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Fighting in the Middle East has caused UK gas prices to surge by over 20% after airstrikes against gas and oil plants in Iran and Qatar.
Overnight, Israeli missiles hit the South Pars gas field in Iran – the largest natural gas field in the world.
Iran responded with retaliatory airstrikes in Qatar’s Ras Laffan oil refinery.
Donald Trump took to Truth Social in a lengthy post following the attacks, claiming that the US knew nothing about Israel’s plans to strike the Iranian gas field.
The US president threatened to ‘blow up’ more Iranian infrastructure if it didn’t stop attacking Qatar.
Some hours after Trump’s comments, UK gas prices surged to a three-year high.
A therm of gas is now trading at about 171p, which is up by over 20% on last month.
The rising prices are threatening UK households and energy bills this summer unless the conflict is solved.
Trump said on Truth Social: ‘The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen.’
Trump said its ally Israel ‘violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran’ because ‘out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East.’
He also threatened to ‘blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field’ if Iran further attacked ‘a very innocent’ Qatar.
Trump said this attack would be ‘at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before.’
The US president added: ‘I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran, but if Qatar’s LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so.’
All of the Gulf nations have been drawn into the conflict which started after joint US-Israel attacks on Tehran on February 28.
Saudi Arabia said it had limited an attempted Iranian attack on one of its gas facilities overnight.
Following the attacks, oil prices have also surged to a record high, with Brent crude trading at around $113 per barrel this morning.
The Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20% of the world’s oil supply, is effectively closed to most ships after vessels were targeted by Iran, adding to the global economic uncertainty.
However, some countries have reportedly brokered direct deals with Tehran to have their ships pass the Strait safely.
Experts have warned that the conflict is now escalating to a serious supply crisis.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB market analysts, said: ‘This war looks far from over, and the energy crisis is shifting from a shipping crisis to a supply crisis.
‘If Iran is targeting energy assets in the region, then the conflict gets more serious and the repercussions for a long-term energy price shock also start to play out in financial markets.’
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