Photo: Alamy | Analysis by Summer Lane
Operation Epic Fury has nearly hit its three-week mark, and as the fighting continues, energy prices continue to be threatened – and President Donald Trump is making it clear where he stands on the situation, even as the U.S. joint ally in this venture, Israel, has continued to target Iranian energy infrastructure.
“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,” President Trump wrote in a statement to Truth Social late Wednesday night.
He continued, “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. 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.”
To summarize the situation: Israel, reportedly without notifying its joint partner, the United States, struck a large Iranian energy swath known as South Pars – a very important and very critical oil field to the country. In retaliation, Iran attacked energy infrastructure in the Middle East, targeting Kuwait and Qatar, according to CBS.
This is a huge blow to global energy infrastructure. Qatar’s production of liquified natural gas, or LNG, could have serious implications for worldwide energy supplies, considering that Qatar is only topped by the U.S. as an exporter of LNG.
“As officials here try to figure out how to prevent the prices of oil going up even further, there’s an item crossing in the Wall Street Journal, that President Trump wants the Israelis to stop attacking Iran’s energy infrastructure for now,” said Fox News’ Peter Doocy.
The suggestion is certainly no secret. President Trump’s statement on Truth Social strongly highlighted his serious displeasure with the allegedly secret attack on Israel’s part.
“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,” President Trump added in his statement.
He said he didn’t want to see further destruction of Iran “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.”
It’s important to note that President Trump, throughout this conflict, has been careful to avoid damaging Iranian oil infrastructure and has notably taken a more restrained approach to the operation.
Even the U.S. military’s recent strikes on Kharg Island were limited to Iranian military sites, leaving the Persian Gulf oil sites fully intact.
Israel, by contrast, has not shied away from blanket-bombing its targets. Just a matter of days ago, Israel struck Tehran’s oil depot infrastructure, resulting in massive explosions and hellish fires throughout the city. According to Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, those strikes were not linked to the U.S. military. “Where [Israel’s] had different objectives, they’ve pursued them. Ultimately, we’ve stayed focused on ours,” he noted.
This suggests that, although joint partners in Operation Epic Fury, Israel’s goals differ significantly from those of the United States. The U.S. goals are focused on eliminating Iran’s weapons defense base, its Navy, and Iran’s ability to obtain a nuclear weapon.
This week, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard contrasted the goals of the Israeli military versus the U.S military forces, which seem to be entirely different.
“We can see through the operations that the Israeli government has been focused on disabling the Iranian leadership and taking out several members, obviously beginning with the Ayatollah and the supreme leader, and they continue to focus on that effort,” she stated, per NBC.
It seems clear that President Trump favors a more limited scope operation against Iran, and he is clearly seeking, as made obvious in his statement this week, to preserve the infrastructure in the Middle East – not destroy it.