Sky news19 Mar 2026 20:40
Analysis: Disaster looms for Gulf energy sites and global economy - with threat of escalation from all sides
By Dominic Waghorn, international affairs editor
The last 24 hours of eye-wateringly expensive missile duelling over the Persian Gulf have made one point above all.
A prolonged war could do calamitous damage to the global economy.
In just one day and night, Iran has hit energy targets in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and Israel. So much for its military being defeated, or its leadership decapitated after almost three weeks of bombardment.
One attack alone on the Ras Laffan gas plant in Qatar, using just a handful of missiles, did an estimated $26bn worth of damage and will, we're told, take years to repair. Even less liquid natural gas will now get to market, jacking up prices. The cost of gas for European consumers has already leapt 30%.
Cue a pell-mell chorus of apocalyptic predictions from analysts and economists - and that's after just 24 hours of escalated energy attacks. Imagine what weeks of the same could do.
I sat down with one of Iran's most senior diplomats, Esmail Baghaei, in the foreign ministry in Tehran to ask him if this was a new policy of escalation from his government.