Trump threatens to destroy Iran's South Pars gas field if Iran attacks Qatar again

On Wednesday night, President Trump posted a conditional threat to the world: if Iran attacked Qatar again, the United States would obliterate Iran's South Pars gas field—the planet's largest natural gas reserve. The pledge came as Israeli forces struck that same field earlier in the day, a move the U.S. had been informed about but did not participate in, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Trump's language was stark. He said he did not want to authorize the destruction because of what it would mean for Iran's future, but he would "not hesitate" if Qatar's liquefied natural gas sites were hit once more.

The threat arrived in the middle of an escalating regional war that has upended global energy markets and displaced over a million people from Lebanon alone. Since the conflict began on February 28, at least 1,300 people have been killed in Iran, more than 960 in Lebanon, 14 in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members. The fighting has turned the Middle East's energy infrastructure into a primary target. Oil prices jumped more than 5 percent to above $108 a barrel on international markets as traders absorbed the risk of further damage to critical facilities. The Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas travels, has become nearly impassable as Iran wages a pressure campaign against shipping in the region.

Qatar bore the brunt of Iran's immediate response to the Israeli strike on South Pars. Hours after the attack on the gas field, Iranian ballistic missiles hit Qatar's key liquefied natural gas site, sparking fires that caused what authorities described as extensive damage. Qatar's state-owned energy company confirmed the strike and said firefighters were working to contain the blazes. No one was reported hurt. The nation then ordered military and security attachés from the Iranian Embassy to leave within 24 hours. Qatar had already shut down its production earlier in the war, but the damage to its facilities could delay the return of its supplies to global markets once the conflict ends. For a country that has invested billions developing the field as a source of liquefied natural gas for export, the strike represented a significant blow.

Trump's account of events differed from what officials had said earlier. He claimed the U.S. "knew nothing" about the Israeli strike, but a person familiar with the matter had told reporters that morning that the U.S. had been informed of Israel's plans and chose not to participate. Trump also said Qatar "was in no way, shape, or form, involved" in Israel's attacks, and that Iran had "unjustifiably and unfairly" struck the country without understanding this fact. The South Pars field sits in the Persian Gulf and is shared by Iran and Qatar, who call their respective sides South Pars and the North Field. Iran depends on the field for 80 percent of its natural gas consumption, making it central to the country's domestic energy supply.

The attack on South Pars represented what analysts called a clear expansion of the conflict. A New York-based think tank, the Soufan Center, noted that unlike oil storage depots, liquefied natural gas production facilities cannot be quickly repaired, especially during wartime. The center said Israel's target selection throughout the war had focused on institutions and infrastructure used for domestic repression, but that the strike on South Pars suggested a new aim: to make living conditions for Iranian civilians intolerable and pressure the regime. The broader campaign against energy infrastructure was not limited to Iran. Saudi Arabia reported downing Iranian drones targeting its natural gas facilities. The United Arab Emirates denounced Iranian attacks on its Habshan gas facility and Bab field as a dangerous escalation. A cargo ship caught fire off the UAE coast after being struck by an unknown projectile, one of more than 20 vessels attacked since the war began.

The conflict has fractured what little remained of diplomatic trust in the region. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said after a meeting of Gulf Arab foreign ministers that "what little trust there was before has completely been shattered." He criticized Iran's attacks on Riyadh itself, calling them a signal of how Iran views diplomacy. "That's not going to work," he said. A unified statement from the summit—which included Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates—condemned Iran's "deliberate" attacks using ballistic missiles and drones on residential areas, civilian infrastructure, oil facilities, desalination plants, airports, and diplomatic missions. The nations said these attacks "cannot be justified under any pretext or in any way."

The human toll continued to mount across the region. In the occupied West Bank, an Iranian cluster munition that escaped Israeli air defenses struck a structure in Beit Awa, killing at least four people and injuring at least six others—the first fatalities in the West Bank since the war began. The Palestinian Red Crescent said paramedics faced serious delays reaching the scene because Israeli military gates around Palestinian towns, kept largely closed during the war, forced ambulances to take long alternative routes. In Lebanon, the Israeli military issued evacuation warnings for the city of Tyre and nearby villages and Palestinian refugee camps, sending freshly displaced people to shelters in Sidon. The Lebanese University campus opened its doors to accommodate them, initially without mattresses or blankets. One woman who fled the area described the chaos: "we immediately packed whatever we could and ran out to the street. Everything was in chaos, like the Day of Judgment."

Back at home, the war's political dimensions remained contested. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the original mission—taking out ballistic missiles and their means of production and neutering Iran's navy—was "virtually accomplished" and that the situation was "all but done" once calm returned. But former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who resigned this week, told Tucker Carlson that senior administration officials with doubts about the war had been prevented from sharing their concerns with Trump. "There wasn't a robust debate," Kent said, though he declined to say who had blocked his access to the president. In the Senate, Democrats forced another vote on a war powers resolution that would have halted Trump from continuing the conflict without congressional approval. The vote failed along familiar lines, unchanged from the previous week.