LUS President Donald Trump said Tuesday night, May 18, that he will “hold off” on a Tuesday plan to attack Iran, citing a request from the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as he said negotiations to end the war grow more “serious.”
Trump added in his Truth Social post that he’s instructed his leadership to “to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice” if a deal isn’t reached.
He pointed to what he said was regional leaders’ optimism about the prospects of a deal that would be acceptable to the US and allies in the Middle East.
“This Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN,” Trump said.
Later in the day, Trump told reporters at the White House that this time was “a little bit different” from previous instances when he thought Iran was close to an agreement.
“It’s a very positive development, but we’ll see whether or not it amounts to anything,” he said, adding that there have been “periods of time” in which US officials thought a deal was close, “but this is a little bit different.”
After growing frustrated with the state of negotiations, Trump had made plans to strike targets in Iran on Tuesday after being given a list of options from senior military advisers, according to a person familiar with the plan. But the president did not disclose which targets or how extensively the operation under consideration was.
Trump told reporters Monday that the Gulf states asked him to put off the attacks for a few days, but that the pause could last longer.
“We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow. I put it off for a little while — hopefully, maybe, forever — but possibly for a little while, because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran, and we’ll see what they amount to,” Trump said.
“I was asked by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and some others if we could put it off for two or three days, a short period of time, because they think that they are getting very close to making a deal.”
While reiterating his red line that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, Trump also suggested that if the Gulf states were satisfied with a peace proposal, the US would be, too. He said other countries he hadn’t named had also requested that he hold off on more attacks.
“I was called by these three countries, plus others, and they’re dealing directly with our people, and right now Iran, and there seems to be a very good chance that they can work something out. If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them, I’d be very happy,” Trump told reporters.
Trump warned Iran on Sunday that the “clock is ticking” to make a deal, otherwise it will face a resumption of the military campaign that has been on hold since last month.
But Iran’s latest proposal to end the war did not offer significant concessions on some critical sticking points, a person familiar with the matter said Monday. Long-standing disagreements over nuclear enrichment remain central to the impasse, the person added.
Earlier Monday, Iran said it had responded to some US concerns about its negotiating position via Pakistani mediators, but American officials did not view the latest offer as making large enough compromises to shift Trump’s thinking. It wasn’t immediately clear what changes Iran made to the document in the latest back-and-forth, but Trump has repeatedly asserted certain red lines — including on halting enrichment of nuclear material and Iran handing over its stockpile of near-weapons-grade uranium.
When Trump announced an extension to the ceasefire on April 21, it was Pakistan, he said, who asked him to “hold our attack on the country of Iran.” At the time, he also cited divisions within Tehran’s government and said he wanted to wait for a “unified proposal.”
But the president has only grown more frustrated at the halting pace of negotiations. And at home, the war now in its third month, has spiked gas prices and sunk his approval ratings on the economy.
After meeting with top members of his national security team over the weekend, Trump is expected to convene the team again early this week to discuss a path forward. As he made clear in his Monday Truth Social post, he’s leaving his options open.
“I have instructed Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, The Chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Daniel Caine, and The United States Military, that we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow, but have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached,” he wrote.