Trump Halts Military Strike on Iran Following Saudi and UAE Pressure, Plans Talks

On Sunday, President Donald Trump announced that talks with Iran would begin the same day, expressing optimism about reaching an agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz and resolving nuclear issues. He revealed that he had last-minute canceled a large-scale military strike against Iran, which had been requested by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Iran itself, all parties believing a diplomatic deal was possible. This development follows five months of escalating tensions marked by Trump's alternating threats of severe military action and declarations of imminent negotiations.

Last week, Trump also refrained from escalating military threats after advisors warned about dwindling Patriot missile supplies. Meanwhile, the White House and Pentagon have withheld details about the ongoing talks, leaving lawmakers and Middle East experts uncertain whether this signals the conflict's de-escalation or a prelude to further hostilities. Khaled Elgindy, a visiting fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, told The New York Times that Trump appears influenced by the last person he spoke to, namely Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and previously Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

American officials confirmed that Mohammed bin Salman spoke with Trump over the weekend, persuading him to call off the strikes. Netanyahu met with Trump at the White House last week just hours before Iran launched a new attack on a U.S. airbase in Jordan, where American soldiers were killed in July. Bipartisan lawmakers criticized the administration for its lack of transparency and intelligence sharing. Republican Senator John Kennedy expressed uncertainty about whether Trump should initiate new bombing campaigns due to insufficient information and cautioned about rising energy prices and inflation. Meanwhile, Quincy Institute co-founder Trita Parsi argued that Trump’s assumption of Iranian weakness and the possibility of forcing its surrender has repeatedly proven false. Democrats criticized the handling of negotiations, which they say has been entrusted to inexperienced close aides like Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.