What we know
- GAS FIELD ATTACKS: Iran escalated strikes on energy sites in neighboring Gulf states, including a key facility in Qatar, as it retaliated for an Israeli attack on South Pars, the world’s biggest gas field. Oil and gas prices soared again as the strikes intensified the global energy crisis.
- TRUMP ISSUES NEW THREAT: President Donald Trump said there would be no further attacks on South Pars unless Iran attacks Qatar again, in which case the U.S. “will massively blow up the entirety” of the gas field. Trump said the U.S. “knew nothing about” the Israeli attack, though a senior official close to Qatar’s leaders disputed that to NBC News.
- U.S. TARGETS MISSILE SITES NEAR HORMUZ: The U.S. said it struck Iranian missile sites along the coast of the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has attacked ships to effectively block the vital shipping waterway. Iran’s parliament speaker, one of the regime’s powerful surviving figures, said the strait “won’t return to its prewar status.”
- LEAK INVESTIGATION: Joe Kent, a former senior intelligence official who resigned in protest over the Iran war, is under investigation by the FBI for allegedly leaking classified information, a source familiar with the matter told NBC News.
- DEATH TOLL: More than 3,000 people have been killed across the Middle East. In Iran, Israeli and American strikes have killed more than 1,200 people, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. At least 850 people have been killed in Lebanon, and 13 have died in Israel. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed, and two more died of noncombat causes.
- U.S. is ‘winning’ the war Hegseth says- “We fight to win and we are winning on our terms following our objectives,” Hegseth told the Pentagon briefing just now. The defense secretary said over 7,000 targets had been struck across Iran and on its military infrastructure since the war began.
Qatar furious over Iran war escalation: The Gulf kingdom is angry that a war partly framed as protecting the flows of oil and gas is now setting its vital infrastructure ablaze.
Beirut photographer puts himself in the firing line to capture Israeli strikes
Fadel Itani is no stranger to Israeli strikes in his hometown. Captured a stunning sequence of images in the early hours of Wednesday, showing an IDF missile demolishing a tower block in one fell swoop.
Macron urges everyone to come to their senses after ‘reckless’ escalation: “I hope everyone comes to their senses,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters today in Brussels after the attacks on gas facilities. He added, “This escalation is reckless.”
Iran hangs protesters- Iran this morning announced the hanging of three people it said killed two police officers while protesting in January, the first known executions stemming from the unrest.
Saudi trust in Iran is ‘shattered’ , Saudi foreign minister tells NBC News, as attacks hit while Gulf diplomats meet . Iran last night fired missiles toward Saudi Arabia’s capital even as top diplomats from across the region were meeting here.
China and Taiwan – China said it would offer “energy stability” to Taiwan if it agreed to reunify, as the self-governing island faces energy supply pressures amid the U.S.–Israel war on Iran.
European leaders hit out at U.S. and Israel:
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has called Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars natural gas field “incomprehensible.”
“This move has been totally damaging the markets,” Babis said. “The price of gas is exploding and the price of oil as well.”
NBC/YL
