The president says that the leaders of several Gulf Arab states asked him not to carry out the strikes.
President Donald Trump on Monday said that the U.S. military will not strike Iran in what he called a planned attack on Tuesday.
In a post on Truth Social, the U.S. president wrote that the strike on Iran “was scheduled for tomorrow” but said it was called off because he and other leaders believe “a deal will be made” with Tehran that “will be very acceptable” to the United States. He added that the call-off of fresh military action was also at the behest of the leaders of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Saudi Arabia.
A potential deal “will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN,” the president wrote, adding that he told Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine to hold off on the Tuesday attack.
However, Trump warned that he has “further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”
The comment comes as Trump told the New York Post earlier on Monday that negotiations with Iran are still underway and declined to comment on several details of a possible deal.
“I can tell you they want to make a deal more than ever, because they know we’re—what’s going to be happening soon,” Trump told the newspaper, adding: “It’s a negotiation. I don’t want to be stupid.”
For more than a month, a ceasefire between the United States and Iran has mostly held up. However, a drone strike sparked a fire on the edge of the United Arab Emirates’ sole nuclear power plant on Sunday in what authorities called an “unprovoked terrorist attack.”
No one was blamed in the drone strike, but it highlighted the risk of renewed war as the United States and Iran signaled they were ready to fight again. There were no reported injuries or radiological release.
The UAE, which has hosted air defenses and personnel from Israel, recently accused Iran of launching drone and missile attacks. Tensions have risen over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital energy waterway gripped by Iran, which is under a U.S. naval blockade.
