Israeli Officials Said U.S. Was Told about South Pars Attack [View all]
Source: New York Times
March 19, 2026 Updated 2:24 p.m. ET
An Israeli strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field was coordinated with the Trump administration in advance, according to three Israeli officials, despite President Trump’s initial assertion in a social media post that the United States “knew nothing about” it. “The United States knew nothing about this particular attack,” Mr. Trump wrote in the social media post late Wednesday, saying that Israel had “violently lashed out.” A day later, Mr. Trump appeared to have changed course.
Speaking to reporters Thursday at the White House, Mr. Trump implied that he had spoken about the strike ahead of time with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. ”I told him don’t do that,” Mr. Trump said. He went on to say, “we’re independent. We get along great. It’s coordinated.”
Israel has not commented publicly on the attack, carried out on Wednesday, or on Mr. Trump’s effort later Wednesday to distance the United States from it. Three Israeli officials briefed on the South Pars strike said on Thursday that the United States was informed before the attack. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive diplomacy.
Mr. Trump added in his social media post that Qatar, a U.S. ally, “was in no way, shape or form, involved with it,” nor “had any idea that it was going to happen.” The South Pars gas field is shared between Qatar and Iran. Hours after Wednesday’s attack on South Pars, natural gas facilities in Qatar were hit by strikes. Qatar blamed Iran.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/19/world/middleeast/israel-iran-south-pars-gas-field-trump.html
No paywall (gift)
= new reply since forum marked as read