RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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President Donald Trump in a Saturday evening social media post claimed 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 U.S. 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.
It’s the latest abrupt shift in the 5-month-old conflict
The president’s announcement marked another remarkable turn in the conflict — only 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 U.S. 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. But the stated goals and timelines for the conflict have repeatedly shifted.
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.
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The announcement came after Trump’s call with Saudi crown prince
Earlier Saturday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto leader, in a phone call with Trump raised concerns about the U.S. potentially escalating the conflict with Iran, according to a person familiar with the leaders’ discussion.
The discussion, which was first reported on by the news outlet Axios, came as Trump weighed whether to carry out new strikes on Iran.
The Saudis , according to the person briefed on the substance of the call but not authorized to comment publicly, are concerned that if the U.S. targets Iran’s energy infrastructure or carries out massive strikes on bridges or power plants that Tehran could respond by carrying out attacks on the kingdom’s and other Gulf countries’ energy infrastructure.
The crown prince during Saturday’s call sought clarity from Trump on what potential new action he’s weighing to take against Iran, the person said.
A White House official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and requested anonymity, confirmed the leaders spoke on Saturday but did not offer any detail about their conversation.
Saudi Arabia earlier this week joined the U.S. in striking multiple logistics and weapons sites used by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, but has been urging the U.S. 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.
The war is unpopular, and November midterms are looming
The stakes for continued U.S. military action are high for Trump and his party as the conflict, unpopular among many Americans, has jolted the world economy just months before critical midterm elections in November.
The president 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 on Friday displayed his growing frustration with the conflict, telling reporters that “we just want to win” in Iran and that the U.S. 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 U.S. on a truce but then quickly “broke it, shot at commercial ships, and killed American soldiers.”
U.S. officials were on edge ahead of Trump’s Saturday evening statement. And Trump himself in his social media post said that the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” and prepared to display “levels of Military Terror, Strength, and Power not seen since World War II.”
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.
The warnings — covering Bahrain, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates — urged U.S. citizens to prepare for the possibility of flight cancellations, temporary airspace closures and other travel disruptions.
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