Live Updates: Iran war escalates, energy prices soar after Israeli attack on South Pars gas field

In a marked shift, commercial satellite companies that provide open-source data widely used by journalists and researchers have restricted access to images showing the Middle East, including areas where U.S. military sites have been attacked by Iran.

Planet Labs, which regularly provides images used by news organizations such as News themezone, said earlier this month that it was delaying the release of all new images from Iran, the Persian Gulf, US allied bases and “existing conflict zones” for 14 days.

In a note to clients sent on March 9 and shared with News themezone by a spokesperson, Planet Labs said there were “genuine concerns about the use of Planet’s data on Iran, as well as an extended risk window for recent images.”

The company “has decided to take additional and proactive measures to ensure that our imagery is not tactically exploited by adversary actors to attack personnel and civilians of NATO allies and partners,” it said.

This type of satellite imagery has been vital to journalists covering conflicts for years, especially amid Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine and during the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Images taken from space have provided evidence for research on destruction, population movementsand even massacresespecially in remote or inaccessible locations due to fighting on the ground.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford was headed Thursday to a U.S. Navy port on the Greek island of Crete. for repairs weeks after the sanitary system broke down and approximately a week after a fire broke out on board.

Sailors had to be treated for smoke inhalation and, according to multiple reports, the damage caused by the fire has left hundreds of crew members sleeping on the floor.

The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet said two sailors were treated for non-life-threatening injuries from the fire in the ship’s main laundry room, and that the cause of the fire was not combat-related.

Officials told News themezone on Thursday that the aircraft carrier would dock in Crete for repairs and much-needed downtime for the sailors on board. According to the United States Naval Institute, the Ford has been deployed for 268 days as of Thursday. If it remains deployed for another month, it will break the record for the longest US aircraft deployment since the Vietnam War, which, according to the Naval Institute, currently corresponds to the USS Abraham Lincoln’s 294-day deployment in 2020.

Both aircraft carriers have been deployed in support of ongoing US operations in the Middle East: the Ford most recently operated in the Red Sea and the Lincoln in the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman.

The United Arab Emirates said its air defenses had intercepted seven Iranian missiles and 15 drones on Thursday, as Iran unleashed waves of attacks on Gulf states.

The UAE Defense Ministry said that since the war began it had intercepted a total of 349 Iranian missiles and more than 1,700 drones.

Global oil and natural gas prices soared on Thursday as Iran attacked a key natural gas facility in Qatar that can supply a fifth of the world’s gas, as well as two oil refineries in Kuwait.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose to $116.38 a barrel, up from less than $73 a barrel on the eve of the war. The European TTF benchmark for natural gas prices rose 24% on Thursday.

The Iranian attack affected the Ras Laffan terminal for shipping liquefied natural gas to Qatar. Qatar typically supplies around 20% of global LNG consumption, which can be transported by ship. The facilities closed after a drone attack. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz to most tanker traffic also left the gasman with nowhere to go.

If the disruptions caused by Iran’s attacks on the energy infrastructure of its Arab Gulf neighbors keep oil and gas prices high for long, they could create a wave of debilitating inflation for the global economy.

Benchmark U.S. crude oil gained 1.1% to $96.45 a barrel early Thursday, while the Henry Hub futures contract, the benchmark for U.S. natural gas, gained 5.1%.

As oil and gas prices soared, global stocks retreated and US futures fell 0.2%.

Germany’s DAX lost 2.1% to 23,015.40 and Paris’ CAC 40 fell 1.5% to 7,848.88. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 1.7% to 10,134.02.

The war in Iran has highlighted the threat that relatively cheap drones pose to both human life and crucial infrastructure. It has also highlighted an apparent lack of preparation to counter weapons between the United States armies and some of its main allies in the Middle East.

As President Trump criticizes America’s former NATO allies in Europe, they are moving quickly to take the lead in anti-drone warfare capabilities, leveraging technology and skills. perfected during four years of war in Ukraine.

Poland, for example, is developing an advanced and robust anti-drone system to protect its territory, and the people behind the initiative tell News themezone that they are receiving many calls from around the world as other nations look to address one of the biggest threats on the modern battlefield.

Read more here.

Iranian lawmakers are considering a measure that would require other countries that want their ships to transit the Strait of Hormuz “to pay tolls and taxes,” Iran’s official state news agency ISNA said on Thursday.

“In Parliament we are carrying out a proposal according to which, if the Strait of Hormuz is used as a safe route for the transit of ships, the passage of energy and to ensure food security, countries will have to pay tolls and taxes to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” ISNA quoted a member of parliament as saying.

Iran has paralyzed the vital sea route with relentless missile and drone attacks on commercial ships since the United States and Israel launched their war against the country on February 28.

President Trump has promised to reopen the strait to maritime traffic, but his demands that other countries deploy military forces to help achieve this have so far generated only vague commitments from NATO allies to work on a workable international plan.

The current closure of the strait has sent global oil and gas prices soaring.

Oman’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday condemned Iran’s continued attacks on energy facilities in neighboring Gulf states – the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia and issued a call for diplomacy to end the US-Israel war with Iran.

“Oman emphasizes the need to adhere to international laws and norms, refraining from attacking civilian infrastructure and global energy supplies, and calls for a reduction in tensions, a cessation of military actions and prioritizing diplomatic solutions to resolve disputes in a way that preserves security and stability and protects the interests of the region and the world,” the ministry said in its statement.

The government of Oman stressed “that addressing the root causes of the conflict through dialogue is the best way to find solutions and achieve lasting stability in the region.”

Iran’s top diplomat said Thursday that the American public could thank Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu “and his lackeys in [the U.S.] Congress” for the increasing costs to the United States of the war launched against his country on February 28.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi shared a Washington Post story, which News themezone has not confirmed, saying that the US Department of Defense would seek $200 billion in funding for the Iran war, calling it the “tip of the iceberg.”

