type: timeline_event
On March 12, 2026 -- Day 13 of Operation Epic Fury -- Iran launched a new wave of drone and missile attacks across Gulf states, with Bahrain reporting strikes on fuel storage tanks amid a continued surge in global oil prices. The attacks were the latest in a sustained campaign that had effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping since the war's outbreak on February 28.
Bahrain's Bapco Energies reported that fuel tanks at its refinery complex were struck, compounding the force majeure declaration the company had issued earlier in the week. The continued targeting of Gulf energy infrastructure reflected Iran's deliberate strategy of leveraging its geographic and military position to impose cascading economic costs far beyond its own borders, exerting pressure on Gulf Arab states that host U.S. military assets to distance themselves from the American campaign.
Oil prices climbed back above $100 per barrel on March 12, having briefly touched $120 following Mojtaba Khamenei's succession announcement on March 8-9. Axios and Foreign Policy both published analyses warning that a sustained Hormuz closure lasting more than 30 days could trigger a global recession, citing the strait's role as the transit point for roughly 20 percent of all seaborne oil and significant portions of global liquefied natural gas shipments from Qatar and the UAE.
The International Energy Agency's emergency coordinated release of 400 million barrels from strategic petroleum reserves across member states -- the largest such release in history -- had provided only temporary relief. Analysts at Kpler noted that tanker traffic through the strait had declined by approximately 70 percent since February 28, with over 150 vessels anchored in international waters awaiting a security clearance that had not materialized.
Iran's attacks on Iraq's waters were also reported on March 12, with oil tankers struck near Iraqi territorial waters, further extending the zone of maritime disruption beyond the strait itself.