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12-03-2026
DUBAI: Iranian missiles and drones continue to target Gulf countries, with Bahrain’s state oil company declaring force majeure on Monday for its shipments after its refinery caught fire in an Iranian attack.
Gulf airspace has been shut and oil production and supply disrupted after Iran targeted US assets located in Gulf countries in retaliation for attacks by the United States and Israel on the country since February 28.
Bahrain’s state-owned energy company Bapco declared force majeure after waves of Iranian strikes targeted its energy installations.
Bapco “hereby serves notice of force majeure on its group operations which have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex”, a company statement said on Monday.
Saudi Arabia intercepted four drones headed for Shaybah oilfield, while the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait reported missile attacks.
On Sunday, at least two people were killed and 12 injured after a projectile fell in a residential area in Saudi Arabia’s al-Kharj governorate.
Journalist Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Doha, said alerts were issued at about 3:15am local time.
“A few minutes after that, we started to hear the sound of explosions that were due to interceptor missiles that were countering those missiles coming in from Iran. We heard the sounds of about 12 to 13 explosions,” he said.
“In Bahrain, at least 32 citizens, including children, were injured in an Iranian drone attack on Sitra, an area south of the capital, Manama, according to state media. In the United Arab Emirates, it’s been another busy night and morning for them countering attacks, with the Ministry of Defence saying air defences were responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran.
“We also know that there was a fire in the Fujairah oil industry zone that was the result of debris falling from an intercepted drone,” Jamjoom said.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia lambasted Iran, calling its attacks targeting the kingdom and the Gulf neighbors “reprehensible”.
Saudi Arabia “renews the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s categorical condemnation of the reprehensible Iranian aggressions against the Kingdom, the Gulf Cooperation Council states, a number of Arab and Islamic countries, and friendly nations, which cannot be accepted or justified under any circumstances”, the statement posted on the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official social media account read.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani urged all sides to de-escalate in an interview.
“We will continue talking to the Iranians, we will continue trying to seek de-escalation,” the prime minister said.
He described the attacks on Qatar as a “big sense of betrayal” by the Iranian leadership. “Just maybe an hour after the start of the war, Qatar and other Gulf countries were attacked right away,” Sheikh Mohammed said, adding the assault took place despite statements from several countries in the region that they were not going to take part in any war against Iran, and despite concerted efforts to find a diplomatic solution.
Israel launched a new wave of strikes on Monday, targeting infrastructure in central Iran after Mojtaba Khamenei was named the successor to his late father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in joint US-Israeli strikes. The country’s top political figures have pledged allegiance to the new supreme leader.
At least 1,255 people have been killed and thousands injured in Israeli and US attacks across Iran. On Sunday, Israel bombed multiple oil facilities in Iran for the first time in the conflict. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
