consent, but US President Donald Trump later said on Truth Social that Washington did not know about the attack in advance, saying Israel had “violently lashed out” at the key energy site.
In retaliation, Iran issued an evacuation warning for several oil facilities across Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar, saying they would be targeted by strikes “in the coming hours.”
Almost immediately, Qatar reported a fire at its main gas hub, Ras Laffan, after an alleged Iranian missile attack, with emergency crews deployed to contain the blaze and state giant QatarEnergy reporting “extensive damage.”
Hours later in the morning of March 19, Iran said it had again attacked the facility, with Qatari officials saying the latest strikes caused fires and “extensive damage” to the site. Officials later said all fires had been contained at the gas hub.
In his social media comments late on March 18, Trump vowed there would be no more Israeli attacks on the “extremely important and valuable” South Pars site.
However, he warned Tehran that US forces would “massively blow up” the entire facility if Iran attacked Qatar again. It wasn’t immediately clear if Trump knew about the reported second Iranian strike at the Qatari site.
In another apparent assault on the energy sector, Saudi Arabia said it had destroyed four ballistic missiles headed toward Riyadh and reported an attempted drone attack on a gas facility in the east.
Fragments of one of the missiles fell near a refinery south of the capital, the Defense Ministry said.
And in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, operations were suspended at the Habshan gas facility as authorities responded to two incidents of fallen debris after the interception of a missile.
“Abu Dhabi authorities are responding to incidents at the Habshan gas facilities and at the Bab [oil] field caused by falling debris from the successful interception of missiles,” Abu Dhabi’s media office said on March 19. “The gas facilities have been shut down.”
Oil Prices Surge
Oil prices continued to rise amid fears of major disruptions to the global oil industry, with benchmark Brent crude increasing more than 5 percent to $112.84 a barrel.
“The biggest concern will be the potential for attacks against Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline or export facilities on the Red Sea which alongside Fujairah offer the only significant alternative to the Strait of Hormuz,” Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal Middle East analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Trump has said he is forming a coalition to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for the oil sector that Tehran has effectively closed down. However, most US allies have declined to join the effort.
The attacks come as the regime in Tehran continues to suffer deadly blows to its leadership.
Iran on March 18 confirmed the death of its intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, a day after it acknowledged that two other senior figures had been killed. In Washington, the top US intelligence official said Iran’s government “appears to be intact but largely degraded by Operation Epic Fury,” the US name for its military operation.
Intelligence chief Khatib was the latest in a growing number of senior Iranian figures who have been killed since the longtime supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, died on February 28, the first day of the US-Israeli campaign. His son, Ayatollah Mojtabi Khamenei, has not been seen in public since he was named as the new supreme leader.
Deaths In Israel
As Israel continues to intensify attacks on Iran and Lebanon — striking at US-designated terror organization Hezbollah — it is also suffering casualties and damages from Iranian retaliatory strikes on its territory.
Early on March 19, the Israeli ambulance service said a foreign worker was killed in Moshav Adanim during an Iranian missile attack, while Israeli media said one person was killed by shrapnel in the Sharon region.
In the West Bank, Palestinian authorities said falling shrapnel struck a hair salon, killing at least three women on March 18, marking the first confirmed Palestinian deaths linked to the Middle East war.
By RFE/RL
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