Iran War Live Updates: Oil and Gas Prices Jump After Strike Hits Key Energy Site

 

Updated

March 18, 2026, 2:06 p.m. ET4 minutes ago

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/03/18/world/iran-war-news-trump-oil

 

Iran War Live Updates: Oil and Gas Prices Jump After Strike Hits Key Energy Site

The attack on South Pars, one of the world’s biggest gas fields, showed how the war threatens global energy supplies. Israel killed Iran’s intelligence minister, the latest high-ranking official to be targeted.

 

Updated

March 18, 2026, 1:45 p.m. ET25 minutes ago

Abdi Latif Dahir Christina Goldbaum and Rebecca Elliott

 

Here’s the latest.

Iran said on Wednesday that airstrikes had hit the infrastructure of the vast South Pars offshore gas field, the largest attack on Iran’s energy production since the war began nearly three weeks ago, which could worsen the country’s already severe domestic energy shortages.

 

An Israeli airstrike killed Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmaeil Khatib, on Wednesday, continuing Israel’s systematic targeting of high-ranking officials that has decimated the upper ranks of the government in Tehran. The Israeli military said in a statement that Mr. Khatib’s ministry had overseen espionage and covert operations against Iranians as well as Israeli and American targets across the world.

 

In Washington, the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that even though the Iranian leadership has been “largely degraded” by U.S. and Israeli attacks over the last two and a half weeks, the government still “appears to be intact.”

 

Oil and natural gas prices spiked following reports of the South Pars strikes, which hit petrochemical facilities in the southern city of Asaluyeh, Iran said. Those facilities process gas from the South Pars field, which lies under the Persian Gulf. The global benchmark crude oil traded above $108 a barrel as investors worried that Iran would retaliate to the attack by striking oil and gas fields in the region, putting further pressure on crude supplies.

 

Most of the energy Iran takes from South Pars is used domestically, so any significant disruption would intensify the strain that the U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign is putting on Iran’s economy and daily life in the country. Natural gas is the fuel used to generate electricity, and for household heat, hot water and cooking for most Iranians.

 

Iranian media reported fires at several facilities at Asaluyeh, which they said had been contained by the evening.

 

Qatar, which shares the expansive offshore field with Iran, blamed Israel for the strikes and warned that targeting joint energy infrastructure was a “dangerous and irresponsible step” that could put global energy security at risk. Israel previously struck the South Pars field during its war with Iran last year.

 

While the Pentagon has held a handful of news conferences, military officials overall have provided few details about specific targets in Iran or Iranian strikes on American facilities. U.S. officials have periodically issued statements that offer an accounting of how many airstrikes U.S. Central Command has carried out.

 

The killing of Mr. Khatib, the intelligence chief, came a day after an Israeli strike killed the head of Iran’s National Security Council and the country’s de facto leader, Ali Larijani, whose funeral on Wednesday drew large crowds in Tehran. State media showed his coffin draped in the Iranian flag and surrounded by mourners who chanted, “Death to America,” and “Death to Israel.”

 

Earlier Wednesday, the Israeli military intensified its attacks on Lebanon with strikes in Beirut and other major cities, towns and villages, after Hezbollah fired a barrage of rockets into Israel overnight. Several Israeli strikes hit central Beirut, away from Hezbollah’s stronghold in the southern outskirts of the capital — adding to fears that areas of the capital once considered safe are in danger.

 

Israel’s strikes came at times without warning. An unannounced Israeli attack on the central Zuqaq al-Blat and Basta areas of Beirut early Wednesday killed at least 10 people and injured 27 others, according to the Lebanese health ministry. Another building in Zuqaq al-Blat was struck later without a warning, igniting a fire on its upper floors.

 

Here’s what else we are covering:

Iranian strikes: In retaliation for the killings of Mr. Larijani and the commander of Iran’s powerful Basij militia, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said on Wednesday that it had struck Israel. Two people were killed by missile fire in Ramat Gan, outside Tel Aviv, and at least one person was injured by shrapnel, Israel’s emergency service said.

 

Death toll: At least 1,348 people in Iran have been killed since the start of the war on Feb. 28, Iran’s U.N. representative has told the Security Council; it’s unclear if that number excludes government and military officials. In Lebanon, health officials said that 968 people have been killed. In Israel, at least 14 people have been killed, the authorities said. The Pentagon says that 13 American service members have died since the start of the war.

 

Intelligence chiefs: In a hearing on Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, lawmakers began questioning intelligence leaders about the Trump administration’s threat assessments ahead of the U.S.-Israeli war. Early questions also focused on how quickly Iran would be able to develop ballistic missiles capable of hitting the United States. The resignation on Tuesday of a top U.S. counterterrorism official, who said that Iran did not “pose an imminent threat” to the country, will most likely be a focus of the hearing.