The battle between Israel and well-armed Iran together with its proxies across the Middle East has reached a new intensity.

The state is battling directly against Tehran and on three fronts: against Hezbollah to the north of Israel, against Hamas in Gaza and against the Houthis in Yemen on the mouth of the Red Sea.

It is fighting on behalf of the West against an arc of extremism which divides the Middle East.

Amid the intense battles and the attacks by the Houthis on the freedom of the high seas, few questions are asked as to the source of Iranian financial firepower, which fuels the conflict.

Some $50bn of frozen assets were returned to Tehran by the Obama administration in 2015 as part of a deal designed to halt Iran’s effort to develop nuclear weapons.

Technically, Iran’s economy and financial affairs have been back in cold storage since 2018 as a result of Western sanctions re-imposed by Donald Trump.

Britain’s HSBC fell foul of sanctions in 2012 and Standard Chartered more recently in 2019. Both banks paid heavy fines.

The South Pars/North Dome, the world’s largest natural gas field (pictured), is jointly owned by Qatar and Iran. It holds more than all of the world’s other known reserves combined

Western economies are barred from buying Iranian oil although an exception has been carved out for Japan.

What is less understood, however, is that Iran is a huge player in the vast and highly lucrative natural gas market, in partnership with Qatar.

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments from the Middle East were given a boost in January this year when President Biden, in the name of climate change and US economic security, ordered a halt to construction of new LNG terminals in the US.

Both the oil and gas markets are sensitive to conflict in the Middle East.

But a surfeit of supplies means there is less risk of the damaging price hikes and energy crises of the past. In July of this year, the Louisiana court ordered a temporary pause to the White House order to stop LNG exports.

This was on the grounds that the economies of several states – Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas and West Virginia among them – were being harmed.

Why does this matter to the rest of us, including in the UK?

The US is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. Its output has been vital to Western energy supplies at a time when exports from Russia are subject to embargo.

Britain’s main retail gas supplier Centrica is among those that have secured long-term contracts to buy American LNG.

Until the White House decision, America’s energy suppliers looked to be the most secure source of supply to the West amid geo-political uncertainty. But America’s clampdown on natural gas exports is a gift to Qatar.

Liquefied natural gas shipments from the Middle East were given a boost in January this year when President Biden, in the name of climate change and US economic security, ordered a halt to construction of new LNG terminals in the US

The tiny emirate, formerly a British protectorate that gained independence in 1971, is one of the world’s foremost LNG exporters. In 2023 the micro-state’s oil revenues amounted to $27.96bn. That was down 32pc from 2022 when gas prices soared following the Russian attack on Ukraine.

Qatar is also a big investor in the UK with an array of interests, including stakes in supermarket Sainsbury’s and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

It has big property interests including large holdings in London’s Regent’s Park and is the developer of the landmark former American Embassy in Grosvenor Square.

It also has been playing a diplomatic role since October 7 last year. It has played host to Hamas’s political leaders and has worked alongside the US and Egypt seeking to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, ending the ordeal of the remaining hostages who have spent a year in captivity.

What is less understood is that Iran has a share in a large part of Qatar’s natural gas wealth. The South Pars/North Dome, the world’s largest natural gas field, is jointly owned with Iran. The basin holds 1,800 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which is more than all of the world’s other known reserves combined.

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As the US has pulled back from natural gas exports, the Iran-Qatari field has ramped up production.

In June, unnoticed by many in the US and the UK, Iran announced that it had exceeded Qatar in extracting gas from the jointly owned field.

‘We have set an unprecedented record in gas production,’ boasted Tehran’s energy minister Javad Oji.

‘Iran has been ranked first among the Gas Exporting Countries Forum in terms of gas production increases.’

Far from punishing Iran for its support of terrorism, including the attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, the green agenda that led to the curb on gas means the US is actually rewarding the mullahs.

In defiance of sanctions, Iran has inaugurated 150 projects over the last three years with a value estimated at $34bn (£26bn). Britain is also bowing the knee to climate change zealots by putting the brakes on new exploration in the North Sea. Again, this is tantamount to empowering Iran’s brutal and backward regime.

As one senior US financier visiting Europe recently noted, ‘the West is shooting itself in the foot’.

Iran’s enhanced production from its South Pars gas deposit, and sales income from its Russian allies and others, is funding its aggression. It is paying for the missile emplacements and nuclear development, which hobbled the West and has fanned the flames of the Middle East conflagration.

Israel’s devastating blow to Hezbollah, with the assassination of senior leader Hassan Nasrallah, is a strategic victory for the West.

The US, Britain and Europe have been building alliances on two fronts. In Ukraine, they have been seeking to weaken Russia. In the Middle East, the effort has been focused on weakening a ‘coalition of resistance’ compromising Russia, Iran and North Korea. China has been straddling both camps.

It makes no strategic sense for Western allies to bolster Iran’s regime by forcing energy supplies in Europe and elsewhere to buy gas from the Qatari-Iranian gas fields.

The headlong pursuit of carbon-free goals is helping to strengthen a very dangerous enemy. Green goals are laudable. We should not, however, be filling the coffers of a murderous regime in their name. We all want to save the planet, but enriching Iran is a foolish and perilous way to go about it.