Iran hits Gulf energy sites after attack on its gas field; Tehran’s intel chief killed

INTERNATIONAL – ASIA

19 MARCH 2026

• Iran struck oil facilities in Persian Gulf countries, following the U.S. and Israeli strikes on gas facilities in Iran’s southern Bushehr province.
• This came hours after Israeli air strikes killed Iran’s Intelligence Minister Esmaeil Khatib, the third high-profile assassination in 24 hours.
• The U.S. and Israel attacked gas facilities in Iran’s Bushehr province which includes areas linked to the massive South Pars/North Dome mega-field, the largest known gas reserve in the world.
• Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian confirmed that Khatib had been killed. “The cowardly assassination of my dear colleagues Esmaeil Khatib, Ali Larijani, and Aziz Nasirzadeh, alongside some of their family members and accompanying team, has left us in deep mourning,” he wrote in a social media post.