Donald Trump disavowed Israel’s air strikes against Iran’s South Pars gas field, claiming that the U.S. “knew nothing” about the attack.The president tried to wash his hands of Israel’s late-night assault, which marked a major escalation in the Iran war. Moments later, however, Trump promised that he, too, would “massively blow up” Iran’s gas field if Tehran did not stop attacking Qatar.“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,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social late Wednesday. “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.” Trump further claimed that Iran was not aware that Israel was behind the attack, and instead retaliated against Qatar’s energy infrastructure. The South Pars gas field is one of the largest natural gas reserves in the world. It is located offshore in the Persian Gulf and is shared between Iran and Qatar. The field contains an estimated 1,800 trillion cubic feet of usable gas and supplies countries all over the world. For context, the enormous reserve is estimated to contain enough gas to meet global demand for 13 years.Israel’s ambush will only serve to add more pressure on the global gas supply. Energy prices soared last week after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway through the Middle East that funnels approximately one-fifth of all crude oil shipments. The price of Brent crude, a global oil benchmark, surged from a pre-attack low of $106 per barrel to as much as $118 per barrel by Thursday morning.U.S. diplomats don’t see how Trump could have been left in the dark on Israel’s sudden bombardment. Dan Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel posted on X late Wednesday that there was “zero, I mean zero, chance” that Israel would have struck the energy target without giving U.S. Central Command “full visibility.”Later that evening, reports emerged that both Israeli and American officials had confirmed that the U.S. knew in advance about the attack, but that Trump changed his tune once Iran struck Qatar, according to Axios. “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,” Trump continued in his post. “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 is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so.”Trump told reporters Tuesday that he would withdraw from the war “in the very near future,” but that he wasn’t ready to leave yet. Leaving may not be a feasible option anytime soon, however. The president’s allies noticed a shift in regional power earlier this week, warning that while the early days of the war may have indicated an immediate victory, prolonged U.S. involvement in the conflict has dramatically increased the likelihood of boots on the ground. The changing tide has fueled concern that Trump could draw the country into yet another open-ended Middle East conflict.Israel’s latest attack has left key Trump officials at a loss for words. At a press conference early Thursday morning, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth couldn’t seem to muster up an explanation for why the U.S. was continuing to fight this unpopular war alongside such a volatile ally.“Why are we helping Israel prosecute this war if they are pursuing their own objectives?” asked a reporter from the far-right outlet The Gateway Pundit.“We hold the cards, we have objectives, those objectives are clear,” Hegseth said. “We have allies pursuing objectives as well. The truth speaks for itself.… POTUS has made it clear, very clear.”