US Knew Gas Field Strike Was Planned, Israeli Officials Say

President Trump's shifting account of an Israeli strike on a major Iranian gas field has become more muddled. Three Israeli officials said the attack on Iran's South Pars gas field was coordinated with the Trump administration in advance, despite the president's initial claim online that the US "knew nothing" about it and that Israel had "violently lashed out." By Thursday, Trump suggested the opposite, telling reporters he had warned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, "Don't do that," then adding of the relationship, "We're independent. … It's coordinated." Israel has not publicly acknowledged the strike, the New York Times reports.

South Pars, which Iran shares with Qatar, is part of the world's largest gas field; hours after the attack there, Qatari facilities were also hit, with Qatar blaming Iran. QatarEnergy's CEO told Reuters on Thursday that strikes by Iran have knocked out 17% of the country's liquefied natural gas export capacity, accounting for $20 billion yearly in lost revenue. The loss also threatens supplies to Europe and Asia, Saad al-Kaabi said. "I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that Qatar would be—Qatar and the region—in such an attack, especially from a brotherly Muslim country in the month of Ramadan," he said.