US President Donald Trump publicly clarified the Israeli assault on Iran's South Pars natural gas field, affirming that neither the US nor Qatar "had any knowledge of this attack." He set a deadline ordering Iran to stop attacking Qatar; otherwise, the US military would initiate a full-scale destruction of all Iran's energy sites.
President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that the attack on Iran's South Pars natural gas field on Wednesday (18 Mar) was solely an Israeli operation, with neither the United States nor Qatar involved or aware of the plan in advance.
"The US had no knowledge of this attack whatsoever, and Qatar was not involved in any way, nor did it even know this event was going to happen."
However, reports from major media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Axios presented conflicting information, stating that Trump was informed of Israel's attack plan beforehand and supported the operation, which targeted part of the world's largest natural gas field shared between Iran and Qatar, a close US ally.
Trump clearly stated that Israel would not conduct further attacks on infrastructure in South Pars "unless" Iran foolishly decides to attack Qatar, which is innocent. Trump declared firmly:
"If Iran attacks Qatar, the US will completely destroy the entire South Pars gas field area, whether Israel assists or consents or not."
This event occurred after Iran accused Israel of destroying energy facilities in South Pars, escalating the conflict between the US-Israel alliance and Iran, immediately causing global oil prices to surge.
In retaliation, Iran fired missiles targeting oil and gas sites across the Persian Gulf, including cross-border attacks into Saudi Arabia and the Ras Laffan industrial zone in Qatar, which Trump condemned as unjust and wholly undeserved attacks against Qatar.
The war, which began on 28 February, has already claimed thousands of lives in Iran, including the Supreme Leader and the head of Iran's security forces. Iran responded with missile strikes against Israel and Gulf countries hosting US military bases, shaking global financial markets and causing an unprecedented halt in energy exports.
.SourceReuters