New York Times: Israel Behind Attacks on Major Gas Pipelines in Iran

The sabotage targeted several points along two of Iran’s main natural gas pipelines. At the site of one attack, in Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, two people stared at flames from the explosion. Credit...Reza Kamali Dehkordi/Fars News Agency, via Associated Press
The sabotage targeted several points along two of Iran’s main natural gas pipelines. At the site of one attack, in Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, two people stared at flames from the explosion. Credit...Reza Kamali Dehkordi/Fars News Agency, via Associated Press
TT
20

New York Times: Israel Behind Attacks on Major Gas Pipelines in Iran

The sabotage targeted several points along two of Iran’s main natural gas pipelines. At the site of one attack, in Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, two people stared at flames from the explosion. Credit...Reza Kamali Dehkordi/Fars News Agency, via Associated Press
The sabotage targeted several points along two of Iran’s main natural gas pipelines. At the site of one attack, in Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, two people stared at flames from the explosion. Credit...Reza Kamali Dehkordi/Fars News Agency, via Associated Press

Israel carried out covert attacks on two major natural gas pipelines inside Iran this week, disrupting the flow of heat and cooking gas to provinces with millions of people, according to two Western officials and an Iranian military strategist.

They said the gas pipeline attacks by Israel required deep knowledge of Iran’s infrastructure and careful coordination, especially since two pipelines were hit in multiple locations at the same time, according to the New York Times.

The Western officials said Israel also caused a separate blast on Thursday inside a chemical factory on the outskirts of Tehran that rattled a neighborhood and sent plumes of smoke and fire into the air. But local officials said the factory explosion, which took place on Thursday, stemmed from an accident in the factory’s fuel tank.

The strikes represent a notable shift in the shadow war that Israel and Iran have been waging by air, land, sea, and cyberattack for years.

Israel has long targeted military and nuclear sites inside Iran — and assassinated Iranian nuclear scientists and commanders, both inside and outside of the country. Israel has also waged cyberattacks to disable servers belonging to the oil ministry, causing turmoil at gas stations nationwide.

But blowing up part of the country’s energy infrastructure marked an escalation in the covert war and appeared to open a new frontier, officials and analysts said.

According to a report from the Iranian News Agency, an explosion described as "sabotage" rattled the Burojen-Shahrekot gas pipeline in the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari provinces of southwest Iran early last Wednesday. There were no reported casualties from the incident.

Subsequently, the CEO of the Gas Company in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Governorate announced the resumption of gas transmission along the affected line near the city of Burojen.

“The enemy’s plan was to completely disrupt the flow of gas in winter to several main cities and provinces in our country,” Iran’s oil minister, Javad Owji, told Iranian media on Friday.

Mr. Owji, who had previously referred to the blasts as “sabotage and terrorist attacks,” stopped short of publicly blaming Israel or any other culprit. But he said that the goal of the attack was to damage Iran’s energy infrastructure and stir domestic discontent.



White House: Trump to Decide on US Action in Israel-Iran Conflict Within 2 Weeks

First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
TT
20

White House: Trump to Decide on US Action in Israel-Iran Conflict Within 2 Weeks

First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)
First responders inspect a heavily-damaged building at Soroka Hospital in Beersheba in southern Israel following an Iranian missile attack on June 19, 2025. (Photo by MAYA LEVIN / AFP)

The White House said on Thursday that President Donald Trump will make a decision on whether the US will get involved in the Israel-Iran conflict in the next two weeks.

Citing a message from Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters: "Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks."

Trump said Wednesday he doesn’t want to carry out a US strike on Iran but suggested he stands ready to act if it’s necessary to extinguish Iran’s nuclear program.

Russia warned the US against entering the Israel-Iran conflict.

“US military interference would be an extremely dangerous step with truly unpredictable negative consequences,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

The comments come after Iran’s state media said the country’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will meet with European counterparts in Geneva on Friday.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot did not confirm the Geneva meeting.

The message from Iranian authorities was “relatively clear: there is a willingness to resume talks, including with the United States, provided that a ceasefire can be reached,” Barrot told a news conference in Paris.

Barrot said that France and Europeans partners are ready to “resume negotiations” with Iran.