Several facilities in Iran's key Pars petrochemical complex in Assaluyeh were damaged in US-Israeli strikes Monday, according to Iran's state petrochemicals company NPC.
NPC did not name the facilities struck, just saying that the "criminal attacks" were on "a number of ancillary facilities linked to the petrochemical complex of the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone," and that damage assessments are still underway.
But state media said two power and desalination plants, Jam and Damavand, which supply electricity and water to the complex, were targeted, causing widespread power disruptions across the complex.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said today that Tel Aviv had carried out a "powerful strike on the largest petrochemical facility in Iran" in Assaluyeh, that he said was responsible for about half of the country's petrochemical production. He described the attack as a"severe economic blow to the Iranian regime."
The complex hosts at least 21 operating petrochemical plants and takes feedstock from the giant offshore South Pars gas field that Iran shares with Qatar. South Pars accounts for 70-75pc of Iran's gas production and supplies a significant share of feedstock to the country's petrochemical and gasoline sectors.
At least four gas treatment plants in Assaluyeh, which process sour gas from South Pars, were taken offline on 18 March following a similar Israeli drone attack. The incident prompted Iranian retaliatory strikes on downstream energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, including the LNG facility in Ras Laffan Industrial City. US president Donald Trump later said Israel would not target South Pars again unless Iran attacked Qatar.
The attack was just the latest in a string of US-Israeli strikes targeting Iran's petrochemicals industry.
Another petrochemical complex in Marvdasht, Fars province, was also targeted on Monday, causing fire which was later contained, while a key petrochemical complex in Mahshahr, in Khuzestan province, was struck on Saturday, shutting down production across the hub. Iranian state media said the Fajr 1, Fajr 2, Karun, Razi and Bandar Imam petrochemical companies were damaged in the strikes.
These attacks came as Trump reiterated over the weekend his threat to strike Iran's electric power infrastructure if Tehran does not allow unfettered passage through the strait of Hormuz. Both Trump and Iran rejected the latest proposal for a ceasefire floated by Pakistan.
