US President Donald Trump said Israel had \u201cviolently lashed out\u201d at Iran\u2019s major gas field, marking a sharp escalation in the US-Israeli war, but warned no further strikes would follow unless Tehran retaliates.<\/p>\n
Wednesday\u2019s attack on the vast South Pars gas field pushed oil prices higher and triggered Iranian threats to target energy infrastructure across the Gulf, as missiles were fired at Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The\u00a0escalation\u00a0underscores unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies, raising political stakes for Trump, who joined Israel in strikes on Iran nearly four weeks ago.<\/p>\n
QatarEnergy reported \u201cextensive damage\u201d after Iranian missiles hit Ras Laffan Industrial City, which processes about one-fifth of global gas supply. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles headed for Riyadh on Wednesday, along with a drone targeting a gas facility in the kingdom\u2019s east.<\/p>\n
Read:\u00a0US war on Iran and its larger consequences<\/p>\n
On Thursday,\u00a0Iran again targeted Qatar\u2019s gas facilities, while missiles were also launched towards the Saudi capital. QatarEnergy said \u201csizeable fires\u201d broke out and extensive damage was caused at several liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in early morning strikes.<\/p>\n
Trump said Washington had no prior knowledge of Israel\u2019s attack and that Qatar was not involved.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Smoke and fire rise near the South Pars gas field following an attack, amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Bushehr Province, Iran, March 18, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Social Media\/via REUTERS<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael, out of anger\u2026 has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran,\u201d Trump wrote on X.<\/p>\n
He said Iran had acted \u201cunjustifiably\u201d in striking Qatar, adding: \u201cNo more attacks will be made by Israel\u2026 unless Iran unwisely decides to attack\u2026 Qatar.\u201d \u201cIn which instance the United States\u2026 will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field\u2026 at a strength and power that Iran has never seen,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Earlier, the\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0reported Trump had approved Israel\u2019s plan to strike the gas field. South Pars forms part of the world\u2019s largest natural gas deposit, shared between Iran and Qatar, a key US ally hosting Washington\u2019s largest regional military base.<\/p>\n
Since the conflict began, Tehran has targeted Israel as well as US diplomatic and military sites across the Gulf, warning neighbours against facilitating attacks. With no signs of\u00a0de-escalation, Trump is considering deploying thousands more US troops to the region, officials said. The troops could help secure oil tanker routes through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for around a fifth of global oil trade.<\/p>\n
Trump says Israel attacked Iran gas field without US and Qatari involvement<\/p>\n
President Trump said\u00a0Israel carried out the attack\u00a0on Iran\u2019s South Pars gas field, adding that neither the United States nor Qatar was involved.<\/p>\n
Trump said Israel would not launch further strikes on South Pars unless Iran retaliates against Qatar, warning that Washington would target the facilities if Tehran acted against Doha.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form involved with it,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social.<\/p>\n
Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the strike. However, the\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0and\u00a0Axios\u00a0reported that Trump was aware of Israel\u2019s plan to target the Iranian section of the world\u2019s largest natural gas field and supported it. Iran earlier said Israel struck its South Pars facilities on Wednesday, in a major escalation in the US-Israeli war that sent oil prices surging.<\/p>\n
Tehran retaliated by threatening attacks on oil and gas targets across the Gulf, firing missiles at Saudi Arabia and striking Qatar\u2019s Ras Laffan Industrial City, a key energy hub. Doha condemned Israel\u2019s strike as \u201cdangerous and irresponsible\u201d and criticised Iran for a \u201cflagrant breach\u201d of international law, expelling two senior Iranian diplomats.<\/p>\n
Trump said Iran had \u201cunjustifiably and unfairly\u201d attacked part of Qatar\u2019s LNG facilities, adding: \u201cNo more attacks will be made by Israel\u2026 unless Iran unwisely decides to attack\u2026 Qatar.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn which instance the United States\u2026 will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars gas field,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
The US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28. The conflict has killed thousands in Iran, including\u00a0senior leadership figures.\u00a0Tehran has responded with attacks on Israel and Gulf states hosting US military bases. The war has rattled global markets and disrupted oil supplies, fuelling a surge in prices.<\/p>\n
Islamic ministers condemn Iran strikes<\/p>\n
Foreign ministers from 12 Muslim-majority countries, meeting in Riyadh, condemned Iran\u2019s attacks on Gulf states and called for an immediate halt. In a joint statement, they said targeting residential areas and civilian infrastructure \u2014 including oil facilities, airports and desalination plants \u2014 \u201ccannot be justified under any circumstances\u201d. \u201cThis pressure from Iran will backfire politically and morally, and we reserve the right to take military action if deemed necessary,\u201d Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said.<\/p>\n
Read More:\u00a0Israel says killed Iran intel chief, tells military to hunt down officials<\/p>\n
Air defence interceptors were seen launched near the Riyadh venue during the meeting. The UAE shut its Habshan gas facility after intercepting missiles in what it described as a \u201cterrorist attack\u201d by Iran. More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran since the conflict began on February 28, according to US-based group HRANA.<\/p>\n
Lebanese authorities say 900 people have been killed there, with 800,000 displaced. Iranian strikes have also caused casualties in Iraq and across Gulf states, while at least 13 US service members have been killed in the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US President Donald Trump said Israel had \u201cviolently lashed out\u201d at Iran\u2019s major gas field, marking a sharp escalation in the US-Israeli war, but warned no further strikes would follow unless Tehran retaliates. Wednesday\u2019s attack on the vast South Pars gas field pushed oil prices higher and triggered Iranian threats to target energy infrastructure across …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2473,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2465\/revisions\/2473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistantimesusa.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}