NEW: Trump Distances U.S. From Israeli Strikes On Iranian Fuel Fields, Calls for Restraint
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday evening that the U.S. was not given prior knowledge on Israel’s strikes targeting a vital Iranian gas field, which was responded to with a counter strike on an equally important Qatari gas field. The president went on to demand restraint from Israel and vowed that additional strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure would not be carried out.
The president’s post was in reference to strikes that took place several hours earlier, when Israeli airstrikes targeted facilities at Iran’s South Pars gas field—the world’s largest natural gas reservoir, located offshore in the Persian Gulf and shared with Qatar. Iranian officials reported damage to multiple processing phases and associated infrastructure in the Asaluyeh region, which forced partial shutdowns of operations critical to the country’s energy output.
In direct retaliation, Iran launched missile strikes against Qatari energy sites, which caused extensive damage and fires at the Ras Laffan LNG industrial complex—one of the world’s premier liquefied natural gas hubs. Qatar’s state-owned energy firm confirmed significant operational disruptions, while the government expelled Iranian security officials in response.
Wednesday’s attacks came with significant implications for global oil and gas markets. South Pars (known as the North Field on the Qatari side) accounts for roughly 70 percent of Iran’s domestic natural gas production and plays a pivotal role in Qatar’s massive LNG exports, which supply markets across Asia, Europe, and beyond. Any sustained disruption here threatens regional energy security and could cascade into broader supply shortages.
The strikes come amid already tense conditions given the de facto Iranian blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for roughly 20 percent of global oil exports.
Markets reacted to the strikes instantly, as Brent crude surged more than 5 percent in trading, climbing toward $109 per barrel, while West Texas Intermediate followed suit. Natural gas prices as a whole jumped sharply in Europe, the United States, and Asia.
BREAKING:
Reports of massive damages of airstrikes today against the South Pars Natural Gas Field, which is the world’s largest gas field.
80% of Iran’s electric grid is gas-powered.
Qatar and Iran have long had an agreement through with Qatar more gas from the shared gas… pic.twitter.com/pTMeV2dfAQ
— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) March 18, 2026
President Donald Trump addressed the situation in a Truth Social post on Wednesday evening, in which he distanced the United States from the strikes and urged restraint going forward.
“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. 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,” the president wrote.
“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. 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 at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before,” he continued.
“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.”
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