Trump: Israel acted out of anger in South Pars gas field strike, US not involved

A day after the Israeli strike on a strategic gas field in Iran, US President Donald Trump condemned the Israeli attack early Thursday morning, which was allegedly carried out in coordination with the Americans. Trump posted on his social network, TRUTH: "Israel, out of anger over what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as the South Pars gas field in Iran. A relatively small section of the whole has been hit. 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 continued in the post: "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. NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely 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."

On Wednesday, the Israeli Air Force attacked a gas processing facility in southwest Iran. The strike on the "South Pars" gas field was the first time Israel targeted natural gas facilities in Iran — a critical asset for the Iranian economy. Several hours later, the Iranians launched two missile attacks toward Qatar and hit gas facilities there, causing "extensive damage" but no casualties. South Pars is the Iranian sector of the world's largest natural gas field, which Iran shares with Qatar.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Israeli strike was intended to hit an important source of income for the Revolutionary Guards. According to Israeli and American officials, the attack was indeed coordinated with President Trump. The goal of the strike was to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The officials said that Trump believed Tehran had received the message and wanted to avoid further attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure.

QatarEnergy continued to report damages Thursday morning as well: "In addition to the previous attack, QatarEnergy confirms that in the early hours of Thursday, March 19, 2026, several of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities were subjected to missile attacks, which caused large fires and extensive additional damage. Emergency response teams were immediately deployed to contain the damage, with no reports of casualties."

In addition, Saudi Arabia announced that it intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles that were launched toward Riyadh on Wednesday, as well as an attempted attack on a gas facility in Mazra using a UAV. On Thursday, Iran again targeted Qatar’s gas facilities and the Saudi capital.