Middle East war: why attacks on gasfields like South Pars are a major escalation

Strike was first time a fossil fuel energy production facility has been hit. But why is it significant and who does it affect? Strikes by both sides on so-called upstream gas production facilities in recent days are a significant escalation in the war in the Middle East, with potentially long-term consequences. The strikes were the first time facilities associated with the production of fossil fuel energy had been hit in the conflict, rather than sites associated more generally with the oil a...

By Peter Beaumont