IRAN intensified its attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf today, sending global energy prices soaring as it retaliated to an Israeli attack on the South Pars gas field.

Tehran had warned it would hit energy production regionally if South Pars was attacked. The bombardment further stressed global supplies already under pressure because Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil is transported.

Since the United States and Israel launched their illegal and unprovoked attack on Iran on February 28, the Iranians have hit back with a barrage of missile and drone attacks on US military infrastructure in the region.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates denounced the Iranian attacks. Arab League secretary-general Ahmed Aboul Gheit called them a “dangerous escalation.”

But Iran showed no signs of backing down. Saudi Arabia said that its refinery in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu was hit. Saudi Arabia had begun pumping large volumes of oil west toward the Red Sea to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar, a key source of natural gas for world markets, said extensive damage was caused by Iranian missiles hitting the Ras Laffan LNG facility, where production had already been halted after earlier attacks.

Damage to the facility could delay Qatar’s ability to get supplies to the market even after the war ends.

Two refineries in Kuwait and gas operations in Abu Dhabi also were targeted by Iran, local authorities said.

In Israel, more than a half-dozen waves of Iranian attacks targeting large parts of the country sent millions of people to shelters.

Israel has enforced a strict censorship on reporting damage or casualties so there is no way of verifying the extent of the damage caused. Israel admits to 18 dead and thousands injured, compared to US admissions that 13 of its soldiers have been killed.

By contrast the death toll in Lebanon from Israeli attacks rose above 1,000 today and that in Iran from US and Israeli bombardment is over 1,400.

US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Dan Caine said today that US forces continue to attack deeper into Iranian territory, with warplanes hunting Iranian boats in the Strait of Hormuz and helicopters striking Iranian drones.

General Caine said that the US military has also dropped 5,000-pound bombs on underground weapon-storage facilities.

Israel said on Thursday it struck Iranian targets in the Caspian Sea for the first time. Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani said the strikes hit dozens of targets, including ships, a shipyard and a command centre.