Washington, March 19 (IANS) US President Donald Trump said that the United States “knew nothing” about Israel’s strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field and warned Tehran of massive retaliation if it “unwisely” targets Qatar again, after Iran struck a portion of Qatar’s LNG facility following the attack.
Trump on Wednesday night (Local time) said Israel had “violently lashed out” at the South Pars Gas Field, “out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East,” but stressed that “a relatively small section of the whole has been hit.”
He underlined that Washington had no prior role in the operation. “The United States knew nothing about this particular attack,” Trump said, adding that “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.”
According to Trump, Iran responded without full knowledge of the circumstances. “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,” he said.
The US President issued a clear warning aimed at deterring further escalation involving critical energy assets in the Gulf. “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,” he said.
Trump added that any future Iranian attack on Qatar would trigger overwhelming US action. “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 said.
At the same time, he signalled reluctance to escalate further. “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 said.
According to The Wall Street Journal, escalating attacks on Persian Gulf oil-and-gas infrastructure are sending the US-Israeli war with Iran into a dangerous new phase that threatens to worsen the crisis over global energy supplies.
“Israel and Iran had already hit energy facilities throughout the nearly three-week-old war, but Wednesday’s attacks struck some of the world’s most important hubs and raised the prospect of tit-for-tat volleys against oil-and-gas facilities,” the financial daily said.
Already, the conflict has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint between the Persian Gulf and the wider world that carries about 20 per cent of the global oil and liquefied-natural gas supply during normal times, it said.
The developments have heightened tensions across the Persian Gulf, with energy infrastructure emerging as a key flashpoint. Iran warned countries around the region that a number of energy assets are now “legitimate targets” following the strike on South Pars.
South Pars, located in southwest Iran, is the country’s largest natural gas field and a central pillar of its energy system. It accounts for roughly 75 per cent of Iran’s natural gas production, while natural gas fuels about 85 per cent of the country’s electricity grid.
The field is widely regarded as the world’s largest natural gas reserve and is shared between Iran and Qatar.
–IANS
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