MADRID, March 19 (Reuters) - Spain will delay the presentation of its annual budget, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Thursday, as the cabinet puts together a package of emergency measures to counter the economic impact of the Iran war.

These measures - due to be announced on Friday - will focus on cushioning the blow from rising fuel and electricity prices caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Gas prices have risen by more than 60% since the U.S. and Israel started attacking Iran on February 28.

The head of US intelligence declined again Thursday to endorse President Donald Trump's claim that Iran posed an "imminent" threat before the United States and Israel launched military strikes.

Testifying on the war in the Middle East before the House Intelligence Committee, Tulsi Gabbard doubled down on her claim from a day earlier that this determination is "the responsibility of the president" -- a position that had already drawn sharp pushback from Democrats.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that Washington might lift sanctions on Iranian oil that is already being shipped, as energy prices soar due to the war in the Middle East.

The deliberation comes as Washington scrambles to ease high energy costs that have been filtering down to US consumers, although a Trump administration official added that "oil and gas export restrictions are not under consideration."

By Jaidaa Taha, Yousef Saba, Jana Choukeir and Yomna Ehab

March 19 (Reuters) - European gas prices surged 28% and oil gained 6% on Thursday after Iran attacked energy infrastructure in the Middle East in retaliation against Israeli attacks on it gas facilities, marking the biggest escalation of the nearly three-week war.

The Iranian aerial attacks caused extensive damage to the world's largest gas plant in Qatar, targeted a refinery in Saudi Arabia, forced the United Arab Emirates to shut gas facilities and started fires at two Kuwaiti refineries.

MOSCOW, March 19 (Reuters) - A senior Russian official called on Thursday for the creation of a safety zone around Iran's Russian-built Bushehr nuclear plant to prevent a major disaster, two days after a projectile struck within several hundred metres of its reactor.

Alexei Likhachev, head of state nuclear corporation Rosatom, said there were 72 tons of fissile material and 210 tons of spent nuclear fuel at the site, and that any strike on it could lead to a catastrophe.

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that the United States' objectives in the war against Iran have not changed since strikes started on February 28.

The United States has carried out strikes against 7,000 targets inside Iran so far, and hit more than 40 Iranian mine-laying vessels and 11 submarines, according to the Pentagon.

"Our objectives, given directly from our America-first president, remain exactly what they were on day one," Hegseth told reporters.

The blast struck without warning in the Palestinian town of Beit Awa, sending a hail of missile fragments through a beauty salon and killing four women inside.

In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the first Palestinian deaths in the Middle East war have sharpened a sense of helplessness as they find themselves ensnared in the crossfire of yet another conflict.

Issa Masalmeh was sitting nearby when a loud bang startled him to his feet at around 9:30 pm on Wednesday and he saw debris hurtling down from the sky.

WASHINGTON, March 19 (Reuters) - The United States has carried out strikes against Iran-aligned militia groups in Iraq, the top U.S. general said on Thursday.

"AH-64s have been striking against Iranian-aligned militia groups to make sure that we suppress any threat in Iraq against U.S. forces or U.S. interests," General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters.

(Reporting by Phil Stewart, Idrees Ali, Katharine Jackson, Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Here are the latest developments in the Middle East war:

- Iran says not behind Oman attacks -

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said Tehran and allied forces in the region were "in no way" behind attacks on Oman and Turkey during the war, instead blaming "deception by the Zionist enemy", referring to Israel.

- Khamenei: enemy 'defeated' -

Khamenei said the enemies of the Islamic republic were being defeated in the war against the US and Israel in a written message for the Persian New Year, Nowruz.

Iran executed three men on Thursday who were accused of killing police officers during protests in January, with activists warning of the risk of a new surge in hangings as war rages with Israel and the United States.

They were the first hangings Iran has carried out related to the nationwide demonstrations that were met with a brutal crackdown by the authorities.

Rights groups said the trio, who included a teenager who had taken part in international wrestling competitions, were executed without a fair trial and had given confessions under torture.