Trump threatens to ‘massively blow up’ big gasoline discipline amid fears of $200-a-barrel oil as world’s largest gasoline plant burns in Iran’s ‘full scale financial warfare’

Iran last night threatened to cripple the global energy market in a ‘full-scale economic war’ by ramping up missile attacks on oil and gas plants.

In a major escalation of the Middle East crisis, facilities in neighbouring Gulf countries were evacuated as the regime threatened to pummel them with strikes in ‘the coming hours’.

It followed an Israeli air strike on the world’s largest natural gas field, South Pars in Iran.  

Donald Trump said he ‘knew nothing’ of the attack but threatened to blow up the whole facility with ‘an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before’ if Iran continues to attack Qatar. 

‘I do not want to authorise this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran,’ he said in a post on Truth Social, adding he ‘will not hesitate’ to strike back. 

Iran’s attacks on Qatar continued this morning with the country’s liquified natural gas facilities set ablaze.

Qatar said firefighters had put out a fire at a major LNG facility after it had been hit by Iranian missile attacks. 

Production had already been halted there after earlier attacks but it said the latest wave of missiles caused ‘sizeable fires and extensive further damage’. 

Oil prices shot up five per cent yesterday as markets responded to Iran’s new leader declaring that energy sites in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar ‘have become direct and legitimate targets’.

Eskandar Pasalar, an Iranian regional governor, proclaimed: ‘The pendulum of war has swung to a full-scale economic war.’

Fuel prices for British motorists have surged to their highest level in more than 18 months. In a further sign the economic pain is biting, Donald Trump authorised foreign-flagged ships to transport fuel to the US.

Yesterday Keir Starmer warned the longer the crisis went on, the worse its impact will be on the cost of living.

On another dramatic day in the Middle East: 

• Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei swore revenge after several of the Islamic regime’s chiefs were assassinated in US-Israeli bombardments;

• The World Health Organisation warned it was preparing for the possibility of nuclear weapons being used in Iran;

• The US Federal Reserve said the war would hike inflation and hit ‘disposable personal income’;

•  At least 12 people were killed in Beirut as Israel stepped up its bombing raids;

• The Ministry of Defence revealed that British pilots and gunners had destroyed more than 40 Iranian drones.

It comes as the Royal Navy revealed it is unwilling to send warships to the Middle East as the situation is ‘too fluid’.

Yesterday’s attack on the Pars gas field is the first reported strike on Iranian energy infrastructure since the war began at the end of last month.

Iran, which accuses Gulf states of allowing US forces to conduct attacks from their territories, lashed out with a fresh salvo of missiles, including one which struck an airbase housing British and Australian troops in the UAE, while others hit the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

It will only add to fears over an energy supply crunch which is already being described as the biggest ever – surpassing the 1970s oil crisis.

At the heart of the crisis is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes – choking off up to 10million barrels of oil a day.

That has already sent oil prices surging from $72 before the war to nearly $110 and prompted Iran to tell the world to get ready for $200 a barrel.

Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at investment platform A J Bell, said: ‘Iranian threats of retaliation against regional energy infrastructure after Israeli strikes on its massive South Pars gas field have helped dial up the temperature once again. 

‘Any solution to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz looks pretty distant at this point and unless and until there is progress on that front, energy markets will likely remain volatile.’

President Trump last night stoked the international war of words by threatening that the US could abandon the security of the Strait of Hormuz shipping lane to countries, including the UK, that had ‘failed’ to respond to his demand for warships to secure the waterway. 

The US President claimed such an action ‘would get some of our non-responsive ‘Allies’ in gear, and fast!’

In a post on his Truth Social platform, he taunted European nations: ‘I wonder what would happen if we… let the countries that use it – we don’t – be responsible for the so-called ‘Straight?’

As oil prices rose, the White House announced a pause in a 100-year-old shipping law known as the Jones Act which requires goods to be moved on US flagged vessels.

It has been blamed for making energy more expensive and, in a sign the economic pain is biting, Mr Trump authorised a 60-day suspension which will allow foreign-flagged ships to transport goods including fuel.

At Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday, Sir Keir defended his approach, insisting he would not allow UK forces to be drawn into a ‘wider war’. He has so far resisted Mr Trump’s demands for the Royal Navy to deploy to the strait.

The UK has sent air defence destroyer HMS Dragon to help defend Cyprus from drones and missiles but the vessel is making slow progress.

The US has ordered a ‘911 force’ of 2,500 marines to be redeployed from Japan to the Middle East, signalling the possibility of American soldiers’ boots on the ground in Iran. Iran’s deputy foreign minister said that would be a ‘reckless’ move and his country would fight for as long as is needed.

Meanwhile, latest figures from the RAC show the average price of a litre of petrol has climbed by 10p to nearly 143p since the start of the war. Diesel is up by 20p to nearly 163p.

Government borrowing costs also rose yesterday as investors dumped UK bonds, known as gilts. Bonds across the world have been affected by the Middle East turmoil, but Britain’s are seen as especially vulnerable because it has the highest inflation among the G7 group of advanced economies.

Traders are also jittery about the possibility of a government bailout for household energy customers along similar lines to the subsidies given to bill payers when prices spiked at the start of the Ukraine war.

Thomas Pugh, chief economist at accountancy firm RSM UK, said that together with the country’s ‘weaker economic backdrop’, it meant Britain ‘is more vulnerable to shocks than many comparable countries’.