Qatar Gas Plant Attack: Donald Trump issued a clear ‘warning’ aimed at deterring further escalation involving critical energy assets in the Gulf. The US President said late on Wednesday the attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field was carried out by Israel, and the US and Qatar were not involved in it. Trump also said Israel would not make any more attacks on Iranian facilities in South Pars unless Iran attacked Qatar, warning that the US would attack those facilities if Iran acted against Doha.
Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the South Pars attack. According to the Wall Street Journal and Axios, Trump knew of Israel’s plan to attack the Iranian part of the world’s largest natural gas deposit in advance and supported it. Iran shares the South Pars field with Qatar, a close US ally.
“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 wrote on Truth Social.
Iran had said earlier that Israel struck its facilities in South Pars on Wednesday in a major escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran that sent oil prices shooting higher.
Tehran retaliated by promising attacks on oil and gas targets throughout the Gulf, firing missiles at Saudi Arabia and also hitting Qatar’s Ras Laffan Industrial City, an energy-industry hub.
Doha rebuked Israel for a “dangerous and irresponsible” attack on Iran’s South Pars facilities, and condemned Iran for what it called “a flagrant breach” of international law, expelling two senior Iranian diplomats.
Why Qatar Matters?
Trump wrote on social media that Iran “unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility.”
“NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and 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.”
South Pars, located in southwest Iran, is the country’s largest natural gas field and a central pillar of its energy system. It accounts for roughly 75 per cent of Iran’s natural gas production, while natural gas fuels about 85 per cent of the country’s electricity grid.
The field is widely regarded as the world’s largest natural gas reserve and is shared between Iran and Qatar.
The US and Israel launched the war on Iran on February 28. The attacks have killed thousands in Iran, including its supreme leader and security chief.
Tehran has responded with its own attacks against Israel and Gulf countries that host US military bases. The war has shaken markets and caused unprecedented disruption to oil supplies fuelling a surge in prices.
India and Qatar: Energy Ties
Several LNG facilities at the Ras Laffan site, which typically produces about a fifth of global supply, were the subject of missile attacks, causing fires and extensive damage, QatarEnergy said in a statement on Thursday. While shipments from the plant had already been halted earlier this month due to the war, the latest strikes threaten to keep gas prices in Europe and Asia higher for longer.
Qatar halted LNG production in early March after its facilities came under attack amid the ongoing West Asia conflict, disrupting supplies to India and squeezing feedstock availability for key domestic sectors.
China and India were Qatar’s biggest buyers in 2025.
India, which depends on long-term LNG contracts with Qatar for a significant share of its gas needs, has seen a temporary suspension of cargoes, leading to supply cuts up to 40 per cent for a range of industrial consumers and city gas distribution (CGD) companies.
While some industrial users can switch to alternative – though costlier – fuels, the CNG-retailing city gas sector has warned of severe stress. CGD operators said replacing contracted Qatari volumes with spot LNG priced at more than double the contracted rate could erode CNG’s price advantage and result in a permanent shift of customers to electric vehicles.
(With agency inputs)
