JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump said Israel would no longer attack Iran's South Pars gas field unless Tehran retaliated.
Trump also warned that further attacks on Qatar's liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure would prompt the United States to destroy all of the facilities.
"The United States knew nothing about this particular attack (in the South Pars field) and the state of Qatar was not involved in it at all, nor did it know it would happen," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, as reported by ANTARA from Anadolu, Thursday, March 19.
The claim appears to contradict earlier reports that Washington had known about the attack in advance but did not participate in it.
He said Iran had unjustly and without basis attacked some of Qatar's LNG facilities in the Ras Laffan Industrial City after failing to understand the facts.
Trump described Israel's attack on South Pars as an act of Israel that strongly attacked the facility because it was angry and said only a small part of the field was hit by the attack.
He also warned that if the Qatardiserang LNG infrastructure was attacked again, then the United States would destroy the entire South Pars Gas Field in a large scale with or without Israel's involvement on a scale that Iran had never seen or witnessed before.
He said he did not want to allow the destruction given its long-term consequences for Iran's future, but would not hesitate if forced to act.
According to American and Israeli officials who spoke to the news site Axios, Trump's claim of no prior knowledge was inaccurate.
Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump had coordinated the attack with the aim of preventing Iran from disrupting oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, they said.
Axios also reported that Qatari officials contacted American special envoy Steve Witkoff and senior government officials after the first Iranian missile attack, to find out if the United States knew about the Israeli attack.
Witkoff is trying to arrange an urgent call between Trump and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, a source told the media.
Israeli airstrikes targeted the Iranian side of the South Pars gas field on Wednesday (18/3) to stop production at two major refineries.
Qatar reported two separate missile attacks on the Ras Laffan Industrial City on Wednesday (18/3) and Qatar's main LNG production center, on Thursday morning.
In response to the action, Qatar declared Iran's military and security attache and their staff at the Iranian embassy persona non grata.
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