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By Andrew Mills and Timour Azhari
DOHA/RIYADH, March 19 (Reuters) - Leading nations in Europe, with Japan, said on Thursday they would act to stabilise energy markets and join "appropriate efforts" to open the Gulf's oil chokepoint after tit-for-tat strikes on energy plants dramatically escalated the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Major economies have been scrambling to cushion the impact of soaring oil prices after state oil giant QatarEnergy reported "extensive damage" from Iranian missile strikes on the Ras Laffan Industrial City in response to Israel's bombing of Iran's major gas field.
Ras Laffan processes about a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas. Saudi Arabia's main port on the Red Sea, where it has been able to divert some exports to avoid Iran's closure of the Gulf's Strait of Hormuz, was also attacked.
The seemingly precise strikes underscored Iran's continued ability to exact a heavy price for the U.S.-Israeli campaign, and the limits of air defences in protecting one of the Gulf region's most valuable and strategic energy assets.
They also suggested a lack of coordination of strategy and war aims almost three weeks into the war. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, however, told a briefing that U.S. objectives in the war were "unchanged, on target and on plan".
The leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Japan issued a joint statement urging "an immediate comprehensive moratorium on attacks on civilian infrastructure, including oil and gas installations".
"We express our readiness to contribute to appropriate efforts to ensure safe passage through the Strait," they added.
"We will take other steps to stabilise energy markets, including working with certain producing nations to increase output."
INTEREST RATES AND ENERGY PRICES WORRY EUROPE
The European Central Bank and Bank of England held rates steady, citing inflation risks. The ECB now sees 2026 inflation at 2.6% in a "baseline" scenario, above the 1.9% predicted in December. Investors who once expected cuts were pricing in hikes by year-end.
At a summit in Brussels, European Union leaders were set to try to offset the jump in energy costs, with few easy options available.
European gas prices were up 25% and Brent crude oil futures nearly 6% at $113 at 1300 GMT after briefly surging about 10%. European gas prices have leapt by over 60% since the war began on February 28. [O/R]
Japanese and South Korean stocks fell around 3% while the pan-European index was down 2.5%, around its lowest in more than three months. Wall Street was set to open lower. [.N] [MKTS/GLOB]
Iranian aerial attacks since Wednesday have also forced the UAE to shut its Habshan gas facility and set off fires at Kuwait's Mina Al Ahmadi and Abdullah Port oil refineries.
Perhaps just as significantly, Saudi Arabia intercepted a ballistic missile launched towards Yanbu, the port city that is the kingdom's only outlet for crude exports since Iran in effect closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of the world's crude oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes.
A drone also fell on the Aramco-Exxon refinery, SAMREF, in Yanbu, the Saudi defence ministry said, though an industry source said the impact was minimal.
Iran's armed forces command said strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure had led to "a new stage in the war" in which it had attacked energy facilities linked to the United States.
"If strikes (on Iran's energy facilities) happen again, further attacks on your energy infrastructure and that of your allies will not stop until it is completely destroyed," spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaqari said, according to state media.
Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. objectives remained to destroy Iran's missile launchers, as well as its defence industrial base and navy, and never to allow it to acquire a nuclear weapon.
TRUMP SAYS ISRAEL ACTED ALONE IN ATTACKING GAS FIELD
Trump said the United States had had no advance knowledge of Israel's attack on Iran's gas field and that Qatar - a close U.S. partner and host to the Gulf's largest U.S. air base - had not been involved.
"Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran," Trump posted on X.
He said Iran had then "unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG gas facility”.
Three Israeli sources said the attack had been carried out with his consent, but was unlikely to be repeated.
Israel has said sustained military pressure on Iran, including the assassinations of senior figures, could weaken the government enough to trigger a popular uprising, though officials have acknowledged such an outcome is uncertain and there has been little sign Tehran is losing its grip.
Trump warned that if Iran attacked Qatar again, "the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field".
Since the start of the conflict, Tehran has attacked Israel, U.S. diplomatic and military facilities across the Gulf and warned neighbouring states against hosting attacks on Iran.
SOURCES SAY TRUMP CONSIDERS SENDING MORE TROOPS
A U.S. official and three other people familiar with the planning told Reuters that Trump, politically vulnerable to rising fuel prices among his core voters, was considering sending thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East.
They could be used to help restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has selectively attacked vessels, potentially even landing on Iran's shore or its Kharg Island oil hub.
Trump this week asked U.S. allies to help reopen the strait, but his request has so far been rebuffed.
More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran since the U.S.-Israeli attacks began, the U.S.-based Iran human rights group HRANA estimates, with millions forced to leave their homes.
Authorities in Lebanon say 900 have been killed there and 800,000 displaced. Iranian attacks have killed people in Iraq and across the Gulf states, and at least 13 U.S. service members have died.
(Reporting by Andrew Mills in Doha and Timour Azhari in Riyadh; Additional reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Ros Russell and Jon Boyle)
