On February 28, 2026, the United States and Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran. Tehran retaliated swiftly — striking US assets and military bases across the Gulf and, critically, restricting access to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes. Since March 1, the strait has been virtually paralysed.
Now, barely three weeks in, the consequences are cascading across the globe. Energy infrastructure has become the front line of this conflict, with oil and gas facilities in the Gulf directly targeted or threatened. As Spain’s El País reports, the war has turned energy installations into primary military objectives, exposing the fragility of a global economy still deeply dependent on Middle Eastern hydrocarbons.