President Donald Trump has said the US will hold off on a fresh attack on Iran as long as a deal can be reached quickly to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump said on his Truth Social platform that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked for time to complete a deal that would lead to ‘the immediate, complete and total’ reopening of the vital strait and ‘an end to Iran’s nuclear threat’.
He did not name the countries in the post, which followed a call with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
“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 wrote.
Israel ‘joins me in this commitment’, he said.
Iran’s official news agency Irna reported that negotiations between Tehran and Oman over the Strait of Hormuz were in their final stages, citing Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi.
Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said negotiations were focused on agreeing a new route through the strait, adding that it had ‘no link to the Strait of Hormuz being opened or closed. That is a separate discussion’.
Last month Iran publicly rejected an Omani proposal, backed by Gulf states, to manage the strait they share. People familiar with the matter had told Reuters the plan included the collection of voluntary fees for using the strait.
Trump’s apparent de-escalation after days of threats of new attacks from each side was the latest twist in the war the US and Israel launched five months ago. Attacks have spread across the Gulf to the Red Sea and even a Mediterranean facility in Egypt. Iran has largely closed the Strait of Hormuz, a conduit for 20 per cent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas before the war, causing energy prices to rise and stoking broader inflation.
Eli Cohen, Israel’s energy minister and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet, said there was close security and intelligence co-ordination between Israel and the US on everything happening in the region.
But he added: “With or without an agreement, and regardless of any external commitments, if Iran attempts to renew its nuclear programme or advance its ballistic missile industries, we will be there. We will take action, and we will strike.”
Trump and Netanyahu met on Tuesday in Washington, with an Israeli official saying they had explored all possible paths to curb Iran’s nuclear programme, including diplomacy, economic pressure and force. Tehran denies seeking a nuclear weapon.
Iran’s acting defence minister, Brigadier General Majid Ebn Al Reza, said Tehran viewed recent US threats as ‘psychological and cognitive warfare’.
In his call with Trump, the Saudi Crown Prince stressed the ‘necessity of prioritising dialogue to de-escalate tensions’ in the Middle East, according to Saudi Arabia’s state news agency.
A White House official told Reuters that the two had spoken but did not provide details.
At a cabinet meeting on Friday, Trump said he believed US negotiators, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, could reach a deal with Iran.
As an April ceasefire in the war unravelled last month, benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 24 per cent, and analysts polled by Reuters expect prices to rise further this year.
Trump has argued that his stated goal of keeping Iran from gaining nuclear weapons justifies higher fuel costs in the near term, but the economic pain has put political pressure on him to find a way to end the war.
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