Trump Issues New Threat to Iran as Oil Prices Jump

Oil prices briefly hit $119 a barrel over a potentially volatile new phase of the Iran war, reports CNBC. The chain of events began Wednesday when Israel launched an attack on Iran's portion of the massive South Pars gas field, which also runs into Qatar. Iran responded with retaliatory attacks on energy hubs in the region, most notably at a major gas facility in Qatar called Ras Laffan, per the Washington Post. That prompted a Wednesday night Truth Social post from President Trump, who threatened to "blow up the entirety" of the Iranian portion of South Pars if Qatari infrastructure is attacked again, per the Wall Street Journal.

Trump also stressed Washington had no role in the Israeli strike on South Pars and pledged that Israel would launch no further such attacks on the field—unless Iran kept hitting Qatar. "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 (liquid natural gas) is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so," he wrote. The threat capped a day of tit-for-tat strikes that rattled global energy markets. "An eye for an eye equation is in effect, and a new level of confrontation has begun," said Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf after Wednesday's strike on South Pars.