Iran accused Israel of striking its facilities in the huge South Pars gas field on Wednesday in a major escalation in the conflict that sent oil prices shooting higher, and retaliated by vowing attacks on oil and gas targets throughout the Persian Gulf, firing missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Qatar's state oil giant QatarEnergy reported "extensive damage" after the Ras Laffan Industrial City, an energy-industry hub, was hit by Iranian missiles. Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh on Wednesday and an attempted drone attack on a gas facility in the east of the country.
South Pars is the Iranian sector of the world's largest natural gas deposit, which Iran shares with Qatar across the gulf. Qatar's foreign ministry denounced Iran for what it called "a flagrant breach" of international law, expelling two senior Iranian diplomats.
In Washington, US spy chief Tulsi Gabbard told Congress Iran's government had been degraded since the war began on February 28, but it appeared to be intact, with Iran and its proxies still capable of attacking US military bases and other interests it has in the Middle East.
Iran's Fars propaganda network reported that gas tanks and parts of a refinery in South Pars had been hit. It said workers had been evacuated and state media later said the fire there was under control.
Iran listed several prominent regional oil and gas facilities it called "direct and legitimate targets", all in nearby states that host US military bases: Saudi Arabia's Samref Refinery and Jubail Petrochemical Complex, the UAE's Al Hosn Gas Field, and Qatar's Mesaieed Petrochemical Complex, Mesaieed Holding Company and Ras Laffan.
It said they should be evacuated at once before its missiles fell.
The US and Israel had previously held back from targeting Iran's energy production facilities in the gulf, averting Iranian retaliation against the oil and gas industries of its neighbours. International law forbids states from attacking civilian energy infrastructure.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux, Writing by Peter Graff, Matthias Williams and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Ros Russell, Gareth Jones and Diane Craft)