U.S. President Donald Trump reacted angrily late Wednesday to an Iranian missile attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, which processes gas from the Arab state’s part of the South Pars Field, the largest natural gas field in the world.
Iran’s attack was in retaliation for what it said was an Israeli strike on its part of the same field, which is located in the middle of the Persian Gulf. Israel has not taken credit for that attack.
Trump, in a post to Truth Social, distanced himself from the attack, saying Israel had “violently lashed out” at the natural gas field without U.S. knowledge.
“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.
In a warning to both Israel and Iran, he said, using all caps, that “NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL” on the South Pars Field. If Iran “unwisely decides to attack” despite this, the U.S. “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.
“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, but if Qatar’s LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so,” he said.
Ras Laffan Industrial City is responsible for roughly 20% of the global LNG supply.
