Trump Pauses Planned U.S. Attack on Iran, Orders Full Assault If No Deal

President Donald Trump said Monday that he was pausing a planned U.S. military attack on Iran that he had said was scheduled for Tuesday, after he wrote that he was asked to “hold off on our planned Military attack of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which was scheduled for tomorrow.”

Axios reported that Trump planned to convene his top national security team in the Situation Room on Tuesday to discuss military options, citing two U.S. officials.

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Trump said he instructed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine to suspend the attack plans but 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.”

CBS News said Trump’s decision came as “serious negotiations” were underway toward a peace deal, and it noted that Iran had said it conveyed another amended set of terms for a potential peace deal.

The BBC reported that oil prices slumped after Trump said he was holding off on the Tuesday attack, with Brent crude sinking from $112 to $109 after his comments on Truth Social.

Trump said he made the decision at the request of the Emir of Qatar, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and the President of the United Arab Emirates, writing that “serious negotiations are now taking place” and that “a Deal will be made.”

In a Monday interview with Fox News, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly told CBS News that “nothing has changed” and said “Iran must renounce their nuclear ambitions for good.”

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CBS News reported that Kelly said “The enriched uranium that they possess, they can't keep it,” referring to “Operation Midnight Hammer,” and called it one of the “red lines” in the negotiations.

The BBC said the global benchmark Brent crude had swung throughout Monday and that the oil market reacted swiftly to signs of progress or lack of it toward a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

The Guardian quoted Trump saying the U.S. would be “probably satisfied” if it could reach an agreement with Iran that prevents Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, after he said he delayed planned strikes following a “very positive development” in talks.

CBS News said stocks and oil prices “yo-yoed” amid uncertainty about what will happen with the Iran war, with the S&P 500 finishing with a dip of 0.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average adding 159 points.

The BBC reported that the 10-year US Treasury yield hit 4.63% at one point, its highest level in more than a year, before falling back, as energy costs pushed up government borrowing costs.

Axios said a senior U.S. official told Axios that if Iran didn’t shift its position, the U.S. would have to continue the negotiations “through bombs.”

Trump warned that the U.S. military would be prepared to go forward with “a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment's notice,” if an acceptable deal was not reached, while the BBC noted that Iran had not publicly commented on Trump’s latest statement.

The BBC also reported that around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually passes through the Strait of Hormuz, and that the strait had been effectively closed in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli strikes that started on 28 February.