Trump Threatens to ‘Blow Up’ the World’s Largest Gasfield

Israel has damaged an Iranian-Qatari gasfield responsible for 20% of the world’s liquefied natural gas supply, with US president Donald Trump threatening to destroy it further if Iran continues to retaliate. 

News outlets have published videos showing the South Pars gas facility – which is responsible for 70% of Iranian domestic energy production – on fire overnight. Gas prices have soared globally this morning, with prices in the UK up by 23% at time of writing. 

In response to the attack, Iran launched missiles at US-allied Gulf states Qatar and Saudi Arabia overnight, with QatarEnergy reporting “extensive damage” at the Ras Laffan Industrial City facility responsible for a fifth of global gas supply. 

Trump took to his Truth Social platform to deny foreknowledge of the Israeli attack and to warn Iran against further retaliation. 

“The United States knew nothing about this particular attack,” he said, adding: “NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field.”

However, should Iran continue attacking “innocent” Qatar, Trump promised to “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”.

Despite publicly vowing no US involvement in the attack on the South Pars gasfield, senior Israeli and US officials told the Wall Street Journal that Trump approved it. 

Iran hit Qatar’s Ras Laffan for a second time early this morning, shortly before Trump posted his message. Yesterday, Iran fired five ballistic missiles at Qatar, with four intercepted and the fifth hitting the gas facility. 

With the Strait of Hormuz still on lockdown, oil prices have also touched their highest level since  the peak of supply chain issues caused by the Russia-Ukraine war in March 2022.

Sophia Sheera is a journalist in Novara Media’s social media team.