Tensions rise in the Middle East following missile and drone attacks linked to the escalating Iran conflict.

• Firefighters in Kuwait battled a fire after a drone strike.
• Iran vowed that its missile production would continue.
• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated an end to the fighting could be close.

Firefighters battled a blaze at a giant oil refinery in Kuwait on Friday after a fresh drone attack as Iran kept up a wave of strikes on its neighbours and vowed there was “no concern” about its missile production.

Despite calls for an end to targeting Gulf energy infrastructure by European leaders on Thursday, Kuwait reported a fire at its Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, a day after a direct hit on Qatar’s vital Ras Laffan facility.

Iranian authorities had vowed to retaliate after an Israeli strike on Wednesday damaged its South Pars gas field, which draws on the world’s biggest known gas reserve and is vital for domestic supplies.

The escalating damage to Gulf infrastructure has spiked oil and gas prices again and led to fears of lasting damage to global supplies, even as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated an end to the fighting could be close.

“We are winning and Iran is being decimated,” the Israeli premier said at a press conference on Thursday, claiming Tehran no longer had the capacity to manufacture ballistic missiles.

READ | Netanyahu the ‘key winner’, Trump trapped in Iran war with no clear exit, say analysts

“This war is ending a lot faster than people think,” he added without providing a specific timeframe.

Iran’s leaders, despite an Israeli assassination campaign and three weeks of bombardment, have vowed to end the conflict on their own terms.

“Our missile industry deserves a perfect score... and there is no concern in this regard, because even under wartime conditions, we continue missile production,” Iran’s Revolutionary Guards spokesperson Ali Mohammad Naini was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

Moments after his message was shared by the agency, the Revolutionary Guards said he had been killed in US-Israeli strikes.

Iran retains a stranglehold over the strategic Strait of Hormuz through which a fifth of global oil and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) usually flows.

Iranian state media reported several waves of missiles fired at Israel overnight and on Friday morning, with blasts heard over Jerusalem.

There were no reports of casualties.

The United Arab Emirates also reported missile attacks, while Saudi Arabia intercepted more than a dozen drones early on Friday as Gulf nations began the observation of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday that marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

Energy analysts and consumers were scrambling to count the cost of Iranian missiles hitting Qatar’s huge Ras Laffan natural gas complex on Thursday.

The attack caused “extensive damage” that Qatar’s state energy company said could cost $20 billion a year in lost revenue and take five years to repair.

That could lead to high energy prices that outlast the conflict, which would increase inflation and crimp consumer spending.

“Short disruptions create price volatility. Sustained damage creates lasting economic shock,” Robert Pape, a political science and military expert at the University of Chicago, wrote on his Substack.

“This is how a regional war becomes an historic global economic crisis.”

He warned about further escalation that could include US President Donald Trump and Netanyahu ordering a limited ground invasion to try to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

Netanyahu indicated that changing the government in Tehran would require “a ground component”, without elaborating.

“There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing (those) with you,” he said.

Oil prices fell on Friday as traders reacted to Netanyahu’s comments about the war ending “a lot faster than people think”, but they pared the losses amid news of the Kuwait refinery fire.

Brent remains at around $108 and West Texas Intermediate is about $94.

The war, which has killed thousands and displaced millions, has quickly spread to Lebanon, where the Israeli military has carried out regular bombardments in response to rocket fire on Israel by Iran’s ally Hezbollah.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the death toll from Israeli airstrikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, as well as on the capital, Beirut, and its southern suburbs has surpassed 1 000.