Donald Trump Calls Off New U.S. Strikes On Iran, Citing Breakthrough In Talks

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday he had called off new military strikes on Iran, citing a breakthrough in negotiations to end a war that began Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iran.

Trump opened an Oval Office event Thursday afternoon saying: “We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran.”

Al-Jazeera Net

The announcement came after Trump had threatened to escalate the conflict by posting on social media that the U.S. would hit Iran “VERY HARD TONIGHT” and take “total control” of its oil and gas industries.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said in a live phone call on state television that mediators were active and nothing had been finalized to end the conflict, while Trump said he expects an agreement to extend a fragile ceasefire that started in April to be finalized “over the next few days.”

Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf responded on social media that “wrong strategies and impulsive decisions” would wreak havoc on energy markets and “create an endless quagmire that you will be stuck in for years.”

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said: “Based on the fact that discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran have been brought to the highest level of Iranian leadership and approved, I have, as President of the United States of America, cancelled the scheduled strikes and bombings against Iran this evening,” as the U.S. and Iran exchanged attacks for a second consecutive night on June 10.

AP News

The Korea Times reported that Trump’s reversal came hours before strikes were expected to be carried out, and that details of the diplomatic breakthrough were not immediately clear in his Truth Social post.

The Korea Times also quoted Trump saying discussions and final points had been approved by a broad coalition of regional powers, while the AP described Iran’s Foreign Ministry as saying mediators were active and nothing had been finalized.

Trump said the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway that Iran effectively closed after the war began on February 28, will also be opened “as soon as we have it signed.”

The AP reported that extending the terms of the ceasefire gives U.S. leaders more time to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program, which the U.S. and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used to justify launching the war.

The SWI swissinfo.ch report said Trump indicated the United States and Iran may sign a peace agreement early next week that would allow shipping through the Strait of Hormuz to resume, and that the strait would officially reopen as soon as the agreement is signed.

In the same SWI swissinfo.ch account, Trump said his deputy J.D. Vance may sign the agreement on behalf of the United States, and that when asked whether Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had approved the agreement, Trump said “the answer is yes.”