After the Israelis struck Iran’s South Pars gas field on March 18, Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, writing in Axios, cited Israeli sources claiming that the strike was coordinated with and approved by the Trump administration.
President Donald Trump went ballistic over that claim, denying in a Truth Social posting late last night that the U.S. side had any prior knowledge of Israeli intentions before they hit South Pars. “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,” Trump said. “The United States knew nothing about this particular attack (emphasis added—ed.), 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.”
“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,” Trump went on. “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—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. 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.”
