Donald Trump has indicated that he will order the total destruction of a huge Iranian gas field in South Pars if Iran attacks a Qatari liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility again.
The US president confirmed via Truth Social that Israel’s air force hit the gas field in South Pars, arguing that the US “knew nothing” about the bombing, which triggered Iran’s retaliation against the facility in Ras Lafan, Qatar.
“There will be no further attacks by Israel on this extremely important and valuable South Pars field, unless Iran mindlessly decides to attack someone very innocent, in this case Qatar — in which case the US, with or without Israel’s help or consent, will massively blow up the entire South Pars gas field with a force that Iran has never seen or known before.”he interpreted.
Reinforcement and Harg Island
US President Donald Trump’s administration is weighing the deployment of thousands of additional troops to bolster those already fighting Iran, Reuters news agency reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, including unnamed US officials.
According to the agency, the deployment would give President Trump “additional options” should he decide to expand operations as the war enters its third week.
These “options” include possible operations to ensure safe navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which would require mainly air and naval assets, but also possibly the deployment of US troops in coastal areas of Iran, according to Reuters sources.
Sending ground forces to Kharg Island is being discussed, according to sources and officials. One of the sources, however, stressed that such an operation would by definition be extremely dangerous, as this island, from which 90% of Iran’s oil is extracted, is within range of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The US bombed military targets on the island on March 13 and President Trump has also threatened to destroy Iranian energy infrastructure in Kharg, but due to its vital importance, capturing it would have more benefits than destroying the facilities, analysts say.
The deployment of ground forces, even if assigned limited missions, carries great political risks for the US president, given the low level of US public support for the war.
There has also been talk of tasking special forces with taking highly enriched uranium from Iran, according to one of the sources. This source noted that he does not think this will happen immediately, but did not want to go into details about operational planning issues.
The fires in Ras Laffan were extinguished
Fires that broke out in Qatar at the world’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility due to an overnight Iranian missile attack have been “fully contained”, the Gulf emirate’s interior ministry said.
“Civil protection has completely contained all the fires in the Ras Laffan industrial zone,” the source assured, stressing that there were no injuries and that extinguishing and security operations are continuing.
QatarEnergy announced that its liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facilities in Ras Laffan were hit by a missile in the early hours of the morning, causing “large fires” and “extensive further damage”.
