Middle East Today | The National

US President Donald Trump has threatened to “massively blow up” Iran’s largest gas field, South Pars, if Tehran continues attacks on Qatar in retaliation for an Israeli strike on the facility. He said Washington had no prior knowledge of Israel’s plans to target the field, but criticised Tehran's subsequent strike on Qatar. Iran shares the vast South Pars gas field with Qatar. Wednesday’s attack on the strategic site pushed oil prices higher.
In the UAE, Iran targeted the Habshan gas facility and the Bab field. The attack was intercepted by air defences with no reported injuries. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles launched towards Riyadh, along with a drone targeting a gas facility in the kingdom’s east.
Qatar is expelling Iran’s military and security attaches after Iranian missiles caused “extensive damage” to Ras Laffan, the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility. Qatar now has full control over all the fires in the Ras Laffan complex, its Interior Ministry said, adding that no injures were reported. Follow our live updates here.
In another diplomatic showdown, the foreign ministers of 12 Muslim-majority countries meeting in Riyadh on Wednesday evening denounced Iran's strikes on Gulf neighbours and called for an immediate halt. Iran's targeting of residential areas and civilian infrastructure, such ⁠as oil facilities, airports and desalination plants, could not be justified under any circumstances, the ministers said in a statement.
During the meeting, Saudi Foreign Minister prince Faisal bin Farhan said that his country reserves the right to ⁠take military action "if ⁠deemed necessary" ⁠following Iranian ‌attacks on Gulf countries. "What little trust there was before has completely been shattered," he added.
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said it was not the intelligence community’s job to establish whether Iran had posed an “imminent threat” to America before the war.
Iran has a new uranium enrichment site at an underground complex in Isfahan, but inspectors are unable to tell whether it is operational or just an “empty hall”, the UN's nuclear watchdog said.
Oil prices surged on Thursday after major energy sites in the Middle East were attacked. Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world's oil, was up 4.39 per cent at $112.09 a barrel at 7.02am UAE time on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was trading 0.78 per cent higher at $97.07 per barrel. Both benchmarks recorded a fourth consecutive weekly gain last week.

US special envoy Tom Barrack told The National that he supported calls by Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun for direct talks with Israel, describing it as essential to de-escalating hostilities. Israel yesterday conducted a wave of strikes on Beirut and attacked two bridges across the Litani River, which splits the south of the country.
Syria has unveiled a US-backed plan to eliminate the remnants of the Assad-era chemical weapons programme - an ambitious effort aimed at closing one of the most harrowing chapters of the country’s civil war.
New air strikes were launched against the Popular Mobilisation Forces in Iraq at dawn on Thursday, killing at least one fighter and injuring several others.
Syria appears to be a world away from the Iran war affecting its immediate Arab neighbours – Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan. A power consolidation drive by the post-Assad order continues unabated after the capture of large parts of northern and eastern Syria from Kurdish-led forces earlier this year.

Two men who were arrested in London on suspicion of spying for Iran have now been charged with engaging in contact that is likely to assist a foreign intelligence service, police said.
The UAE dismissed as “fake news” reports that it has introduced laws that prevent foreign investors from withdrawing their capital and leaving Dubai.
Amid an internet blackout in Iran and connectivity problems in places including Lebanon and Iraq, apps based on mesh networks, such as Bitchat Mesh, are seeing a surge in popularity.
Britain is rapidly restocking its $50,000 Martlet counter-drone missiles and clearing the way for rapid export to Middle East allies, the UK Ministry of Defence announced.