Israeli officials push back on US claim that Trump knew nothing about gasfield attack

Middle East crisis: Israeli officials push back on US claim that Trump knew nothing about gasfield attack


Three Israeli officials tell Reuters that the US actually helped coordinate Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars gasfield

Large fire at South Pars gasfield after Israeli strike


Lucy Campbell (now) ; Tom Ambrose, Taz Ali, Hamish Mackay and Adam Fulton (earlier)

Fri 20 Mar 2026 04.51 AEDT


00.29 AEDT

Israel says US helped coordinate gasfield attack, despite Trump's claim he knew nothing about it

We’ve just heard from Pete Hegseth. He reiterated the claim from Donald Trump that the US president knew nothing about the attack on Iran’s South Pars gasfield.

However, Reuters is reporting that Israel says its attack on the gas facilities was coordinated with the United States.

Israel has not publicly acknowledged responsibility for the South Pars attack. On Wednesday night, Trump said in a social media post that Washington “knew nothing about this particular attack” and that Israel would not attack the gas field further unless Iran again attacked Qatar.

The three Israeli officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said that Israel was not surprised by Trump’s comments.

They described the dynamic as similar to one that played out after Israel struck fuel depots in Iran several weeks ago. After those attacks, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said that in “that particular case those weren’t our strikes”.

Updated at 00.49 AEDT

5m ago 04.51 AEDT
Lucy Campbell

Asked about Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars gasfield, Donald Trump confirmed that he spoke to Benjamin Netanyahu about it – though he was not explicit about when exactly they spoke – and said he told the Israeli prime minister not to carry out further attacks on Iran’s oil and gas facilities.

He told reporters:

Yeah I did, I told him don’t do that … And he won’t do that … We’re independent. We get along great. It’s coordinated. But on occasion, he’ll do something, and if I don’t like it … So, we’re not doing that any more.

Yesterday, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that Washington “knew nothing about this particular attack” and that Israel would not attack the gasfield further unless Iran again attacked Qatar. In that case, he said, the US would “massively blow up” the gasfield.

23m ago 04.33 AEDT

Iranian attack damages Israeli oil refinery in Haifa

An Iranian missile attack hit Israel’s Oil Refineries in the northern port city of Haifa but did not cause “significant damage“, Israel’s energy ministry said on Thursday.

Energy minister Eli Cohen said power was briefly disrupted, with electricity restored to most of those who were affected, Reuters reported.

“The damage to the power grid in the north is localized and not significant,” Cohen said. “Also, in the barrage towards the north, there was no significant damage to Israeli infrastructure sites.“

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted refineries in Haifa, Israel’s third-largest city, and in Ashdod, in the country’s south, “along with a range of security targets and military support centres of the Zionist regime“, which it said “were hit by pinpoint missiles“.

There was no immediate word on whether the Ashdod refinery was hit.

43m ago 04.13 AEDT

Trump says he is not putting US troops in region amid Iran war

US president Donald Trump on Thursday suggested he was not looking at deploying more soldiers to the Middle East amid the Iran war.

“I’m not putting troops anywhere,” Trump said, asked by a reporter whether he was planning to send more service members to the region.

“If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you. But I’m not putting troops.”

Trump spoke at the White House during an Oval Office meeting with Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi.

Reuters reported on Wednesday that the Trump administration is considering deploying thousands of US troops to reinforce the Iran operation, citing a US official and three people familiar with the matter.Share

54m ago 04.02 AEDT

The UN’s maritime body called Thursday for the creation of a safe shipping “corridor” in the Gulf to evacuate stranded vessels and seafarers, after an emergency meeting that also condemned Iran.

Following two days of urgent talks in London convened due to the Middle East war, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) said the “safe maritime corridor” should be established as “a provisional and urgent measure”.

IMO secretary-general Arsenio Dominguez said the “humanitarian corridor” would “evacuate ships in the Persian Gulf through the strait of Hormuz”.

The UN agency – responsible for regulating international shipping safety – noted the focus should be on “those currently confined within the Gulf region through peaceful means and on a voluntary basis”.

1h ago 03.42 AEDT

Hannah Ellis-Petersen


Oman’s foreign minister has claimed the US has “lost control of its own foreign policy” and accused Israel of persuading Donald Trump’s administration to go to war with Iran – a conflict he described as a “catastrophe” and “grave miscalculation”.

Writing in the Economist, Badr Albusaidi, the Omani minister who mediated the latest nuclear talks between Iran and the US, offered an unusually damning assessment of events leading up to the US and Israel’s bombing of Iran and the war that it has triggered across the Middle East.

“It was a shock but not a surprise when on 28 February – just a few hours after the latest and most substantive talks – Israel and America again launched an unlawful military strike against the peace that had briefly appeared really possible,” wrote Albusaidi.

Of all the Gulf countries, Oman was the most vocal and publicly proactive in trying to halt a US attack on Iran, although other states – including the UAE and Qatar – also worked hard to find diplomatic solutions and warned Trump that a war would be devastating for the region.

According to Albusaidi, Iran and the US had been on the “verge of a real deal” in the nuclear negotiations held in Geneva in February, describing the talks as “substantive”.

Oman claims Israel pushed US into Iran war when deal was possible

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We can "depend" on the shailoks to "order" their wankee Ma Cai into attacking Iran.

And we can "depend" on the idiotic wanks to blindly obey the "order" of their Lord & Master, even if at their own (wankee) expense.