Trump says Israel will not carry out any other strikes on South Pars field unless Iran retaliates
US president warns he will 'massively blow up' entire field if Qatar's gas facility is hit again
Photo:Celal Gunes/AA
ISTANBUL
US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Israel will not strike Iran's South Pars gas field again unless Tehran retaliates while warning that any further attack on Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) 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 authorize such destruction given its long-term consequences for Iran's future but would not hesitate if forced to act.
An Israeli airstrike targeted the Iranian side of the South Pars gas field 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.
A regional escalation has intensified since Israel and the US launched a joint offensive on Iran on Feb. 28, killing around 1,300 people so far, including then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile strikes targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Gulf countries that are home to US military assets.
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