We are ending our live coverage of day 20 of the war in Iran, as US President Donald Trump issued a daring threat to Iran, vowing to blow up the entirety of the world’s largest gas field, the South Pars, if attacks on Qatari LNG facilities repeat.
Iran intensified its attacks on oil and gas facilities around the Gulf on Thursday, including on Qatar's Ras Laffan, in retaliation for an Israeli attack on a key Iranian gas field, dramatically raising the stakes in a war that is sending shock waves through the global economy.
Trump said he had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to strike any more Iranian gas fields, but vowed to “blow up the entirety” of the South Pars if Tehran repeats attacks on Qatari LNG facilities.
Trump in a post on Truth Social, says Israel acted alone without US knowledge in the attack, but has promised they would not target the site again.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later confirmed Trump's statement, saying Israel had acted unilaterally. "Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh gas compound... President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks and we're holding out," he said.
The strikes on Qatari and Iranian gas fields have caused further spikes in an already rapidly worsening global energy price crisis. Brent crude shot up by roughly 5 per cent following the incidents, and now trades at roughly $108 a barrel.
Netanyahu also said that Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles.
"We are taking action to destroy the industries that make it possible to build missiles. Iran no longer has the capacity to enrich uranium and manufacture ballistic missiles," Netanyahu said at a televised press conference. "We are winning and Iran is being decimated," he added.
Trump insisted that he was not sending ground troops to Iran. "If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you. But I'm not putting troops anywhere," Trump told reporters as he met Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
Meanwhile, US-Israeli attacks are continuing to pound Tehran, as Iran retaliates with its own strikes on Israel and the wider region. The death toll has spiked in all fronts of the war, now nearing 1,450 in Iran, 912 in Lebanon, 17 in Israel, 21 across the Gulf and 13 US troops.
