Trump throws Israel under bus for gas field strikes, warns Iran against retaliation

Trump sought to distance the US and Qatar from the Israeli strike on Iran's South Pars gas field, and also warned off Tehran from lashing out by attacking the energy infrastructure of Washington's Gulf allies.

In Short

• Trump said US was unaware that Israel would strike Iran's South Pars gas field
• Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Qatar's main LNG facility, also hit UAE
• Trump warned against further escalation, threatening to blow up Iran gas hub

Israel will not carry out further attacks on Iran’s vital South Pars gas field, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday, while warning Tehran against targeting Qatar’s energy infrastructure amid tit-for-tat strikes in the Middle East that sent global oil prices soaring.

"Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran," he said in a post on Truth Social. "A relatively small section of the whole has been hit."

Trump was quick to distance Washington from the South Pars strikes, claiming it was solely an Israeli operation. "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," he said.

His remarks came in the wake of Iran threatening retaliation across the Gulf. In a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Iranian authorities warned that five energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar "will be targeted in the coming hours".

In short order, Iran launched missile strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, the country’s main liquefied natural gas hub, early on Thursday, according to Qatar’s Ministry of Defence. The site, a bedrock of the Gulf state’s economy, has been repeatedly targeted during the conflict.

"Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility," Trump said.

The US President warned Tehran against further escalation, threatening to "blow up" the whole of South Pars gas field if the Ayatollah regime continues attacks on Qatar's energy facilities.

"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 -- 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 at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before," he wrote.

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