The war struck at some of the industry's most sensitive points. Attacks on petrochemical complexes and supporting infrastructure — including facilities that supply feedstock, electricity, and steam — carried the risk of triggering a chain reaction of disruption, from petrochemical output all the way down to downstream industries and consumer markets. Yet pre-crisis planning drawn from the experience of the 12-Day War, the creation of emergency management mechanisms, continued output from undamaged units, careful management of supply and demand, prioritization of domestic needs, export controls, streamlined imports, and a swift start to rebuilding all helped prevent damage to part of the country's production capacity from snowballing into a nationwide supply crisis.

The stakes were high because petrochemicals are far more than a producing and exporting industry in their own right. Thousands of manufacturing units — in packaging, food production, detergents, medical equipment, automobiles, home appliances, and other industrial sectors — depend on petrochemical feedstock to keep operating. Any extended shutdown at major complexes could quickly ripple through downstream industries and consumer markets.

Preparing Before the Crisis Hit

The industry's response didn't begin on the day of the attacks. Some measures had already been designed before the war, under passive defense requirements, to ensure that a temporary halt at some complexes wouldn't cut off the supply of essential goods and raw materials to downstream industries.

Within this framework, the National Petrochemical Industries Company reviewed emergency feedstock-supply scenarios and formed a task force dedicated to emergency management for downstream industries. This task force identified the country's essential needs and planned for the supply and stockpiling of raw materials for priority sectors.

From Managing the Attacks to Sustaining Production

When the Third Imposed War began, a number of petrochemical complexes were directly targeted, and some auxiliary facilities were damaged as well. Managing the risks of chemical leaks, explosions, and fires — while keeping operations stable — became the top priority. At the same time, emergency meetings were held between the National Petrochemical Industries Company, production complexes, and relevant agencies to ensure decisions were implemented quickly.

Alongside managing damaged facilities, efforts focused on keeping healthy parts of the industry running and maintaining stable export routes through the Pars and Mahshahr export terminals and ports. But one of the most critical dimensions of the crisis was ensuring downstream industries had the raw materials they needed — an issue directly tied to people's daily lives and to continued production across the economy.

The Domestic Market Comes First

During the war, the Ministry of Petroleum and the National Petrochemical Industries Company pursued two missions simultaneously: sustaining output at active units and managing the domestic market. One key government decision was to hold base prices for petrochemical products at pre-war global rates, preventing war-driven increases in global prices from being passed on to the domestic market.

Market management wasn't limited to pricing. Purchase quotas for raw materials and distribution processes were also monitored in coordination with the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, ensuring that raw materials reached genuine manufacturers rather than being diverted into speculation or the open market.

One of the key tools for managing the market under emergency conditions was a revision of export policy. Products needed by the domestic market were removed from the list of permitted exports, keeping the country's production resources available to domestic industries. Products made in excess of domestic needs, on the other hand, remained eligible for export.

In this way, the industry's export policy during the war balanced two imperatives: meeting domestic demand and preserving foreign-currency earnings from exporting surplus products. The goal was never to halt exports altogether — rather, domestic market needs were identified first, and surplus capacity was then directed toward export markets.

Targeted Imports

Alongside restrictions on exporting goods needed domestically, targeted imports of products in short supply served as a complementary strategy. Petrochemical companies, downstream industries, and traders were able to participate in the import process as needed, and the National Petrochemical Industries Company took steps to facilitate imports carried out by petrochemical companies.

The overall market-supply strategy thus rested on a combined formula: sustaining and increasing domestic production, targeted imports to cover shortfalls, and preventing the export of products the domestic market needed.

Reconstruction: Running in Parallel with Market Management

Alongside market management, damage assessments and plans to restore affected capacity began as soon as the "Islamabad Agreement" framework was put forward. Once the ceasefire took hold, the National Petrochemical Industries Company established a reconstruction task force with several specialized working groups, one of which focused specifically on supplying raw materials to downstream industries. This structure laid out plans for rehabilitating, rebuilding, and restarting complexes, with progress tracked continuously through joint meetings with the Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, the Central Bank of Iran, and the petrochemical industry's employers' association.

According to the National Petrochemical Company, the reconstruction plan was drawn up on a three-month basis and reviewed and updated weekly, so that as units came back online, production and supply plans could be adjusted to match the new conditions.

The plan went beyond simply repairing damaged units. Restoring electricity and steam supply was also a major part of the recovery process, drawing on the oil industry's own capacity, grid-connected power plants, available steam resources, and the energy exchange to bring units back online as quickly as possible. Bringing independent steam units online and drawing power from the grid also played a key role in restoring roughly half of production capacity at Assaluyeh and Mahshahr.

Rebuilding With Domestic Supply as the Priority

The goal of reconstruction wasn't simply to restore nominal production capacity — priority went to units that played a larger role in supplying raw materials to downstream industries. As a result, the Mahshahr and Assaluyeh complexes were gradually brought back online to boost domestic production and supply. Not every unit reached full capacity in this first phase, but the guiding criterion throughout was meeting domestic market needs.

At the same time, the National Petrochemical Company has continued to factor domestic market needs into production planning, and where necessary, has directed complexes to produce specific product grades for set periods — helping steer production capacity toward the country's priority needs.

A Multi-Layered Approach to Navigating the Crisis

The experience of the Third Imposed War showed that the petrochemical industry's resilience doesn't rest on any single complex's ability to keep operating. Before the war, passive-defense scenarios and plans for securing essential goods were designed in advance. During the attacks, emergency committees mobilized to manage production, supply, and demand. And after the war, reconstruction, energy supply, market management, and import-export policy all moved forward together.

In essence, the full range of measures taken by the Ministry of Petroleum and the National Petrochemical Industries Company during this period converged on a single goal: preventing the direct damage of war from spreading into the country's production chain.

Sustaining output at active units, supplying raw materials to downstream industries, holding base prices steady, blocking exports of goods needed domestically, easing imports of goods in short supply, continuously monitoring production and inventory, and moving quickly to rebuild — together, these interlinked policies allowed the industry to move from an operational crisis toward capacity recovery and market stability.

From Emergency Days to a Return to Production

The Third Imposed War tested the petrochemical industry on technical, managerial, and regulatory fronts all at once. Some complexes and infrastructure were damaged, but the flow of raw materials to downstream industries never stopped, and the market was managed through a coordinated set of policies.

Today, the gradual return of units to the production cycle, rising product supply, and the rollout of rehabilitation and reconstruction programs mark a new chapter in post-crisis management. At this stage, the Ministry of Petroleum and the National Petrochemical Industries Company continue to pursue three goals in parallel: sustaining production, ensuring a stable supply of domestic needs, and restoring lost capacity.

The experience of the Third Imposed War made clear that petrochemical resilience isn't defined by the walls of individual complexes. It takes shape only when production, feedstock, energy, transportation, the market, imports, exports, and downstream industries are managed as one coordinated chain — a chain that, under the fourteenth administration, passed one of its hardest tests and is now on the path to reconstruction and full capacity recovery.