Trump halts 'major attack' on Iran, but ready to strike if Tehran won't give up nuclear weapon plans
President Donald Trump halted a planned “major attack” on Iran on Tuesday in pursuit of a possible peace deal, but warned the U.S. remains poised to strike if negotiations fail. The standoff continues as Iran holds onto its nuclear weapons aspirations and Washington presses for guarantees that Tehran will not develop a nuclear weapon.
President Donald Trump said Monday he is delaying a planned military strike on Iran after Gulf allies urged him to give negotiations more time, saying there is a “very good chance” of reaching a deal to end the war without renewed U.S. attacks.
"We were getting ready to do a very major attack [Tuesday], and I put it off for a little while — hopefully maybe forever," Trump said, "because we've had very big discussions with Iran, and we'll see what they amount to."
"There seems to be a very good chance that they can work something out,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them, I’d be very happy.”
The announcement marked the latest shift in Trump’s handling of the fragile ceasefire reached in mid-April. For weeks, the president has warned Iran that fighting could resume if it did not accept a deal, while repeatedly setting deadlines and then backing away from them.
Over the weekend, Trump warned that “the Clock is Ticking” and said Iran needed to move “FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them.”
Trump first disclosed the pause in a social media post Monday, saying he had ordered the U.S. military to be ready “to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice” if an acceptable deal is not reached.
He later told reporters that Gulf allies, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, asked him to delay the strike by two to three days because they believe talks with Iran are close to producing an agreement.
Trump called the delay a “very positive development,” though he acknowledged past moments when diplomacy appeared close to succeeding before collapsing.
“But this is a little bit different,” Trump said.
This Associated Press contributed to this report.
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson said Tuesday there were no special arrangements in place for the export of energy products, but that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz had added complexity to supply chains in the region.
Oil prices did fall Tuesday, with global benchmark Brent crude dropping 1.5%, after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had paused a planned attack on Iran to allow for negotiations to end the war in the Middle East.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent extended a sanctions waiver by 30 days to allow "energy-vulnerable" countries to continue purchasing Russian seaborne oil.
In the U.S., a record 9.9 million barrels were drawn from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve last week, Energy Department data showed, bringing stockpiles down to about 374 million barrels, the lowest point since July 2024.
U.S. crude inventories are expected to fall about 3.4 million barrels in the week to May 15 in weekly data from the Energy Information Administration due out Wednesday.
Trump has long promised oil prices will fall quickly once Iran and the U.S. come to peace and the Strait of Hormuz allows blocked tankers to finally move.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Explosions heard on Iran’s Qeshm Island for neutralization of unexploded munition
Explosions were heard Tuesday on Iran’s Qeshm Island, according to Iranian state-linked media, prompting initial uncertainty before reports the blasts were tied to the neutralization of unexploded munition.
Iran’s Mehr news agency first reported that explosions had been heard on the island. A subsequent report by Tasnim, citing an official, said the explosions were caused by the neutralizing of unexploded munition. President Donald Trump remains ready to trigger a restart to military operations.
Qeshm Island sits in the Strait of Hormuz, a strategically sensitive waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. Details remained limited, and Iranian officials had not issued a broader public statement on the incident as of the initial reports.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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