US President Trump said that he was “an hour away” from making the decision to attack Iran today before several Middle Eastern governments called to ask him to wait several days, while talking to reporters on Tuesday.
“We were all set to go. We were going to be striking. It would have been happening right now,” Trump said.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, and “a few of the others” were working with the US “like a team,” Trump said.
This followed a Truth Social post posted by the president on Monday, saying that the leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE asked Trump to postpone the US’s planned attacks on Iran on Tuesday.
Trump said that he would be waiting between two days and early next week for Iran to come to an agreement.
Potential Iran deal to include removing enriched uranium
He specified that any deal would include removing Iran’s enriched uranium “immediately,” despite Iran’s inability to reach it as a result of US-Israeli strikes burying it under rubble.
“I think it’s important to get it, maybe psychologically more than anything else,” Trump said, adding that only the US and China are believed to have the capability to extract the uranium.
He warned that if Iran were to have a nuclear weapon, it would lead to a “nuclear holocaust,” in which Iran would bomb first Israel and then the rest of the Middle East.
Trump was briefed on military options regarding Iran in a meeting with his top national security team several hours after he announced he was suspending attacks on Monday, Axios reported on Tuesday.
Iranian official claims Trump’s delay due to Iran’s military strength
The head of the security commission of the Iranian parliament took to X to claim that Trump delayed the US attack not as a result of mediation but because he feared Iran’s military response.
“Power is the only language he understands!” he wrote.
Israeli officials believe Trump will strike Iran
In Israel, officials believe that President Donald Trump will eventually strike Iran. “It’s not a question of if, but when,” two Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post.
Discussions in Israel regarding Iran continued on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s testimony was canceled “due to security and diplomatic matters.”
One of the officials said that President Trump and Netanyahu are in full coordination. “Israel and the United States, the IDF and the US military, are completely coordinated. In Israel, no one is surprised by any move made by the president.”
