The suspension of new strikes that were being planned against Iran was announced by U.S. President Donald Trump in the early morning hours of Saturday (Greece time). According to Trump, the decision was made following a request from Tehran and other countries in the region, on the condition that an agreement would be reached soon.
On Friday, the U.S. president had threatened during a cabinet meeting to order strikes against Iran “very hard.” The following day, he posted on Truth Social that the U.S. military was “ready” to strike “the Islamic Republic of Iran at a level of military terror and power (…) the world has not seen since World War II.”
Because Iran “requested it,” he decided to cancel “any attack”
Nevertheless, he continued, because Iran and other “Middle Eastern countries” had “requested it,” he decided to cancel “any attack.” “Based on this request, I agreed (…) for the good of the world (…) to cancel the attack, on the condition that a deal is reached quickly. Israel joins me in this commitment,” he wrote. The Republican’s announcement followed his administration’s warning to U.S. citizens to consider “leaving” the Middle East due to a potential “escalation” of the war in the region.
According to U.S. media, the Trump administration had been considering ordering new large-scale strikes — possibly within the weekend — targeting Iranian energy infrastructure in particular, including oil refineries and power stations. However, according to CBS News, citing unnamed sources, the Republican president had not yet given the green light.
In his post, Trump emphasized that any agreement between Washington and Tehran must include “the full and absolute opening of the Strait of Hormuz” — a phrase he typed in all caps for emphasis, as is his habit — as well as “the end of the Iranian nuclear threat.” Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Donald Trump on Friday to express his concerns about the consequences of the planned U.S.-Israeli strikes, particularly Iranian retaliation, according to the American news outlet Axios, which cited unnamed sources within the Trump administration.
De-escalation
One of Axios’s sources said that the Saudi crown prince urged Trump “to de-escalate” the war and “refrain” from the planned strikes. The White House did not immediately respond when AFP asked for comment on the information.
On Thursday, Pakistan — which is playing a mediating role — affirmed that the opposing sides were negotiating toward a de-escalation, particularly regarding the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically vital waterway at the center of the conflict that Tehran has effectively closed. The Iranian military, for its part, accused Washington of fueling “tensions” in the region and warned: “every country that serves as a defensive shield for criminal and aggressive America will be engulfed in the flames of war.”
The war in the Middle East erupted on February 28th, with U.S.-Israeli strikes against the Islamic Republic, which retaliated by launching missiles and drones against states across the region. The resumption of hostilities in early July derailed the preliminary agreement — the “Islamabad Protocol of Understanding” — signed by the U.S. and Iran in mid-June, which was supposed to pave the way for 60 days of negotiations aimed at bringing the war to a definitive end.
