US president says he\u2019s postponing today\u2019s scheduled attack at Middle East leaders\u2019 request\u00a0 \u00a0Iranian media claims US has agreed to freeze oil sanctions, show flexibility on civilian nuclear activity.<\/p>\n
Islamabad\/DUBAI\/Washington\u00a0 \u00a0–\u00a0 President Donald Trump said Monday he is calling off a plan to attack Iran on Tuesday after the heads of three regional powers in the Middle East asked him to \u201chold off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump, in a Truth Social post, said he has informed US military leaders \u201cthat we will NOT be doing the scheduled attack of Iran tomorrow\u201d in light of the requests from Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.<\/p>\n
The president claimed in the post that those leaders had asked for the planned attack to be postponed \u201cin that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made, which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as all Countries in the Middle East, and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Deal will include, importantly, NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS FOR IRAN!\u201d Trump wrote.<\/p>\n
The president said he told Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine that while Tuesday\u2019s attack is off, they should \u201cbe prepared to go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment\u2019s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hegseth traveled to Kentucky on Monday to attend a political event with a Republican House candidate challenging incumbent GOP Rep. Thomas Massie, whom Trump wants to kick out of Congress.<\/p>\n
Iran sent a new peace proposal to the United States with terms that appeared similar to offers Washington has previously rejected, although a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday that the US had softened positions on some issues. A Pakistani source confirmed that Islamabad, which has conveyed messages between the sides in the war in the Middle East since hosting the only round of peace talks last month, had shared the latest proposal with Washington. But the source suggested progress had been difficult.<\/p>\n
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei later confirmed that Tehran\u2019s views had been \u201cconveyed to the American side through Pakistan\u201d but gave no details.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump will freeze sanctions on Iranian oil during ongoing nuclear talks, the semi-official Tasnim News Agency reports, citing an Iranian source close to the country\u2019s negotiating team. This would represent a new concession by the US.<\/p>\n
The US Treasury Department\u2019s Office of Foreign Assets Control would issue waivers while negotiations continue, according to the report. Earlier, Iran submitted a new 14-point proposal through Pakistan, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n
Separately, a senior Iranian source tells Reuters that Washington has also shown flexibility on allowing Iran to maintain limited peaceful nuclear activities under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.<\/p>\n
In its new proposal, the source says, Iran has again focused on securing an end to the war, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and lifting maritime sanctions.<\/p>\n
The more contentious issues around Iran\u2019s nuclear program and uranium enrichment, which remain the most difficult parts of the negotiations, have been deferred to later rounds of talks.<\/p>\n
A fragile ceasefire is in place after six weeks of war that followed US-Israeli airstrikes on Iran, but talks mediated by Pakistan have stalled and US President Donald Trump has said the ceasefire is \u201con life support.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Pakistani source gave no details of the revised proposal. Asked if it would take time to close gaps, the source said the sides \u201ckeep changing their goalposts\u201d and added: \u201cWe don\u2019t have much time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Washington has urged Tehran to dismantle its nuclear program and lift an effective blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, which normally carries one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil and liquefied natural gas supply.<\/p>\n
Iran has demanded compensation for war damage, an end to a US blockade of Iranian ports and a halt to fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel is battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.<\/p>\n
Trump said in a post on Truth Social at the weekend that \u201cthe Clock is Ticking\u201d for Iran, adding that \u201cthey better get moving, FAST, or there won\u2019t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump is expected to meet top national security advisers on Tuesday to discuss options for resuming military action, Axios reported.<\/p>\n
Issues holding up negotiations also include Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions. The US and other major powers want to ensure that Iran cannot develop nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n
Tehran denies trying to do so, and also wants compensation for war damage, a guarantee that there will be no further attacks, and resumption of Iranian oil sales.<\/p>\n
Baghaei said Tehran was prepared for all scenarios.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs for their threats, rest assured that we are fully aware of how to respond appropriately to even the smallest mistake from the opposing side,\u201d he told a televised weekly press conference.<\/p>\n
Midterm elections loom<\/p>\n
Hostilities have been scaled down since the ceasefire came into effect in April, but drones have been launched from Iran toward Gulf countries hosting US military \u2060bases.<\/p>\n
One drone strike caused a fire at a nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates, officials there said on Sunday, and Saudi Arabia reported intercepting three drones.<\/p>\n
Iran stepped up attacks on the UAE this month after Trump announced a naval mission to try to open the Strait of Hormuz, which he suspended after 48 hours.<\/p>\n
Global share markets slipped on Monday as the latest drone attacks pushed oil prices and bond yields higher, stoking inflation worries.<\/p>\n
Trump, who faces midterm elections in November that carry political risks for his Republican Party, held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week without securing an indication from China that it would help resolve the conflict. The disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has caused the biggest oil supply crisis in history, increasing crude prices by 50 percent or more.<\/p>\n
Some White House officials worry that Trump\u2019s foreign policy gamble and its effect on US gasoline prices may derail Republican chances of keeping control of Congress at a time when war-wary voters are more concerned with the cost of living than conflicts abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US president says he\u2019s postponing today\u2019s scheduled attack at Middle East leaders\u2019 request\u00a0 \u00a0Iranian media claims US has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120607,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[34,41256,2081,69,392],"class_list":["post-120606","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tehran","tag-iran","tag-postpones","tag-strikes","tag-tehran","tag-trump"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116599597437398270","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120606","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120606"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120606\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120606"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120606"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120606"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}