Iran warns it will hit airports, pipelines and civilian targets across the Gulf if America and Israel strike again, as Brent crude tops 114 dollars

Iran has put its warning in plain terms. If the United States and Israel resume their air campaign, Tehran will expand its attacks across the Gulf and aim at the economic machinery of the region, at airports, pipelines and other civilian infrastructure, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited Iranian messages passed both publicly and through mediators. Iranian officials also told mediators they would target American personnel more aggressively, including attempts against American warships.

Picture is an illustration of a carrier group and tanker traffic in the Gulf.

The American buildup matches the warning. A third aircraft carrier strike group and an additional Marine unit are moving toward the Middle East, along with more munitions. The State Department has directed nonemergency employees and their families to leave Saudi Arabia after Houthi attacks on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and the Shaybah oil field this week, and American missions elsewhere in the Gulf are reducing family presence as well, Reuters and the Times reported. Aramco emptied its Dhahran headquarters on Thursday.

President Trump has said he does not intend to strike Iran again before the midterm elections on November 3, and reporting from Washington and Israel points to planning for a possible joint campaign after the votes are counted. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week that he had ordered his military and intelligence services to prepare for regime change in Iran, and he and Trump spoke by video call about finishing the job, in Netanyahu words.

Oil traders are pricing the risk, not a cutoff. Brent crude climbed above 114 dollars a barrel on Friday, its highest level in more than five months, as of October 23, even though tanker tracking shows exports through the Strait of Hormuz running near 14 million barrels a day last week, about 82 percent of the level before the war, according to Wall Street Journal analysis. The Revolutionary Guard claimed more tankers were hit or mined in the strait this week, a claim Trump disputed, accusing Tehran of trying to push prices up before the elections.

What has changed is the stated target list. Earlier rounds fell mainly on military sites, energy facilities and shipping. Tehran is now saying civilian economic targets in neighboring states are in scope from the first day of a new campaign. Gulf governments have heard that message before in private. Hearing it in public, with American families already leaving, is what moved markets on Friday.