The US would hold off new strikes against Iran, US President Donald Trump said, after the Islamic Republic and other Middle Eastern nations told him they are working toward a deal.
Trump said he would agreed to cancel the attack, “subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.”
“Get to work, everybody, and get it DONE,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Photo: Reuters
Axios reported earlier that Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had urged Trump to refrain from new strikes, citing people familiar with the conversation.
The Saudi Press Agency yesterday said the kingdom’s de facto ruler stressed the need for dialog to deescalate tensions in a call with Trump.
The US was asked “to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to,” Trump said.
“This would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” he added.
Israel has agreed to join him in the commitment, Trump said.
A member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, Zev Elkin, said the Israelis are waiting out the latest diplomatic push.
The US military had been ordered to carry out fresh attacks as soon as this weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
Trump said at a Cabinet meeting the same day that the US would be hitting Iran “very hard” in an effort to bring an end to the conflict.
“And at some point they’ll say we just can’t take it anymore,” he was quoted as saying.
The prospect of yet more attacks had stoked worries across a Middle East roiled by waves of tit-for-tat strikes since the US and Israel launched the war on Iran in late February. The stop-start fighting has repeatedly disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, driving sharp swings in energy prices.
Major OPEC+ nations yesterday agreed in principle to another token increase in their production quotas for next month. The move would complete the theoretical revival of supplies halted in 2023 and give scope to add more barrels once the Middle East war ends.
US embassies across the Middle East on Saturday warned Americans that they should be prepared for flight cancelations, periodic airspace closures and other travel disruptions as tensions remain elevated.
Elkin said there was “some kind of vector toward an agreement between Iran and Oman.”
The two nations held discussions last month that sought to reopen the Hormuz strait.
“We’ll all wait to see if this vector really does become a full agreement, and whether it will be implemented and where it’s all leading,” he said.
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