“We are only three weeks into this war of choice, imposed on both Iranians and Americans,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in his social media post. “This $200 billion is the tip of the iceberg. Ordinary Americans can thank Benjamin Netanyahu and his lackeys in Congress for the trillion-dollar ‘Israel First tax’ that is about to hit the American economy.”

The Trump administration has so far not said how much the war will cost the United States, but a week ago, military officials told members of Congress in a briefing that the first week alone had cost about $11.3 billion, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson asked about the estimated cost of the war. he told the journalists “I don’t think it can be calculated yet,” as operations continued.

Saudi Arabia said a drone hit the country’s SAMREF refinery on Thursday in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu. The Saudi Defense Ministry said a damage assessment was underway, without giving further details.

An earlier drone attack on Kuwait’s Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery caused a fire but no injuries, the e-news agency reported on Thursday. state KUNA. The refinery is one of the largest in the Middle East, with an oil production capacity of 730,000 barrels per day. Shortly after, a drone attack set fire to the nearby Mina Abdullah refinery, officials said.

Abu Dhabi authorities said they were forced to shut down operations at its Habshan gas facility and the Bab field, calling overnight Iranian attacks on the sites a “dangerous escalation.”

Missile warning sirens sounded in many other areas around the Gulf, and Israel warned of incoming Iranian fire.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates denounced the Iranian attacks, and Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat said the attacks on the kingdom meant “what little trust there was before has been completely shattered.”

News/AP

Stock prices fell early Thursday morning and oil prices increased sharply as the US-Israel war against Iran intensified.

Israel’s Wednesday attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field, shared with Qatar, and President Trump’s threat to destroy the vast reserve if Iran retaliates by attacking Qatari infrastructure, have hit hard markets.

Reuters news agency said U.S. crude futures rose above $97 a barrel early on Thursday, while natural gas rose 3% and Brent crude futures rose to $111.87 a barrel, up 4% on the day.

Japan’s Nikkei stock index fell more than 3%, South Korean stocks fell 2.8% and European futures fell more than 1.5% before the continent’s markets opened.

“This latest escalation looks like a turning point for markets because the conflict is no longer just about military headlines or the closure of the Strait of Hormuz,” Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo in Singapore, told Reuters. “It is now hitting the pipes of the global energy system. What is unsettling the markets now is the growing risk of stagflation… It means this is no longer just a geopolitical story but a macro one.”

Iran launched at least six waves of missiles at Israel overnight, including new cluster bomb attacks.

Air defenses intercepted most of the weapons, but debris and small bombs from cluster munitions fell in several places, including in Tel Aviv, where an elderly man was slightly injured in an apartment building, according to doctors.

One cluster bomb hit the farming community of Adanim in the Sharon area of ​​central Israel, killing a Thai farm worker, according to medics, while another hit a house in Jaljulia, an Arab town also in central Israel, but caused no injuries.

There was also a direct hit on the Palestinian town of Bayt Awwa in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which Palestinian media reported had caused some deaths. There was no immediate confirmation of the victims there.

The UK military’s Maritime Trade Operations Center said earlier Thursday it had received a report of a ship “hit by an unknown projectile” off the coast of Qatar’s Ras Laffan oil industrial area.

UKMTO did not identify the ship or provide further information about what may have hit it, but said all crew members were reportedly safe and well.

Iran has attacked commercial vessels in the Gulf region for nearly three weeks in retaliation for continued US-Israeli attacks, paralyzing shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route for global oil supplies.

Fewer attacks of this type had been reported this week, but following Israel’s attack on the Iranian gas field of South Pars, the Tehran regime intensified its attacks against the Gulf States early on Thursday.

QatarEnergy said that in addition to Iran’s missile attack on Wednesday against the industrial city of Ras Laffan, which it said caused “extensive damage to the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility”, several other facilities were targeted in subsequent attacks on Thursday morning local time.

QatarEnergy said the attacks caused “major fires and extensive additional damage” to multiple LNG facilities. No casualties were initially reported, QatarEnergy said.

President Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social that Israel would not attack Iran’s South Pars gas field again, but added a warning that if Iran continues to attack Qatar’s liquefied natural gas facilities, the United States will destroy the Iranian gas field.

Trump wrote that the United States “knew nothing” about Israel’s attack on the South Pars camp and that Qatar “was not involved in any way, shape, or form” in it.

Trump said Iran then “unjustifiably and unfairly” attacked Qatar’s Ras Laffan gas facility in response.

The president declared that “ISRAEL WILL CONDUCT NO FURTHER ATTACKS” on the South Pars field, “unless Iran recklessly decides to attack a very innocent country, in this case, Qatar, in which case the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entire South Pars gas field with an amount of force and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.”

Israeli officials have not commented on the South Pars attack or Trump’s comments on it.

A team of UK military planners is working with the US military to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, News themezone has learned.

The relatively small team is at US Central Command, which manages US military operations in the Middle East, working on options to reopen the strait. A U.K. official told News themezone that this is an upgrade to U.K. planning staff already assigned to CENTCOM, which is based at MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa, Florida.

The news was first reported by Radio Free Europe.

According to several diplomats, the United Kingdom and other US allies have been reluctant to join US military operations during active US and Israeli combat operations against Iran.

Once hostilities conclude, allies such as the United Kingdom and Japan could consider sending assets such as mine detection materials, according to several officials familiar with the ongoing diplomacy.

This issue is likely to be raised Thursday when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets with President Trump at the White House. Takaichi has already publicly indicated that Japan’s constitution would not allow the use of its self-defense forces to operate in an offensive operation.