President Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Monday that he has decided to “hold off” on a plan to attack Iran on Tuesday due to requests from the US’s Gulf Arab allies.
Trump claimed that the request to delay the attack came from the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The president said that he would oblige the request but threatened that a US attack on Iran could still happen at any moment.
“Based on my respect for the above mentioned Leaders, I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Daniel Caine, and The United States Military, that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have 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,” he wrote.
Trump said the Arab states requested the delay because “serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond.”
Earlier in the day, a senior US official told Axios reporter Barak Ravid that Iran’s latest response in the negotiations being mediated by Pakistan was unacceptable to the US because Tehran isn’t caving to US demands. The official warned that new US strikes on Iran were likely.
“It’s time for the Iranians to throw a bit of candy out. We need some real, sturdy, and granular conversation [regarding the nuclear program]. If that’s not gonna happen, we will have a conversation through bombs, which will be a shame,” the US official said.
