US President Donald Trump said on Sunday (IST) that he has agreed to call off planned weekend strikes on Iran after Tehran and other Middle Eastern countries asked him to hold off, claiming that the broad parameters of a deal had already been agreed upon. He said the emerging agreement includes the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, but warned that the pause in American strikes would only hold if a deal is finalised “rapidly.”
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the emerging deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”
“We have just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to [sic],” he wrote, adding: “Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.”
Trump said Israel has agreed to join the US in this commitment to try and finalise the agreement with Iran, which would bring an end to a war that has now stretched on for five months.
Israel did not immediately issue a public statement on the announcement. Tehran, meanwhile, warned the US over the weekend against any “adventurous action,” saying it would respond decisively if American forces went ahead with fresh strikes on Iranian targets.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi held separate phone calls on Saturday with senior Turkish, Pakistani and Saudi officials, hours after Kuwait’s military said it had detected and destroyed hostile drones targeting several of the country’s key installations.
Speaking with Pakistan’s Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Araqchi said Iran would respond decisively to any “aggression,” and discussed the fallout of what he called “destabilising actions” by the US, along with the risk of wider regional instability, according to his Telegram account.
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He later told his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, that any attacks by the US or Israel — or participation by regional countries in such action — would be met with a “proportionate response.”
According to a US official cited by Axios, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Trump on Saturday and “expressed concern and asked for clarity” over Washington’s plans for Iran.
Separately, Nournews — a media outlet affiliated with Iran’s top security body — said on Saturday that any American strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure would trigger Iranian retaliation against oil fields in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as gas fields in Qatar and Israel, warning that “all will be burned to ashes.”
With inputs from agencies
