Bahrain tells residents to stay inside after an attack on fuel tanks while Saudi Arabia reports shooting down drones headed towards an oilfield.
Published On 12 Mar 2026
Iran has launched a new wave of drone and missile attacks on Gulf countries on the 13th day of the United States-Israel war on Tehran, with Bahrain reporting strikes on fuel tanks amid surging oil prices.
Bahrain told residents on Thursday morning to stay inside and close windows after the attack in Muharraq Governorate. The country hosts the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet and has been consistently targeted amid the ongoing war.
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Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defence said it intercepted drones headed towards the Shaybah oilfield and the embassies district. It said it had intercepted seven drones heading to the oilfield on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia’s eastern neighbour Kuwait also reported attacks on its territory, saying two people were wounded by a “hostile drone” that hit a residential building. The attack also caused material damage, the Defence Ministry added.
The United Arab Emirates said its air defence was responding to a missile threat.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s Maritime Trade Operations agency (UKMTO) says there had been an attack on a container ship some 35 nautical miles (about 65km) north of Jebel Ali in the UAE.
In Jordan, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic say sirens have been ringing in all cities of the country.
The US-Israel war on Iran has so far killed about 2,000 people and thrown global energy markets and transport into chaos.
Brent crude prices were hovering at about $100 a barrel as of 2:00 GMT on Thursday, up more than 38 percent compared with before the start of the war.
The conflict has spread across the Middle East and prompted plans for a record release of strategic oil reserves to dampen one of the worst fuel shocks since the 1970s.
Iraq suspends oil port operations
The head of Iraq’s General Company for Ports, Farhan al-Fartousi, told the Iraqi News Agency that all oil terminal operations have been completely suspended, while commercial ports continue to function normally.
The announcement follows attacks by explosive-laden boats on two crude oil tankers that had loaded at the Umm Qasr port in Iraq’s Basra province.
Rescuers recovered one body and helped 38 others after the attack, al-Fartousi added.
The development comes as traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway carrying a fifth of the world’s oil and gas, has in effect stopped, with Iran pledging that “not even a single litre of oil” would be exported from the Gulf to the US, Israel and its partners as long as the war on Tehran continues.
