DOHA/RIYADH — US President Donald J. Trump said an angry Israel “violently lashed out” and attacked Iran’s major gas field, a significant escalation in the US-Israeli war, but ruled out further such attacks by Israel unless Iran retaliated.

Wednesday’s attack on the huge South Pars gas field drove oil prices higher and prompted a threat by Iran to attack oil and gas targets across the Gulf, while it fired missiles at Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

The escalation heightens the unprecedented disruption of global energy supplies that has raised the political stakes for Mr. Trump, who joined Israel in attacking Iran nearly four weeks ago.

Qatar’s state oil giant QatarEnergy reported “extensive damage” after Iranian missiles hit the Ras Laffan Industrial City that processes about a fifth of global gas supply.

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh on Wednesday and an attempted drone attack on a gas facility in its east.

On Thursday, Iran again targeted Qatar’s gas facilities and its missiles also targeted the Saudi capital.

QatarEnergy “sizeable fires” and extensive damage at several of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities targeted in missile attacks early on Thursday.

Mr. Trump said the United States did not have advance knowledge of Israel’s attack, adding that Qatar had not been involved.

“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,” Mr. Trump posted on X on Wednesday.

“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.

“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.”

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal said Mr. Trump had approved of Israel’s plan to attack Iran’s natural gas field.

South Pars is the Iranian sector of the world’s largest natural gas deposit, which Iran shares with Qatar, a close US ally and host of the United States’ biggest military base in the Gulf.

Since the start of the conflict, Tehran has targeted not just Israel, but US diplomatic and military facilities across the Gulf and warned its neighbors not to host attacks on Iran.

With de-escalation nowhere in sight, Mr. Trump is considering sending thousands more US troops to the Middle East, according to a US official and three people familiar with the planning.

Those troops could be used to restore the safe passage of oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for a fifth of the world’s oil trade.

ISLAMIC FOREIGN MINISTERS CONDEMN IRAN ATTACKS
The foreign ministers of 12 Muslim-majority countries meeting in Riyadh denounced Iran’s strikes on Gulf neighbors and called for an immediate halt.

Iran’s targeting of residential areas and civilian infrastructure, such as oil facilities, airports and desalination plants, could not be justified under any circumstances, the ministers said in a statement.

“This pressure from Iran will backfire politically and morally and certainly we reserve the right to take military actions, if deemed necessary,” Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a press conference after the diplomats met in Riyadh.

Interceptors were seen fired from near the Riyadh hotel where the conference was held around the time the ministers gathered for the consultative meeting on the Iran war.

The United Arab Emirates shut down its Habshan gas facility after it intercepted missiles fired in what its foreign ministry called a “terrorist attack” by Iran.

More than 3,000 people have been killed in Iran since the US -Israeli attacks began on Feb. 28, the US-based Iran human rights group HRANA estimates.

Authorities in Lebanon say 900 have been killed there and 800,000 forced to flee their homes.

Iranian attacks have killed people in Iraq and across the Gulf states, and at least 13 US military service members have been killed in the war. — Reuters

WASHINGTON — China does not currently plan to invade Taiwan in 2027 and seeks to control the island without the use of force, the US intelligence community said on Wednesday, striking a measured tone on one of the world’s biggest potential flashpoints.

The assessment in the intelligence agencies’ annual report on global threats comes as Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan with frequent military drills, even as US President Donald J. Trump has played down the risk of Chinese military action while he is in office.

The Pentagon late last year said the US military believed China was preparing to be able to win a fight for Taiwan by 2027, the centenary of the founding of its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and was refining options to take Taiwan by “brute force” if needed.

“China, despite its threat to use force to compel unification if necessary and to counter what it sees as a US attempt to use Taiwan to undermine China’s rise, prefers to achieve unification without the use of force, if possible,” the US intelligence agencies said in the report.

The US “assesses that Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027, nor do they have a fixed timeline for achieving unification,” the report said.

It reiterated previous views that the PLA was making “steady but uneven” progress on capabilities it could use to capture the democratically governed island.

Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington said Taiwan will continue to monitor China’s activities and “remain vigilant at all times.”

“China has never abandoned the use of force against Taiwan, and its continued military intimidation and gray-zone operations pose serious threats not only to Taiwan but also to regional peace and stability,” it said in a statement.

