Three Israeli officials stated that the United States was aware of and coordinated with Israel in its strike against Iran’s South Pars gas field, contradicting President Donald Trump’s claim that Washington “knew nothing about this particular attack.”
Trump later reversed course, telling reporters Thursday that he had instructed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “don’t do that.” He added: “You know, we’re independent. We get along great. It’s coordinated, but on occasion, he’ll do something, and if I don’t like it … and so we’re not doing that anymore.”
Netanyahu stated Thursday that Israel “acted alone against the gas compound” and added: “President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we’re holding out.”
The attack, which occurred Wednesday, triggered retaliation from Iran against key energy sites across Gulf Arab states and sent global energy prices soaring.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump declared that 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.” He also stated: “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 further warned Israel to end attacks on the South Pars gas field unless Iran “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.”
