President Donald Trump has slammed his war partner Israel for an attack on a vital energy facility in Iran, claiming he had no prior knowledge of the strike.
On Wednesday, an Iranian facility linked to South Pars, the largest natural gas field in the world, was bombed. The gas field is Iran’s largest domestic energy source and is shared with Qatar.
Israeli media reported the strike was carried out by Israel with U.S consent, with The Wall Street Journal saying the attack was planned to sever an economic pipeline for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Trump claimed differently in a furious Truth Social post on Wednesday evening, saying he had no advance warning about Israel’s plans.
“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,” Trump wrote.
“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,” the president added.
However, reports indicate that the U.S. was informed about Israel’s plans.
The Associated Press quoted a source who said the U.S. knew about the plan, but did not take part in the bombing. The source declined to say if the Trump administration agreed with Israel’s attack.
New reporting by Semaphor also backed the claim that the Trump administration knew, while Axios reported senior Israeli and U.S. officials were aware of the strike in advance and “even approved it” to put pressure on Iran.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
Trump changed course after Iran’s retaliatory strikes, according to Axios.
QatarEnergy also confirmed several of its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facilities were the subject of missile attacks on Thursday morning, causing extensive further damage but no reported casualties.
Trump claimed Iran had “unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility.”
He added, “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.”
Trump then warned Iran that if it attacked Qatar, America “with or without the help or consent of Israel” would wipe out the entire South Pars operation.
“I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran,” Trump said, “but if Qatar’s LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so.”
The latest attacks on energy infrastructure in the Middle East saw oil prices surge even higher. Brent crude prices, the international benchmark, rose by over 7 percent to $111.23 a barrel after the strike.
After the attack, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry declared the Iranian embassy’s military and their staff persona non grata, demanding they leave Qatar within 24 hours.
“Qatar considers this assault a dangerous escalation, a flagrant violation of its sovereignty, and a direct threat to its national security,” it said.
“The Iranian side continues its escalatory policies that are pushing the region toward the brink and drawing countries not party to this crisis into the conflict zone.”
