WASHINGTON—President Donald Trump in a Saturday evening social media post announced that Mideast allies have reached the parameters of a deal to end the Iran war and said that he would hold off on ordering new strikes in the five-month old conflict for now.
Trump added that the emerging deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”
“Based on this request, I have agreed, for the future benefit of the WORLD and, likewise, the survival of a successful and prosperous Iran, to cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL,” Trump said.
He said that Israel has agreed to join the United States in the commitment to try to complete the agreement with Iran that would bring about an end to the war.
Iran did not offer any immediate public reaction to Trump's announcement.
The president's announcement came a day after he suggested to reporters that he was close to resuming heavy military strikes to force the regime to come to the negotiating table.
The United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28, starting a war that Trump said was aimed at destroying Tehran’s missile capabilities, preventing it from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ending its support for allied armed groups.
An interim agreement reached in mid-June halted the fighting and was supposed to pave the way for a permanent deal, but it crumbled within weeks as Iran resumed attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia earlier this week joined the United States in striking multiple logistics and weapons sites used by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, but has been urging the United States and Iran to get back to the negotiating table to find an endgame to the conflict.
The crown prince also dispatched his brother, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman, to Washington on Wednesday for separate meetings with Trump and Vice President JD Vance to discuss Iran strategy.
And Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday at the White House, their first in-person meeting since launching the war in February. The Israeli leader has urged Trump to continue to prosecute the war against Iran.
Trump had vowed to take retaliatory action after the U.S. military thwarted a surprise attack earlier this week by Iran on a U.S. base in Jordan.
Trump told reporters on Friday that “we just want to win” in Iran and that the United States will hit Iran “very hard” until they can’t take it anymore. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt echoed the president, noting that Tehran last month signed a memorandum of understanding with the United States on a truce but then quickly “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.”
Earlier in the day, the U.S. State Department issued new security alerts for Americans in 10 countries in the region to exercise heightened caution due to the escalating tensions with Iran.
Iran Carries Out New Attacks in Gulf
Meanwhile, Kuwait’s military said Saturday that its forces responded to drone attacks by Iran.In a statement, Maj. Gen. Saud Abdulaziz Al-Otaibi, spokesperson for Kuwait’s Defense Ministry, said the drones hit “a number of vital facilities,” including a government structure in the country’s north. He said there were no casualties.
The British Navy said Saturday that a tanker was struck and a separate explosion hit close to a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Oman. No casualties were reported in either incident, it said. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said an unknown projectile hit the vessel on Friday 11 nautical miles northeast of Lima, Oman. The attack damaged the vessel’s engine room.
The group said that on Saturday a large splash and an explosion were reported close to another tanker while it was sailing 21 nautical miles northwest of Khasab city.