Name: Israeli forces hit naval vessels in northern Iran’s Bandar Anzali
Uploaded: 2026-03-18T23:02:14.000Z
Duration: 14 min 28 s
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All right, we've got a team of correspondents in Washington D.C.

and Amman, in Tehran and in Doha, which is where we're going to begin with Victoria Gate and be right here in the Qatari capital.

So, Victoria, first up, quite a significant move from Qatar here.

very strong words from Cattle's Foreign ministry and completely expected given what's been happening over the past couple of hours with Cattle Energy, the state owned energy company, confirming that its Ras Lafan industrial industrial complex was targeted by Iranian missiles.

Those attacks have caused a fire which they're now trying to contain.

And they say that their emergency rescue operations kicked in straight away, that they're on the site now trying to deal with those fires.

But there has been extensive damage as a result of that attack.

They say all personnel are safe and accounted for and there have been no reported injuries at the moment.

But this is a massive escalatory attack by Iran.

Ras Lafan industrial complex, which is on the tip of the peninsula of Qatar, it is a massive industrial complex in the northeast of the country.

It is the world's biggest LNG liquefied natural gas facility.

Qatar itself produces around 20% of all LNG supplies that go out globally.

Europe in particular rely on LNG supplies from Qatar.

The last time that this facility was attacked was, was almost two weeks ago at the very start of this conflict, conflict around March the second that prompted CAT or Energy to say that it was temporarily pausing LNG production because it said it wanted to protect its vital infrastructure and of course its workers.

Now, we've had very strong words from Qatar's Foreign Ministry this evening saying that they condemn and strongly denounce this attack and they feel that the Iranians are dragging this region into the abyss.

They've also announced in the last couple of hours that they are expelling from the country the Iranian military attache and the Iranian security attache.

They say they are not welcome in the country anymore and they've given them 24 hours to leave.

Those diplomats being expelled from here in Qatar happening after these Iranian energy facilities were attacked, of course.

Does this have any bearing on diplomatic efforts, do you think, to end the war down the line?

Well, Nick, you know, with these diplomats being described as Persona no grata in Qatar, this gives an indication how much the Iranian Qatari relations are going into a critical situation.

However, it's clear that the Qataris are going this path step by step on the contrary to the Iranians who continue to launch missiles and drones towards Qatar and other countries.

Now, when it comes to the attempts to negotiate or for diplomacy, we heard yesterday from the foreign minister in our interview with him that there are no real attempts.

There are ideas and many are offering ideas.

But Iran isn't interested in a ceasefire.

Rather, it's interested in ending the war.

And he said clearly that the war in Iran, Iran is linked to the front in Lebanon, to Iraq, to Yemen.

So he's putting on a table something like a comprehensive regional peace.

So I think to get there, it's going to be a bit complicated.

And before we see things changing in the region now, the main mediators, Qatar and Oman, the regional mediators, are under fire.

So probably they're not the ones mediating right now or at least trying, attempting to convey messages or to bridge this huge gap.

It does not really describe the situation.

So the fact now is that there is no negotiations going on.

Victoria, loud explosions heard in the Saudi capital too is as regional foreign ministers, of course, due to hold an emergency meeting in Riyadh.

Over the course of the last few hours, there were reported to be several loud explosions over the capital, Riyadh.

The Ministry of Defense later confirming that they had intercepted four ballistic missiles.

Some of the debris from those interceptions fell around the surrounding area of Riyadh.

And they say that four people have been injured as a result of that.

Now, here in Qatar, the Ministry of Defense in the last few hours has said over the course of the last sort of 12 hours or so, they have intercepted a total of seven ballistic missiles.

They say one of those ballistic missiles was the one that fell on the Raslafan industrial complex.

And across the region there have been more attacks.

The UAE say they were targeted with 27 drones and 13 ballistic missiles.

And Bahrain saying they were targeted with 10 drones and one ballistic missile.

And of course, the IRGCC have said that they are willing and able to target other energy infrastructure within this region as a result of the Israeli assault on their energy infrastructure on Wednesday.

And so those facilities across sea, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and other facilities here in Qatar will be braced potentially for further attacks.

Let's remind you of the three most senior members of Iran's government who have been killed by Israeli forces in these targeted attacks over the past two days.

First up, Intelligence Minister Ismail Khatib.

He's the latest senior official to be killed in an Israeli strike.

He previously worked in the office of the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

On Tuesday, Iran's security chief Ali Laranjani was killed in an Israeli attack in Tehran.

Naranjani was appointed secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.

And recently said the U S Israeli war set the heart of the Iranian nation ablaze.

Then we have Golumreza Soleimani, the commander of Iran's internal security unit Basij.

He was also killed by Israeli forces on Tuesday.

He was sanctioned by the US and the European Union and other countries for his suspected role in suppressing dissent in Iran.

So yet another senior official has been killed now the Intelligence minister.

Is this likely to have any effect going forwards on Iran?

Well, this is a symbolic blow to the system, a very symbolic blow, politic blow.

Especially that the three officials who were killed are related or they work directly in the security issues.

So we have the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, we have the commander of the Basij and we have the Interior, sorry, the Minister of Intelligence.

These people are the ones who are supposed to prevent assassinations and they've been assassinated.

This is huge for the system when it comes to symbolism.

However, when it comes to day to day business, these people are presiding over institutions, institutions with several layers under them.

So bureaucracy is entrenched in the system.

And given this fact and as we saw with the Supreme Leader's assassination, a huge hit, but

Transitional council then electing a new Supreme Leader.

Supreme Leader right now is just doing the work the other Supreme Leader used to do.

The same thing will apply to these people.

So whoever is going to succeed Ali Lallah Regani in the Supreme National Security Council there is already someone who is the second in command, who is the second representative of the Supreme Leader at the council who is actually Saeed Jalili in the Basij there's a deputy Commander in the Ministry of Intelligence.

So with respect to day to day things, it will go normal.

Yet if this continues to happen layer after layer, then the Islamic Republic will have to face real questions when it comes to who is going to succeed who in the later stages.

We've told you before, there was report of an attack, an airstrike in Bandar Ansali, which is on the Caspian Sea.

This is the first time we hear of such an airstrike there on a naval base for the Iranian navy.

Also, there are reports of explosions in Karaj and West Tehran.