According to a report published by the New York Times, the Gulf emirate endured more than 700 Iranian missile and drone strikes targeting Gulf states hosting American military installations. The attacks forced Qatar to suspend liquefied natural gas production at its principal facility in Ras Laffan — a shutdown with consequences felt far beyond the region.
Qatar ordinarily supplies approximately one-fifth of the world's LNG. With the Strait of Hormuz rendered impassable for safe export operations, and Ras Laffan itself sustaining heavy damage in mid-March Iranian strikes, the country's economic engine ground to a halt. Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi estimated the repairs could take up to five years to complete, with annual revenue losses of around $20 billion — equivalent to 37 percent of Qatar's projected government income for the year. "This has taken the whole region back 10 to 20 years," he told Reuters.
The New York Times described the situation as one of "strategic shock," quoting Rashid Al-Mohanadi of Qatar's Center for International Policy Research. Doha had long cultivated close ties with both Washington and Tehran, positioning itself as an indispensable mediator. That balancing act, it now turns out, provided little protection when the shooting started.
The political fallout may prove as lasting as the economic damage. Gulf officials had invested considerable diplomatic capital in warming relations with Iran in recent years, and had assumed that their close alignment with the Trump administration — including a Boeing 747 gift and a $1.2 trillion economic exchange agreement — would afford them some influence over American decision-making. That assumption has been shattered.
"It was a slap across the face," Bloomberg Economics' Dina Esfandiary told the New York Times. "They thought they had sway over the Trump administration, and then clearly it was secondary to Israel's sway."
A fragile ceasefire announced on April 7 has paused the fighting. But as Qatar and its Gulf neighbours survey the wreckage, a fundamental strategic rethink is already underway — with no easy answers in sight.