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Strikes Halted, Deal Outlined
President Donald Trump said late Saturday that he canceled a potentially massive U.S. military assault on Iran, opting to pull back from renewed war in the Middle East for the second time in two weeks.
“Trump said in a social media post that the “perimeters of a deal” had been reached”
Trump said in a social media post that the “perimeters of a deal” had been reached to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, described as the vital waterway for global oil and gas blockaded by Iran for months now.
The Christian Science Monitor reported Trump said the emerging deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat,” as he ordered American forces to hold off on new strikes.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz “will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th,” the day the war started.
The AP said Trump’s announcement marked another abrupt shift in the 5-month-old conflict, after the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28 and the stated goals and timelines “have repeatedly shifted.”
Competing Narratives, Gulf Pressure
Iran denied that it had reached any agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran’s regime-linked Fars news agency reporting, “There is no agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.”
In the same dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “we just been asked by Iran, and other Middle Eastern Countries, to hold off any attack in that the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to,” while also saying the U.S. was “locked and loaded.”
The Christian Science Monitor said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Trump by phone on Saturday and raised concerns about the U.S. potentially escalating the conflict with Iran, according to the Saudi press agency.
The AP reported that the crown prince’s call sought clarity from Trump on what potential new action he was weighing, and that a White House official confirmed the leaders spoke but did not offer details.
The AP also described how the announcement came after Trump’s call with Saudi crown prince earlier Saturday, when the Saudis were concerned that targeting Iran’s energy infrastructure or massive strikes on bridges or power plants could trigger retaliation against Gulf energy infrastructure.
What’s at Risk Next
The Christian Science Monitor said Iran’s defense minister said on X that the country was “neither surprised nor passive” following Trump’s announcement and said Iran continues to remain alert in the face of concrete threats from the U.S.
“the Strait of Hormuz “will in no way return to the status it was before February 28th,””
A regional official involved in mediation told the Christian Science Monitor that the latest proposal calls for reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and halting attacks across the region, including by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on Arab Gulf countries and Jordan.
In exchange, the official said the U.S. would end its naval blockade on Iran and allow Tehran to export its oil as stated in the tentative ceasefire deal, while the monitor said no deal has been reached yet and mediation efforts are underway.
The San Juan Daily Star reported that mediators were still trying to broker a new agreement on the waterway that could de-escalate tensions, and that Qatar is mediating negotiations on the Strait of Hormuz between Iran, the United States and Oman.
The CNBC report added that Iran’s acting Defense Minister, Seyyed Majid Ibn Al-Reza, said on X that the enemy’s statements were part of a “psychological and cognitive warfare campaign,” while also saying Iran “consider every threat to be real and take it seriously.”
