Trump threatens to 'massively blow up' Iran's major South Pars gas field if they hit Qatar again

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump said Wednesday night that Israel would carry out no more attacks on Iran’s massive South Pars gas field, unless Tehran takes another shot at Qatar, in which case the United States would “massively blow up the entirety” of the site.

The late-night threat landed as the conflict sent global energy markets into another spin and Iranian missiles struck Qatar.

Taking to Truth Social, Trump said he was reluctant to approve that scale of destruction but made clear he was ready to do it if Iran hit Qatar’s liquefied natural gas infrastructure again.

“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, while adding that he would “not hesitate to do so” if Qatar’s LNG facilities were attacked another time.

Trump says Israel hit South Pars

Trump said the strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field was carried out by Israel and insisted that neither the United States nor Qatar had any hand in it.

“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,” he 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.”

That strike appeared to set off Iran, which targeted energy facilities across the Gulf and threatened even more damaging attacks after the key gas field was hit. This raised fears on Thursday that the confrontation could widen into an all out assault on fuel supplies.

Trump argued that Tehran either did not know or ignored the circumstances surrounding the South Pars strike before lashing out at Qatar. “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 noted.

He then tried to set a hard condition for what comes next. “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.”

Threat of massive retaliation

That said, Trump’s message quickly turned from warning to outright threat. He said the U.S. would act with or without Israel if Iran escalated further by striking Qatar again.

“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.

He followed that with a note that sounded almost restrained by comparison.

“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. Thank you for your attention to this matter. President DONALD J. TRUMP,” he concluded.

The warning came after Israel killed the Islamic Republic’s intelligence chief Esmail Khatib, the latest blow in a series of strikes that have practically hollowed out Iran’s top leadership since the war began nearly three weeks ago.

Iran warns it will hit back again

Tehran signaled it was in no mood to back down after the strike on South Pars, saying it would answer forcefully if its energy sector was targeted again.

“We warn you once again that you made a big mistake in attacking the energy infrastructure of the Islamic Republic,” the Revolutionary Guards said in a statement carried by Iranian media. “If it is repeated again, further attacks on your energy infrastructure and that of your allies will not stop until it is completely destroyed.”

Meanwhile, QatarEnergy said several of its LNG facilities were struck in missile attacks early Thursday, leaving behind “sizeable fires” and extensive damage.

“Emergency response teams were deployed immediately to contain the resulting damage with no reported casualties,” the company said in a statement.

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