US President Donald Trump says he has called off a planned attack on Iran.
In a post on Truth Social, he hinted that a peace agreement was close, and described the move to cancel the attack as “subject to being able to rapidly make a deal”.
“The USA is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran, at levels of military terror, strength, and power not seen since World War II. Despite this, 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,” he said.
Such a deal would include the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and “an end to Iran’s nuclear threat”, he said.
“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.
“The country of Israel joins me in this commitment,” he added.
His comments come after Iran warned earlier against any “adventurous action” by the US and said it would retaliate decisively if American forces follow through on Trump’s threats of fresh attacks on Iranian targets.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country would respond decisively to any “aggression” and discussed the consequences of “destabilizing actions” by the US, as well as prospects for heightened regional insecurity, according to Araqchi’s Telegram account.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi
HANDOUT / AFP
Araqchi later told Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan that any attacks by the US and Israel or participation by regional countries in such actions would be met with a “proportionate response”.
Nournews, a media outlet affiliated with Iran’s top security body, said on Saturday that US attacks on Iranian energy infrastructure would prompt Iranian strikes on oil fields in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as well as the gas fields of Qatar and Israel, saying “all will be burned to ashes.”
At a cabinet meeting on Friday at the Camp David retreat, Trump said he believed US negotiators, including his son-in-law Jared Kushner, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, could still reach a deal with Iran.
But Trump also said he was losing faith in the Iranians, saying “they break their word so often” – a claim that Tehran has frequently levelled at Washington – and said he would be “hitting them”.
Trump is calling for the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz.
Amirhossein Khorgooei / ISNA / AFP
Strait of Hormuz
Oil prices have stayed high since US and Israeli forces started the war with strikes on Iran on 28 February. 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. Benchmark Brent crude futures rose 24 percent in July, and analysts polled by Reuters expect prices to rise further this year.
The risk of Iranian attacks has deterred most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, an important conduit for global energy supplies, since the start of the conflict, sending shockwaves through the world economy.
A government facility in northern Kuwait and civilian property belonging to a company on Bubiyan Island were hit on Saturday, with falling shrapnel causing material damage but no casualties, the Kuwaiti army said.
Adding to the energy industry’s concerns, Iran’s Houthi allies in Yemen recently began threatening the Bab el-Mandeb, the strait at the other end of the Red Sea from the Suez Canal, another export route for Saudi crude.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said on Saturday it had received reports of two maritime incidents off Oman, including one in which a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile that damaged the engine room. In the other incident, the master of a tanker reported seeing a large splash and an explosion close to the vessel, though no damage was reported.
– Reuters, with additional reporting by RNZ