Trump says he canceled strikes on Iran, claiming progress on outlines of a deal
- The San Juan Daily Star
- Aug 3
- 5 min read
By AARON BOXERMAN, VIVIAN NEREIM, ADAM RASGON and FRANCESCA REGALADO
President Donald Trump said late Saturday that he had canceled a potentially massive U.S. military assault on Iran, opting to pull back from the brink of renewed war in the Middle East for the second time in two weeks.
Trump said in a social media post that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries had asked him to refrain from military action. He also said that the “perimeters of a deal” had been reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the vital waterway for global oil and gas blockaded by Iran for months now.
The whiplash from war to tense calm has become routine as Trump strains to resolve the conflict with Iran that began in late February. He has repeatedly threatened a huge attack on Iran’s critical infrastructure only to abruptly de-escalate by claiming an imminent diplomatic breakthrough. Little progress has followed, leaving the two sides stuck in a cycle of attacks and counterattacks.
If carried out, Trump’s threats to bombard Iranian power plants could have affected civilians and prompted fierce Iranian retaliation, with little likelihood that it would have decisively ended the conflict, analysts said. Former U.S. officials argue Trump’s public vacillating has eroded U.S. credibility.
This time around, at least one important U.S. ally appeared to have tried to steer Trump away from renewed attacks. Saudi state media reported Sunday morning that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, recently spoke with Trump to urge “the necessity of prioritizing dialogue to de-escalate tensions” and “prevent a wider conflict.”
Iran has yet to give any indication that it will relax its grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Mediators were still trying to broker a new agreement on the waterway that could de-escalate tensions, according to four diplomats briefed on the talks. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
The Persian Gulf nation of Qatar is mediating the negotiations on the Strait of Hormuz between Iran, the United States and Oman, two diplomats said. The Qatari mediators are coordinating those talks with two other Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the diplomats said.
More than five months since the United States and Israel jointly launched a war on Iran in late February, neither military attacks nor negotiations have achieved their stated goal of forcing Iran to curb its nuclear program.
Nor has Trump been able to prevent Iran from throttling ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to pressure the U.S. to end the conflict. Before the war, vessels passed freely through the strait — one of the world’s most important conduits for global energy supplies. The disruption has spiked fuel prices and disrupted global markets.
Speaking Friday from Camp David, Trump said the United States was weighing additional military action against Iran in an effort to force its leaders to accept U.S. terms. The U.S. military has rushed additional bombers and fighters to the region, laying the groundwork for a potential renewed offensive.
“We’ll be hitting them very hard, and you know at some point they’re going to say, ‘We just can’t take it anymore,’” Trump told reporters at the time.
But few in Trump’s inner circle believed that a renewed escalation with Iran was wise, The New York Times has reported. U.S. officials have warned the escalation could seriously deplete supplies of essential interceptors capable of shooting down Iranian drones and ballistic missiles, and leave U.S. troops and allies more exposed than they were earlier in the conflict.
Neither war nor diplomacy have brought much progress, leaving Trump with a variety of risky and unpalatable choices for how to proceed. The prospect of a widening war in the Middle East, the vulnerability of key Gulf allies to Iranian attack and a global economic crunch have weighed on the president and his top aides.
Arab Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, which host U.S. military forces and installations, have borne the brunt of Iran’s retaliation, facing regular missile and drone attacks as well as major disruption to their energy exports. Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed has been one of the most active figures pushing behind the scenes for an end to the war.
“The Kingdom believes that escalation may not work,” said Ali Shihabi, a Saudi commentator close to the government. “Instead, it believes that calibrated military responses, combined with sustained pressure on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz, offer the best prospect for achieving a workable diplomatic solution.”
In May, the crown prince denied U.S. access to Saudi airspace and U.S. bases in the country, forcing Trump to abandon a plan in which the U.S. military would have escorted ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi officials feared the operation was poorly planned and could have led the conflict to spiral out of control.
On Saturday as Trump’s threatened strikes loomed, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister, conducted a marathon run of phone calls with officials in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, as well as Britain and India. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said Araghchi told his counterparts that Iran would forcefully retaliate if attacked by the United States or Israel.
Trump administration officials signed a ceasefire with Iran in late June that they hoped would lead to negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. But the truce was short-lived. Weeks later, it collapsed after Iran again throttled the strait, which it has used as a powerful bargaining chip in talks with the United States.
For weeks, the U.S. military has bombarded Iranian military targets around the strait in response to Iranian attacks on passing commercial ships. But the U.S. attacks have failed to ensure safe passage for vessels there or force an Iranian retreat.
Instead, the conflict has seemed poised to expand. Yemen’s Houthis, who are backed by Iran, tried to impose a blockade on Saudi Arabia in another maritime choke point in the Red Sea, further rattling global energy markets.
And this past week, two gas tankers, including a U.S.-owned vessel, caught fire after an apparent drone attack at an Egyptian port near the Suez Canal. Egypt had not previously been targeted in the war, and the Suez Canal is one of the last calm waterways for carrying goods of the Middle East.
Israel has remained conspicuously absent from the fighting, despite having launched the war on Iran alongside the United States. Iran has also refrained from attacking Israel, which would almost certainly precipitate an Israeli military response.
As the war dragged on, Trump increasingly parted ways with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on how to prosecute the campaign — or whether to continue it at all. But experts said Israel was unlikely to attack Iran without a green light from the United States, its most important ally.
Last week, Netanyahu’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said that the Israelis “very much want to attack energy targets in Iran, but the United States is not approving that at the moment.”
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