Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world
Donald Trump said he has decided not to go ahead with a new attack on Iran after Gulf allies asked the US to hold off because the “perimeters of a deal” had been agreed.
The US president said in a social media post on Saturday night that the US remained “locked and loaded and ready to go” against the Islamic republic, but he had decided to cancel a threatened strike “subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL”.
Trump made the Truth Social post days after he warned that the US would hit Iran “very hard”, raising the threat of a return to full-blown war as he sought to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
He said the US had been “asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries” to withhold any new strikes and that Israel “joins me in this commitment”.
Trump added that the “perimeters of a deal” included the immediate and complete reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and an “end to Iran’s nuclear threat”.
A diplomat briefed on the talks said officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates called US counterparts in a co-ordinated bid to convince Washington to stick to the diplomatic process and hold off on strikes.
Saudi Arabia said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had also spoken with Trump to stress “the importance of making every possible effort to achieve calm that paves the way for diplomatic solutions, preserves the region’s security and stability, and prevents a wider conflict”.
Gulf states feared that a resumption of US strikes against Iran would trigger an intense round of fighting that would spread to multiple fronts and plunge the region into further chaos, the diplomat said.
There is also concern that a new flare-up in the war would lead to Iranian-backed Houthis, who have escalated their conflict with Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, attempting to close the Bab al-Mandab, another key waterway which links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and ultimately the Indian Ocean.
Trump has in recent days stepped up his threats to launch a new round of attacks against Iran as he has become increasingly frustrated over floundering diplomatic attempts to convince Tehran to agree to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
On Friday, the US president said: “We’ll be hitting them very hard and at some point they are going to say, ‘We just can’t take it any more’.”
Hours later, CBS News reported that the US and Israel were preparing to launch an aggressive joint bombing campaign against Iranian energy infrastructure.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to comment directly on the report but said Iran had “broken” a memorandum of understanding signed in June that was supposed to serve as a framework for ending the conflict.
Mediators have been seeking to broker a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz since the collapse of the June 17 MoU, under which the warring parties agreed to extend an April ceasefire by 60 days and for shipping through the waterway to gradually return to prewar levels.
That interim deal — which was supposed to lead to talks on a final settlement to end the war — unravelled after Iran began attacking ships transiting the strait along Oman’s coastline. Tehran, which has sought to retain control over the chokepoint as its main source of leverage with the US, said the ships were using an “unauthorised” route.
The US responded to the attacks on vessels by striking Iran, which prompted Iranian forces to retaliate by firing missiles and drones at bases used by American forces in Kuwait, Jordan, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
There was a brief pause in the fighting as diplomatic efforts were stepped up to revive the MoU, with Oman — whose territorial waters run through the strait — holding talks with Iran in a bid to reach a provisional arrangement to allow shipping to resume.
But those negotiations have struggled to make headway as Iran sought to maintain control over the strait, while Oman was reluctant to cede its sovereign territory in relation to the waterway.
The conflict, which is in its sixth month, flared up again after Iranian forces on Tuesday launched ballistic missiles at US military installations in the region, prompting retaliation from Washington.
The US and Israel first launched strikes against Iran on February 28. Tehran retaliated by largely closing the Strait of Hormuz, sending global oil prices soaring.
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said he had held calls with his counterparts in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on Saturday night.
He told Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan that Tehran would deliver a “decisive and proportionate” response to any US-Israeli “hostile actions” or any “participation and co-operation” by regional states.
Additional reporting by Bita Ghaffari in Tehran