China’s embassy in Washington did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Mr. Trump, who has repeatedly touted his “great relationship” with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, has downplayed the threat of the Chinese drills around Taiwan and said Mr. Xi told him he will not attack Taiwan while the US president is in office — something Beijing has never confirmed.

China views Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to take the island under its control. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.

PRESSURE ON JAPAN TO INTENSIFY
Despite concerns in the US and abroad about Mr. Trump’s inclination to back Taiwan, his administration in December unveiled a record $11-billion sale of weapons for the island, angering Beijing, which says such arms deals must end.

Nonetheless, some Japanese officials have worried Mr. Trump may be prepared to soften support for Taiwan in pursuit of a trade accord with China, a move they fear will embolden Beijing and spark conflict in an increasingly militarized East Asia.

Tokyo had been unnerved by muted US rhetorical support for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi after her remarks last year that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese military response. Mr. Trump reportedly told her privately not to escalate the ensuing diplomatic row with Beijing.

In Wednesday’s report, the US intelligence agencies called Ms. Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan a “significant shift” for a Japanese leader, a framing that is likely to irk Tokyo just a day ahead of a delicate visit by her to the White House. Ms. Takaichi has maintained her stance was consistent with Japan’s longstanding policy. “China is employing multidomain coercive pressure that probably will intensify through 2026, aimed both at punishing Japan and deterring other countries from making similar statements about their potential involvement in a Taiwan crisis,” the report said. — Reuters

BRUSSELS — European Union (EU) leaders will attempt to find quick fixes to curb the jump in energy prices triggered by the Iran war when they meet for a summit on Thursday, but they have few easy options.

Europe’s heavy reliance on energy imports means the continent is heavily exposed to surging prices caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which some 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies normally pass.

European gas prices have increased by more than 60% since the US-Israeli war on Iran began on Feb. 28.

“This, once again, confirms the key strategy for the EU is to ensure the decarbonization of industries,” Lithuanian Energy Minister Zygimantas Vaiciunas told Reuters, referring to Europe’s plans to replace fossil fuels with locally produced low-carbon energy sources over the coming years.

In the short term, however, “there is no single instrument or silver bullet that would easily cope with this challenge,” he added.

Some governments are doubtful that the EU — whose 27 member states have vastly different energy mixes and national taxes on energy — can realistically offset a price spike resulting from the unprecedented disruption in global markets.

“We will not find the magic solution, unfortunately,” one EU diplomat said.

‘TARGETED TEMPORARY MEASURES’
Draft conclusions for the summit, seen by Reuters, said leaders would instruct the European Commission to “present without delay a toolbox of targeted temporary measures to address the recent spikes in the prices of imported fossil fuels.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday laid out options the EU executive is exploring. They omitted major EU interventions, instead promising tweaks to the bloc’s emissions trading system and suggesting that governments cut national taxes or increase state aid for struggling industries.

None of the options is expected to dramatically cut prices while the Strait of Hormuz effectively remains shut.

Each has potential downsides. Allowing more state aid at the member state level could deepen divides between wealthy and poor countries, while cutting energy taxes is challenging for governments racing to increase public spending on defence.

Leaders are particularly split over how to approach the emissions trading system (ETS), the EU’s most ​important climate change policy. Launched in 2005, the ETS forces power plants and industries to buy permits to cover ‌CO2 emissions.

Ms. Von der Leyen said the Commission would adjust a reserve regulating the ETS’ supply of emission permits to curb prices in the short term.

Ten EU leaders including Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and Poland’s Donald Tusk, demanded deeper changes on Wednesday, including more free CO2 permits for industry.

A second camp of countries, including Spain and the Netherlands, oppose weakening the system.

Leaders will wrangle over what instructions to hand to the commission.

Their draft conclusions ask Brussels to bring forward a planned review of the ETS to July, “while preserving the essential role of the ETS in the climate and energy transition” — wording diplomats said not all countries supported.

The draft conclusions also set out multiple deadlines, many this year, for measures to boost the EU’s competitiveness and help it close the gap with rivals — the US and China — including an “EU Inc” plan presented on Wednesday to simplify rules on creating innovative startups. — Reuters