President Donald Trump (R-FL) said Iranian officials called him to negotiate a deal after he threatened to launch a massive military strike.
The statement comes amid escalating tensions over the Strait of Hormuz. The outcome of these interactions determines whether the U.S. proceeds with military action or pursues a diplomatic resolution to reopen the critical shipping lane.
Speaking during a press briefing in Washington, D.C., Trump said the threat was intended to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz [1]. He said the planned operation was the biggest hit since World War II [2].
"They called me; they said, please let's talk … they want to make a deal, they don’t want to be hit," Trump said [2].
However, the account of how the strike was paused varies across reports. Trump said that the Iranian outreach led to the halt of the operation [2]. Other reports indicate that Trump paused a military strike planned for Tuesday [3] at the request of Gulf allies rather than due to a phone call from Iran [3].
Iranian officials have contradicted the president's account. According to reports from Sky.com, Iran says the United States is not negotiating a deal, challenging the assertion that Iranian officials initiated the contact [4].
Trump said that he was holding off on the Tuesday strike because serious negotiations were underway to end the war [3]. He said that the scale of the threatened attack was a primary motivator for the Iranian response [2].
“"They called me; they said, please let's talk … they want to make a deal, they don’t want to be hit."”
The conflicting narratives regarding the communication between the U.S. and Iran highlight a significant gap in diplomatic transparency. While the administration presents the pause in military action as a victory of 'maximum pressure' resulting in Iranian outreach, the involvement of Gulf allies and Iran's own denials suggest a more complex geopolitical calculation involving regional partners to avoid a full-scale conflict.
