US-Iran war: Trump announces halting strikes on Iran, says Gulf allies called for a deal; what we know

US President Donald Trump on Sunday (local time) announced that he had decided to call off ordering American forces to carry out new strikes against Iran following requests from Gulf allies Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Trump says regional allies backed calling off strikes

Trump made these remarks while addressing reporters on Air Force One as he flew back to the capital after spending the weekend at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The US President said, “I’m not looking to kill people because people die… we don’t want that… I asked Saudi Arabia’s king and crown prince. I said, would you rather have us do this or not? They said, we would much prefer a deal… Because you don’t know where these attacks lead. I mean, they will be flooded with people pouring into their country, and it will be a disaster. A lot of bad things can happen.”

His remarks marked a sharp turnaround from a day earlier, when he said he was “losing faith” in negotiations with Iran and warned that the US military “will be hitting them very hard.” The comments came after he spoke with the Saudi crown prince on August 1, before announcing that Middle East allies had reached the “perimeters” of a deal to end the five-month-old war.

He further said, “Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon,” and went on to say that he had been asked by the Islamic Republic as well as Washington’s allies in the region to hold off on the strikes, which he claimed would have been the largest since World War II.

However, Tehran denied that it asked Trump not to strike.

The developments come at a time amid growing concerns over Washington’s depleting stockpile of munitions, including its Patriot missile interceptor systems.

US calls off strikes on Tehran, focus on Iran talks

Trump also noted that new negotiations with Tehran will commence on Monday (local time) after he decided to call off strikes on the Islamic Republic to pursue a deal to end the war, which is entering its sixth month, AFP reported.

On August 2, he told reporters that the talks would focus on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway that has been the sticking point in negotiations between the two sides and has remained largely shut since the conflict began, as well as the eventual denuclearization of Iran.

US-Iran resume hostilities

Iran has been at war with the US since it launched a surprise attack with Israel in late February, though months of on-and-off diplomacy led to periods of relative calm. However, the two sides resumed tit-for-tat strikes last month, weeks after an interim deal was signed to pave the way for future negotiations to end the conflict permanently.

After the two sides resumed hostilities, fears mounted that the tit-for-tat strikes could escalate once again and turn into a full-blown war. Trump had warned that the US could strike Iran “very hard” and was reportedly weighing fresh military action, including potential attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, while US embassies across the region remained on high alert.

The focus would now be on negotiations and whether the two sides would once again agree to halt strikes and resume talks for a lasting peace deal.