President Trump said on social media late Saturday that Iran and other Middle Eastern countries have asked the US “to hold off any attack” on Iran because “the perimeters of a deal has been agreed to.”
News reports had previously suggested that the US and Israel were preparing to target Iran’s energy infrastructure this weekend.
Trump, in his Truth social post Saturday night, said the US “is locked and loaded and ready to go against the Islamic Republic of Iran” but based on the request from Tehran and others had agreed to “cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL.” He said Israel was part of the commitment.
Trump said the deal “would include the Immediate, Complete, and Total OPENING OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT, and an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”
Iran, which says its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes, has not yet commented on the claim.
Mehr, a semi-official news agency sponsored by the Iranian government, dismissed Trump’s claims as “simply a new lie,” citing unnamed Iranian military officials.
It’s the latest abrupt U-turn since the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran in February.
An AP poll this week has found that almost two-thirds of Americans say the war is not worth the fight.
NPR’s Krishnadev Calamur in Washington and Frank Langfitt in Tel Aviv contributed to reporting.
