German economy minister warns of oil and gas attack effects

German Economy Minister Katherina Reiche on Thursday warned of the consequences of attacks on oil and gas infrastructure in the Iran war, as the price of Brent crude shot up to $114 during European morning trading.

Speaking at a conference of her conservative Christian Democratic Union party's economic council in Berlin, she said attacks on oil processing facilities and gas fields in the region concerned her just as much as the potential total closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

"This could genuinely lead to serious disruptions," Reiche said. She called on the warring parties to refrain from massively destroying facilities whose restart or repair would take not just a few weeks, but months.

Qatar's liquefied natural gas facilities, which are of major importance to the global market, have severely damaged in an Iranian missile strikes.

US President Donald Trump, writing on his Truth Social platform, threatened to bomb Iran's major South Pars gas field. He said the US military would carry out such an attack if Iran continued to strike Qatar's gas industry.

In that event, he threatened a strike with "an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before."