U.S. President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that Israel carried out the attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field, and that neither the United States nor Qatar was involved.
Trump also said Israel would carry out no further attacks on Iranian facilities in South Pars unless Iran attacked Qatar. He warned that the United States would strike those facilities if Iran acted against Doha.
Israel hits Iran's gas sites
“The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape or form involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the South Pars attack. According to The Wall Street Journal and Axios, Trump knew in advance of Israel’s plan to strike the Iranian side of the world’s largest natural gas field and supported it. Iran shares the South Pars field with Qatar, a close U.S. ally.
Iran said earlier that Israel struck its facilities in South Pars on Wednesday, in a major escalation in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran that sent oil prices sharply higher.
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A partially constructed gas refinery at the South Pars gas field is seen on the northern coast of Persian Gulf in Asalouyeh, Iran, archive 2014
(Photo: Behrouz Mehri/ AFP)
Tehran responded by threatening attacks on oil and gas targets across the Gulf, firing missiles at Saudi Arabia and striking Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, a major energy hub.
Doha rebuked Israel for what it called a dangerous and irresponsible attack on Iran’s South Pars facilities, and condemned Iran for what it described as a flagrant breach of international law, expelling two senior Iranian diplomats.
Trump wrote on social media that Iran had “unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion” of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas facility.
“No more attacks will be made by Israel pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case Qatar,” Trump wrote. “In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars gas field.”
The United States and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28. The attacks have killed thousands in Iran, including its supreme leader and security chief.
Tehran has responded with its own attacks against Israel and Gulf states that host U.S. military bases. The war has rattled markets and caused major disruption to oil supplies, driving prices higher.
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