Washington, March 19: US President Donald Trump said that the United States “knew nothing” about Israel’s strike on Iran’s South Pars gas field and warned Tehran of massive retaliation if it “unwisely” targets Qatar again, after Iran struck a portion of Qatar’s LNG facility following the attack.

Trump on Wednesday night (Local time) said Israel had “violently lashed out” at the South Pars Gas Field, “out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East,” but stressed that “a relatively small section of the whole has been hit.”

He underlined that Washington had no prior role in the operation. “The United States knew nothing about this particular attack,” Trump said, adding that “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.”

According to Trump, Iran responded without full knowledge of the circumstances. “Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility,” he said.

The US President issued a clear warning aimed at deterring further escalation involving critical energy assets in the Gulf. “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,” he said.

Trump added that any future Iranian attack on Qatar would trigger overwhelming US action. “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,” he said.

At the same time, he signalled reluctance to escalate further. “I do not want to authorise 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 said.

According to The Wall Street Journal, escalating attacks on Persian Gulf oil-and-gas infrastructure are sending the US-Israeli war with Iran into a dangerous new phase that threatens to worsen the crisis over global energy supplies.

“Israel and Iran had already hit energy facilities throughout the nearly three-week-old war, but Wednesday’s attacks struck some of the world’s most important hubs and raised the prospect of tit-for-tat volleys against oil-and-gas facilities,” the financial daily said.

Already, the conflict has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic chokepoint between the Persian Gulf and the wider world that carries about 20 per cent of the global oil and liquefied-natural gas supply during normal times, it said.

The developments have heightened tensions across the Persian Gulf, with energy infrastructure emerging as a key flashpoint. Iran warned countries around the region that a number of energy assets are now “legitimate targets” following the strike on South Pars.

South Pars, located in southwest Iran, is the country’s largest natural gas field and a central pillar of its energy system. It accounts for roughly 75 per cent of Iran’s natural gas production, while natural gas fuels about 85 per cent of the country’s electricity grid.

The field is widely regarded as the world’s largest natural gas reserve and is shared between Iran and Qatar.

The European Union (EU) has condemned a Pakistani airstrike on a medical facility in Kabul, describing it as a deadly escalation in the ongoing conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The EU urged both sides to exercise maximum restraint and take all feasible measures to protect civilians, warning that attacks on civilian and medical facilities violate international humanitarian law.

The statement comes after a Pakistani strike on Monday night targeted the 2,000-bed Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital in Kabul’s Pul-e-Charkhi area, killing hundreds and injuring several others.

“Civilian and medical facilities must never be targeted, as they are protected under International Humanitarian Law, including the Geneva Conventions. All parties engaged in military operations have the obligation to respect these provisions under all circumstances,” the EU said.

The EU joined the international community in calling for an immediate ceasefire and the resumption of dialogue between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Afghanistan’s Acting Foreign Minister, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, on Tuesday claimed that the attack carried out by Pakistani forces at Omid Addiction Treatment Hospital killed more than 408 patients undergoing drug rehabilitation and injured over 265.

Addressing ambassadors, heads of missions, and representatives of international organisations in Kabul, Muttaqi said the strikes occurred around 9 p.m. on March 16 and were conducted by “military aircraft and drones of the Pakistani military regime,” deliberately targeting one of the most vulnerable groups in Afghan society.

He added that the victims were drug-addicted individuals receiving treatment through Afghan government programmes supported by international humanitarian organisations, and warned that the numbers could rise further.

Muttaqi accused Pakistan’s military of showing no regard for Islamic or humanitarian principles of warfare, deliberately striking civilian and humanitarian facilities, and highlighted that the assault came during the final days of Ramadan and on the eve of Eid al-Fitr.

He said Afghan security forces had responded with proportionate and defensive measures, targeting only military sites from which attacks were launched, and reiterated that such actions would continue until Pakistan ceased its “violations and crimes.”

New Delhi, March 17: The situation in Afghanistan is going from bad to worse and in the latest attack by Pakistan, 400 people were killed in an airstrike. Officials said this escalation is a dramatic one and signals that Pakistan has no plans of stopping the war that it got into with Afghanistan.

This is the deadliest strike in Afghanistan following the one that took place in 2021 when the US troops were withdrawing from the country. In that attack, which was a suicide bombing, 169 Afghan civilians and 13 US service members were killed.

Since the start of the war in February, there have been repeated clashes between the two sides in the border areas. Pakistan has also used its air power extensively to subdue the Afghan Taliban.

Officials said that Pakistan knows that it cannot sustain boots on the ground with the Taliban. It has tried reaching out to the Taliban, but Kabul has remained firm that it wants no interference from Islamabad.

Another official said that Pakistan is attempting a regime change in Afghanistan. The targeting of a hospital is an attempt by Islamabad to send across a message to the Taliban that they would have to come to the negotiating table, the official added.

Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson, Mandullah Fitrat, said the airstrike had hit the hospital at around 9 p.m. local time. A large section of the 2,000-bed facility had been destroyed. He also said that the death toll so far stood at 400, while the number of those injured was at 250. Around 2,000 people were being treated at the drug treatment hospital when the strikes took place.

Fitrat said that rescue operations are on and teams are working to control the fire and recover the bodies. The casualties are likely to be higher, the spokesperson also said.

The ramifications of this strike could be huge, Afghanistan watchers said.

It is clearly a miscalculation by Pakistan, and in this act of madness, it has only managed to unite the Afghan people further. The Afghan people, who were initially not siding with the Taliban, started backing the regime after Pakistan threw out Afghan refugees. This was seen as an act of barbarism by the people of Afghanistan, and they started justifying the Taliban’s actions against Islamabad.

Pakistan was, however, quick to deny any role in the attack. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s spokesman, Mosharraf Zaidi, said that the allegations made by Kabul are baseless and no hospital was targeted.

Pakistan further said that the strikes precisely targeted military installations and terrorist support infrastructure that included technical equipment storage and ammunition storage of the Afghan Taliban. Pakistan continued to claim without proof that the Afghan Taliban is backing terror groups to target innocent Pakistani civilians.

Islamabad has been attacking Afghanistan since February 26. While Pakistan claims that it has hit military targets, the fact remains that there have been many misses as a result of which there have been a large number of civilian casualties.

With the latest strikes, there have been at least 475 civilian deaths, while 1,15,000 people have been displaced.

Officials said that Pakistan is out to destroy Afghanistan, and the targeting of civilians clearly shows that. Pakistan is also looking to take advantage of the fact that the world is focused on the war in Iran.

With no intervention from the rest of the world, Pakistan hopes to inflict maximum damage on the people of Afghanistan, officials also added.

Since the start of the war, Pakistan has been attempting to change the regime in Afghanistan. Islamabad realises that the regime has the backing of the people. This explains why so many civilians are being targeted.

Media accounts clearly suggest that the Afghan people are ready to go with their children to the border and fight against the Pakistan Army.

The Pakistan Army wants to dissuade the people from backing the Taliban and hence is resorting to killing civilians, officials also said.