Dubai: Iran hit a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea and set Qatari liquefied natural gas facilities and two Kuwaiti oil refineries ablaze, sending international oil and gas prices soaring on Thursday.The strikes followed an Israeli attack on Iran’s South Pars natural gas field the previous day.Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked to as high as USD 118 a barrel, up more than 60 per cent since Israel and the United States started the war on February 28 with strikes on Iran.A ship was set ablaze off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and another was damaged off Qatar. APEgypt Red Crescent facilitates aid entry and assists patients as Gaza border reopensMarch 19, 2026 8:48 pmDubai: The Egyptian Red Crescent supported Palestinian medical patients crossing in and out of Egypt. The Rafah border crossing with Gaza reopened on Thursday after Israel closed it from the Palestinian side when the Iran war began. Teams on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing assisted people returning to the Gaza Strip, provided psychosocial support to children, and helped facilitate the entry of an aid convoy carrying 1,950 tonnes of food, flour, fuel and winter supplies. It remains unclear whether the convoy entered Gaza after inspection at the Israeli-controlled Kerem Shalom Crossing. APIsraeli military says it struck Iranian targets in Caspian Sea for first timeMarch 19, 2026 8:40 pmDubai: The strikes hit dozens of targets on Iran’s northern coast on the Caspian Sea, including missile ships, a shipyard and a command and control centre, Israeli military spokesman Lt Col Nadav Shoshani said on Thursday. APPentagon seeks USD 200 billion in additional funding for Iran warMarch 19, 2026 8:38 pmDubai: Iran intensified its attacks on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, dramatically raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy. Brent crude oil, the international standard, spiked to as high as USD 118 a barrel, up more than 60 per cent since Israel and the United States started the war with Iran. The direct attacks on energy infrastructure mark a major escalation in the US-Israeli war with Iran. One think-tank said Israel’s targeting of South Pars, the Iranian part of the world’s largest gas field, aimed to inflict more pressure on the Iranian government by making living conditions for its civilians intolerable. Iran responded by hitting a Saudi refinery on the Red Sea and setting Qatari liquefied natural gas facilities and two Kuwaiti oil refineries ablaze. US President Donald Trump warned on social media that the US would retaliate and “massively blow up the entirety” of Iran’s gas field if it continues. The Pentagon, meanwhile, asked the White House for another USD 200 billion to carry out the war, a senior administration official said. APFrench president condemns ‘reckless’ escalationMarch 19, 2026 7:23 pmDubai: Emmanuel Macron has also called for a truce as the Middle East enters a religious holiday at the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. “The fighting should stop for a few days to try to give negotiations another chance,” Macron said in Brussels ahead of a meeting of European Union leaders. He said France is pushing for a moratorium on attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure. APSecond oil refinery ablaze after drone attack, says KuwaitMarch 19, 2026 2:04 pmKuwait said a drone attack set a second oil refinery ablaze in the small, oil-rich nation on Thursday. The blaze hit the Mina Abdullah refinery. The nearby Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery caught fire after a drone attack earlier on Thursday.Kuwait says drone attack targeting oil refinery sparked fireMarch 19, 2026 12:50 pmKuwait said Thursday a drone attack sparked a fire at an oil refinery in the small, oil-rich nation. The state-run KUNA news agency cited the Kuwait Petroleum Corp. for the announcement. It said the drone attack sparked a fire at the Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery but caused no injuries. The refinery is one of the biggest in the Middle East, with a petroleum production capacity of 730,000 barrels per day.Saudi Aramco-Exxon refinery SAMREF in Saudi Arabia’s Yanbu targeted: SourceMarch 19, 2026 11:29 amOil giant Saudi Aramco’s SAMREF refinery in the Red Sea port of Yanbu was targeted in an aerial attack on Thursday, an industry source said, adding there was minimal impact, after other attacks on energy facilities in Qatar and the UAE in response to US-Israeli attacks on Iranian energy installations. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had issued an evacuation warning to several oil facilities across Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar, including SAMREF, which is a joint venture between Saudi Aramco and Exxon Mobil. The warning followed a strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field, a major escalation in the war with the United States and Israel.Trump vows no more attacks by Israel on Iran gas field after it ‘violently lashed out’March 19, 2026 8:29 amUS President Donald Trump said an angry Israel “violently lashed out” and attacked Iran’s major gas field, a significant escalation in the US-Israeli war, but ruled out further such attacks by Israel unless Iran retaliated. Wednesday’s attack on the huge South Pars gas field drove oil prices higher and prompted a threat by Iran to attack oil and gas targets across the Gulf, while it fired missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.Saudi Arabia reserves right to military action against Iran: Foreign MinisterMarch 19, 2026 8:29 amSaudi Arabia reserves the right to act militarily against Iran and any trust with Tehran has been shattered, the Saudi Foreign Minister said early on Thursday, after Riyadh was targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles. Iran accused Israel of striking its facilities in the huge South Pars gas field on Wednesday, and retaliated by vowing attacks on oil and gas targets throughout the Gulf, firing missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia. In the harshest comments to come out of the Gulf kingdom in nearly three weeks of war, Farhan accused Iran of premeditated hostile actions against its neighbours, both directly and via an array of regional proxies which he urged Tehran to reign in.Iran launches multiple-warhead missiles at IsraelMarch 19, 2026 8:19 amResponding to the killing of Larijani, the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday it had attacked central Israel with multiple-warhead missiles that have a better chance of evading defense systems. Footage filmed by The Associated Press showed at least one missile releasing a cluster of munitions over Israel.Israel pressures Hezbollah in LebanonMarch 19, 2026 8:19 amKeeping up pressure on Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, Israeli strikes hit multiple apartment buildings in Beirut, killing at least a dozen people. Israel flattened an apartment building in central Beirut about an hour after issuing an evacuation notice – the fourth time the building was targeted. Israel’s military claimed it was being used by Hezbollah to store “millions of dollars intended to finance its activities,” without providing evidence.Iran keeps up strikes on Gulf countries’ oil facilitiesMarch 19, 2026 8:19 amQatarEnergy said on X that a missile hit its massive Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility, sparking a fire that caused “extensive” damage before it was extinguished. The company had already halted production there because of Iranian attacks. Since the war started, a small number of ships from Iran, Turkey, India and elsewhere have gotten through the Strait of Hormuz, which leads from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Iran insists the waterway is open, just not to the US or its allies.