Trump Cancels Planned Iran Strikes, Says Deal Is Nearly Done

By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk

US President Donald Trump said he cancelled planned strikes on Iran on Thursday evening, claiming that final points of a deal with Tehran had been approved by the parties involved.

Trump said the discussions had reached Iran's highest leadership and that the planned attacks would not go ahead. He added that the US naval blockade would remain in place until the agreement is finalized, with the time and location of signing to be announced later.

The statement came only hours after Trump had threatened to hit Iran "very hard," keeping regional markets and Gulf security actors on alert.

DW reported that Trump listed the United States, Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey, Pakistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Egypt among the countries involved in approving the discussions.

Iran had warned that further US attacks could pull Washington into an "endless quagmire," while the UN secretary-general called for respect for Lebanese sovereignty as the wider Middle East crisis continued to spread across multiple fronts.

The immediate signal is de-escalatory, but not a full stand-down. The blockade remains, the agreement has not yet been signed, and the region is waiting to see whether Trump's announcement becomes a diplomatic pause or another stage in the pressure campaign.

***Sources: DW, Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, EFE and Bosphorus News Reporting.