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PULSE POINTS

❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump late Wednesday claimed the United States had no prior knowledge of Israeli military strikes targeting Iran’s South Pars natural gas field.

👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: President Donald Trump, the U.S. military, Israel, Iran, and Qatar.

📍WHEN & WHERE: The Israel strikes occurred earlier this week, with President Trump responding to the potentially escalatory situation on Truth Social late Wednesday.

💬KEY QUOTE: “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.” — Donald Trump

🎯IMPACT: The Israeli strike and Iranian retaliation are seen as significant escalations in the ongoing war, threatening critical energy infrastructure an an estimated 20 percent of the global supply of liquified natural gas (LNG).

President Donald J. Trump late Wednesday claimed the United States had no prior knowledge of Israeli military strikes targeting facilities servicing Iran‘s South Pars natural gas field. Situated in the middle of the Persian Gulf, the natural gas field is split between Iran and Qatar, and forms a critical part of the former’s domestic energy infrastructure.

“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,” President Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, continuing, “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. 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.”

The U.S. President went on to state that Israeli strikes on the South Pars natural gas field will cease, but warned Iran against any further retaliatory attacks against Qatar and its energy infrastructure. “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,” Trump said, adding, “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.”

Still, a number of experts and government sources suggest it is highly unlikely that the United States was not made aware of the Israeli strikes against the South Pars natural gas field in advance. “Trump can post whatever he likes. But there is zero, I mean zero, chance the IDF would conduct a strike in that location without giving CENTCOM full visibility,” former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter), adding, “Trump knew (and approved). Now he realizes it caused a major escalation with Iran’s (entirely unjustified) attacks on Gulf energy targets.”

Similarly, Axios’s Barak Ravid claims sources in both the Israeli and U.S. governments have told him the Trump administration had prior knowledge of the Israeli strikes. This directly contradicts President Trump’s claims, with Ravid contending, “After the Iranians retaliated against Qatar’s gas fields, Trump is now changing course.”

The combined South Pars (Iran) and North Dome (Qatar) natural gas field is—by a significant margin—the world’s largest deposit. In total, the field covers an estimated 3,700 square miles, with Qatar’s North Dome processing facilities at Ras Laffan Industrial City producing around 20 percent of the global LNG supply. While destroying the entire natural gas field is a near impossibility, as it sits nearly 10,000 feet below the Persian Gulf’s seabed and is contained within a sprawling formation of porous rock, the further destruction of industrial facilities in Qatar could cause significant global economic damage.

Image by Stefano Campolo.

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