With the attacks on Iran’s fuel supplies, the war against the mullahs’ regime has reached a new level of escalation. And the next one has already begun.
March 8, 2026, 3:38 p.mMarch 8, 2026, 3:38 p.m
Michael Wrase, Limassol / ch media
Residents of Tehran spoke of “apocalyptic scenes” after Israeli warplanes set fire to fuel depots in the south and east of the Iranian capital on Saturday evening. Huge fireballs and thick clouds of black smoke covered the facilities.
Flames rise from an oil storage facility south of Tehran after US-Israeli attacks.Image: keystone
Tens of thousands of liters of gasoline flowed into the sewage system, setting entire streets on fire. “On Sunday night it even rained oil,” says teacher Azura Dschamschidi from Tehran to CH Media: “Many people were afraid of suffocating in the terrible smoke.”
The destruction of the fuel depots marks a new level of escalation in the war between the USA, Israel and the mullahs’ regime: the destruction of fuel reserves hits Iran in its economic and military nerve center. According to military experts, Israel and the USA are aiming to permanently prevent the regime’s financial and operational ability to act by shelling Iran’s energy infrastructure.
An Iranian Red Crescent helper at the Shahran refinery.Image: keystone
Before the attacks on the oil depots, Iranian President Massoud Peseschkian asked the Arab states for forgiveness for the continued attacks by the Iranian military in winding sentences. The politician, who was considered to be rather liberal, was then reprimanded like a schoolboy by the hardliners in Iran. Peseschkian was “misinterpreted,” explains Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Iran will not stop retaliating wherever attacks are launched against the Islamic Republic.
Ali Larijani, the new “strong man” in Iran, became even clearer. The war goals announced by the Israelis and the US are not “the real goals,” he claimed. The real goal is “the dissolution of Iran as a nation,” which is why his country “will not compromise on its right to self-defense.”
Video: twitter/Hanna Dedial
Iranian counterattack on Israel’s oil facilities
On Saturday night, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced rocket attacks on the Haifa refinery. The fuel depots at Kuwait airport burned on Sunday morning. Two officers were killed there “in the performance of their duties,” the Kuwaiti Interior Ministry reported.
Iran also continues to block the Strait of Hormuz. At least three supertankers were attacked over the weekend. The message from the mullahs’ regime is clear: If our oil reserves are attacked, then the rest of the world should no longer receive oil and gas.
Iran could now also act according to this extortionate “leitmotif” when dealing with water. After the US Navy destroyed the seawater desalination plants on the Iranian island of Queshm on Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Araghchi spoke ominously of a “dangerous precedent”. The attacks are a “blatant crime” that will have serious consequences. A few hours later, a seawater desalination plant in the Emirate of Bahrain was attacked by two Iranian drones.
“It was the first time during the eight-day war that Iran targeted such a facility,” the Saudi television channel Al Arabija reported worriedly. The station reminds us that the Arab Gulf states have very limited natural freshwater resources. To meet their water needs, they rely heavily on energy-intensive seawater desalination plants.
Almost 50 percent of the water in the Emirates comes from such systems: in Kuwait it is 90 percent, in Oman and Bahrain 86 percent and in Saudi Arabia around 70 percent. The kingdom produces more desalinated water than any other country in the world. The idea that water could now become a weapon in the war with Iran is a horror for the Arab Gulf states. “None of us expected that it could come to this,” said a government official in Bahrain.
Residents observe and photograph flames and smoke from a hit oil storage facility in Tehran.Image: keystone
The Houthis are apparently imminent to enter the war
For days, however, shipping circles in Dubai have been expecting that the Houthis will also enter the war on Iran’s side. There has been no official announcement from the Islamist group yet. In anticipation of possible retaliatory attacks, Iran’s allies are said to have moved strategically important facilities to safety in recent days. Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Huthi threatened last week to monitor the situation “with a finger on the trigger.” We will not stand idly by and watch the attacks on Iran.
Despite limited military resources, the group would still be able to cause chaos in the Red Sea and block the strategically important Bab al Mandeb Strait, the “Gate of Tears” between Yemen and Eritrea. This would also de facto block the Suez Bolt. International shipping would then have to take the costly detour around the Cape of Good Hope. In addition to the already increased gasoline prices, higher prices are likely to be charged for all other everyday goods. (aargauerzeitung.ch)