New Delhi: President Donald Trump has said that the US “knew nothing” about an Israeli attack on the largest natural gas field in Iran—South Pars.
Iran retaliated Wednesday to the Israeli strike, taking aim at a gas installation in Qatar. Trump has promised that Israel will no longer carry out such strikes, while vowing to retaliate if Iran continues to hit energy infrastructure.
“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. A relatively small section of the whole has been hit. 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 posted on Truth Social.
He added: “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. 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.”
The attack by Israel and Iran’s retaliation have brought a further spike in the price of oil, with the Brent crude futures benchmark touching $112 a barrel early Thursday morning. Israel had informed the US of its plans to strike the South Pars site, according to American news agency Associated Press.
Trump has, however, denied being informed by Tel Aviv about the strike. Israeli strikes on energy infrastructure in Iran have found pushback from a number of officials within the US. Israel had previously struck oil fields surrounding Tehran, which was criticised by Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the main supporters of Tel Aviv in the US Congress.
The US president has vowed to destroy the entire South Pars field, if Iran continues to strike at energy infrastructure within Qatar.
“I do not want to authorise this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran, but if Qatar’s LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.
The Israeli strike at South Pars led to Iran sending out warnings to the Gulf countries to evacuate staff from their energy manufacturing centre. Hours later, the Ras Laffan refinery run by QatarEnergy was struck.
“In addition to the previous attack on Ras Laffan Industrial City on Wednesday 18 March 2026 that resulted in extensive damage to the Pearl GTL (Gas-to-Liquids) facility, QatarEnergy confirms that in the early hours of Thursday 19 March 2026, several of its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities were the subject of missile attacks, causing sizeable fires and extensive further damage,” QatarEnergy said in a statement Thursday.
LNG is one of Qatar’s most important exports. The West Asian nation is also one of the most important sources of LNG for the Indian market. QatarEnergy has been targeted by Iran amid the current war triggered by the US-Israel strike on Tehran on 28 February.
According to reports, Iran also targeted the Habshan gas field, which was shut down by the United Arab Emirates Wednesday. No injuries were reported and all of the Iranian missiles were intercepted by the Emirati armed forces. The Habshan complex is a key pillar of the UAE’s extensive energy network.
The latest escalation taking aim at energy infrastructure in the region, has set off further fears of energy shortages globally.
Iran also confirmed Wednesday that its top national security adviser Ali Larijani was killed in a strike by Israel a day earlier. Iran has seen a number of its top officials killed by the US and Israel over the last three weeks.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)