The US president has warned of an attack on the South Pars area if Iran targets Qatar in response to Israeli strikes

The US will "massively blow up" the South Pars gas field - the world's largest - if Iran continues to strike Qatari energy facilities, President Donald Trump has warned.

Israel launched strikes on Wednesday on Iran's facilities in the South Pars gas field in the Gulf, which it shares with Qatar. The South Pars spans almost 10,000 sq km and hosts an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet of gas. In response, Iran attacked a Qatari LNG facility and has threatened counterstrikes on key energy infrastructure across the Gulf region.

Multiple media outlets reported that the Israeli attack on South Pars had been coordinated with American officials, with a source to the Jerusalem Post suggesting the US was more accepting of strikes on gas infrastructure rather than on oil facilities.

However, Trump dismissed the report in a Truth Social post on Wednesday, claiming 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."

He acknowledged that Iran was not aware of this fact, leading to Tehran's attack on a Qatari LNG facility.

Trump went on to promise that "NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL" on the "extremely important and valuable South Pars Field." However, he warned Tehran that if it were to attack Qatar, the US - with or without 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."

Meanwhile, according to Reuters, the US is planning to send thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, which could be used for securing the Strait of Hormuz by occupying part of the Iranian coast, or disembarking on Iran's Kharg Island, the hub for 90% of the national oil exports.

Following Israeli strikes on the South Pars, Iran submitted letters to the UN in which it protested the decision by Qatar, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates to "make their territory available for United States attacks against our country."

(RT.com)