Trump Halts New Strikes on Iran After Gulf States Outline a Deal to Reopen the Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump said late Saturday he would hold off on ordering new strikes on Iran, claiming that Middle Eastern governments had reached the parameters of a deal to end the five-month-old war. In a social media post reported by the South China Morning Post and Al Jazeera, Trump said any agreement would have to include the immediate and complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to what he called Iran's nuclear threat.

The Israeli outlet Globes reported that Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, pressed Trump against a large-scale attack, warning that Iran had identified major regional energy assets as targets and that Gulf Cooperation Council states feared a strike on roughly a quarter of the world's oil supply. Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said Tehran would respond proportionally to any United States attack.

The pause is conditional and easily reversed. Trump framed the halt as contingent on a rapid deal, and the same governments that welcomed restraint have warned that the strait, which normally carries about a fifth of seaborne oil, remains effectively closed. Each round of brinkmanship since the war began on February 28 has raised energy prices and then partly reversed, a pattern that produces repeated negotiation rather than a durable settlement.