Trump claims ignorance, slams Israel's attack on Iran's South Pars gas field

US President Donald Trump has claimed that the US didn’t know about Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field, saying Tel Aviv will not strike it again unless Tehran retaliates, while threatening that any further attack on Qatar's liquefied natural gas infrastructure would prompt the US to destroy the entire facility.

"The United States knew nothing about this particular attack (on the South Pars field), 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 his Truth Social platform.

His claim appeared to contradict earlier reports that Washington had known about the attack in advance but did not participate in it.

He said Iran had "unjustifiably and unfairly" struck a portion of Qatar's LNG facility in the Ras Laffan Industrial City after failing to understand those facts.

Trump described the Israeli strike on South Pars as Israel having "violently lashed out" at the facility "out of anger," saying only "a relatively small section" of the field had been hit.

He warned that if Qatar's LNG infrastructure were hit again, the US would "massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field" with or without Israeli involvement at a scale Iran had "never seen or witnessed before."

He said he did not want to authorise such destruction given its long-term consequences for Iran's future but would not hesitate if forced to act.

An Israeli air strike targeted the Iranian side of the South Pars gas field on Wednesday, halting production at two major refineries.

Qatar reported two separate missile attacks on the Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar's main LNG production hub, on Wednesday and early Thursday.

In response, Qatar declared Iranian military and security attaches at its embassy along with their staff persona non grata.

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Source: TRT