US President Donald Trump has claimed that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Iran urged Washington to halt planned military action against Tehran in favour of diplomacy, saying negotiations with Iran are set to begin today.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said the United States had been prepared to launch a large-scale attack before requests from regional partners prompted a change in course.
“I was asked to by Saudi Arabia, by UAE and by Qatar and by Iran. We were all set to go just about at this time right now and it would have been a massive attack. We were all set to go. But when the allies ask you to call it off, you got to sort of say, ‘well, let’s see’. And the reason they ask is, I think there’s a deal.”
He added that Washington was now shifting its focus to diplomacy.
“Now what we’re doing is we’re talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon, and we’ll see.”
Trump also described the scale of the military operation that had been under consideration.
“We had an attack that would been the biggest attack since World War Two, and it would have been disastrous for them, and they didn’t want us to do it. And frankly, Saudi Arabia didn’t want it either. They thought that a deal is imminent.”
According to the US president, the proposed agreement would focus on the Strait of Hormuz and Iran’s nuclear programme.
“And the deal is imminent, having to do with the Hormuz strait. And ultimately the denuclearisation of Iran.”
Trump further said he had directly consulted Saudi Arabia’s leadership before deciding to pursue negotiations.
“I asked them, I asked Saudi Arabia, the king, the crown prince. I said, ‘what would you rather do, would you rather have us do this or not’. They said, ‘we would much prefer a deal as opposed to an attack’, because you don’t know where these attacks lead. I mean, will they be flooded with people pouring into their country and disaster? A lot of bad things can happen.”