US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that appeals from key Gulf allies played a major role in his decision not to order a new wave of military strikes against Iran.
Trump said US forces had been prepared to carry out what he described as the “largest attack since World War II” on Sunday, but he cancelled the operation to give diplomacy more time after speaking with leaders from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
He also said unnamed Iranian officials had urged Washington to avoid further escalation.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning to Washington from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said he had asked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman what course of action he preferred.
“They made it very clear that they would rather reach an agreement than launch an attack, because you do not know where those attacks will lead,” Trump said.
Trump and the Saudi crown prince spoke on Saturday, shortly before the US president announced on social media that Middle Eastern allies had agreed on the broad outlines of a framework aimed at ending the five-month conflict.
The decision marked another shift in Trump’s position. A day earlier, he had said he was “losing confidence” in negotiations with Iran and warned that the US military would strike the country “very hard.”
Trump said the emerging agreement would include the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically important waterway through which about one-fifth of global energy supplies passed before the conflict began.
He added that any deal would also address US concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Iran has repeatedly targeted vessels attempting to pass through the strait without its approval as part of its confrontation with the United States.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz would “under no circumstances” return to the conditions that existed before February 28, the date the war began.
Speaking to Iranian state television, Baghaei said Tehran was discussing shipping arrangements in the strait with Oman, which lies across the waterway, but denied that negotiations were under way to fully reopen the passage.
Trump has announced pauses in US attacks on Iran several times since American and Israeli strikes began on February 28. However, each pause was followed by renewed escalation and a resumption of fighting.
