Trump Says He Called Off Iran Attack at Gulf States' Request

President Trump announced Monday that he had called off a U.S. military strike on Iran planned for Tuesday, saying Gulf state allies had asked him to hold fire while diplomatic contacts continued. The disclosure, made by the president in a social media post, marked a sharp reversal from his own posture earlier in the day, when he told reporters he was “not open to anything” when asked about Iranian concessions.

“I was going to hit Iran, and then I got a call from some very friendly countries, some very good allies — and they said, ‘Please, don’t do it,’” Trump told reporters Monday evening, according to BBC World. “Serious negotiations are now taking place.” The president did not name the Gulf states that made the request, but the framing pointed to Saudi Arabia and the UAE — the two countries with the deepest exposure to any Iranian retaliatory strike and the most direct lines to Washington on regional security.

The Gulf States Intervention

The request from Gulf allies to hold off reflects longstanding anxiety among Riyadh and Abu Dhabi about the collateral consequences of direct U.S.-Iran military conflict. Both countries host U.S. forces and critical energy infrastructure within range of Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, per U.S. Central Command posture reporting. A U.S. strike on Iran — however targeted — creates an immediate risk of Iranian retaliation against Gulf targets, a calculation Gulf leaders have pressed repeatedly in private.

The intervention also aligns with a broader Gulf posture of supporting U.S. pressure on Iran’s nuclear program while trying to manage escalation thresholds. Saudi Arabia and the UAE normalized messaging with Tehran during 2023 and 2024 even as they quietly backed U.S. military deterrence, a shift documented by Reuters at the time of the Saudi-Iran rapprochement brokered by China. Their appeal to Trump on Monday fits that dual-track approach: push Iran toward a deal, but don’t let the pressure tip into a regional war they cannot absorb.

Contradictory Signals From the White House

The gap between Trump’s morning and evening positions was pronounced. Hours before announcing he had called off the strike, Trump warned Iran that something was “going to be happening soon” and flatly rejected Tehran’s latest response to U.S. proposals, saying he was “not open to anything” from the Iranian side. That language — delivered to reporters during a White House appearance — was consistent with weeks of escalatory rhetoric and the military posture detailed in earlier reporting, including U.S. ammunition flights landing in Israel amid preparations for possible strikes on Iranian nuclear sites.

The whiplash — a strike planned, allies called, strike paused — fits a pattern of Trump using military pressure as a negotiating instrument. The existence of a planned Tuesday attack, if confirmed by U.S. officials, would also represent the most concrete evidence yet that Washington had moved beyond deterrence signaling into active operational planning.

IRGC Strikes Near Iraq Border

The announcement came against a backdrop of Iranian escalation earlier in the day. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday that its Hamzeh Sayyed al-Shuhada Command struck groups near the Iraq border that it accused of attempting to smuggle U.S.-supplied weapons into Iraqi territory. The IRGC described the targets as U.S.- and Israel-linked “terrorist groups.” The strikes, confirmed by multiple regional outlets, were presented by Tehran as a defensive counter-smuggling operation — though the framing simultaneously sent a signal about the IRGC’s reach and willingness to act on perceived threats along the Iraqi frontier.

The Pakistan Mediator Channel

Even as military pressure built, the diplomatic back-channel remained active. Iran formally submitted its response to a U.S. proposal through Pakistan as the designated intermediary, Al Jazeera reported Monday. The specifics of Tehran’s response have not been made public. Earlier in the day, Trump’s “not open to anything” comment appeared to dismiss whatever Iran had put forward — but the evening announcement that “serious negotiations are now taking place” suggested the channel remains open, or that a Gulf-state interlocutor had reframed the conversation.

For background on how the Pakistan channel was established and what the U.S. proposal contained, see Iran Sends Fresh Response to US via Pakistan Mediator. The separate question of whether Washington might accept limited Iranian uranium enrichment as part of any framework is explored in US Shows Flexibility on Limited Iranian Nuclear Activity.

What to Watch

The next 24 to 48 hours are the critical window. Trump’s announcement halted the strike “for now” — the timeline is explicitly contingent on negotiations advancing. Key indicators to monitor:

• A named Gulf state goes public. If Saudi Arabia or the UAE confirms it made the request to pause, it signals they have enough confidence in the diplomatic track to take ownership of the delay.
• Iran’s response surfaces. The contents of Tehran’s Pakistan-channel submission remain unknown. If Iran’s position is close enough to U.S. terms to sustain the pause, details will begin leaking from mediator sources within days.
• IRGC activity near Iraq and the Gulf. Monday’s border strikes were a reminder that Tehran can signal resolve without striking U.S. forces directly. Any escalation in IRGC cross-border operations would test whether the diplomatic window holds.
• Trump’s posture at the 48-hour mark. The president has moved in both directions within a single day. Another hardline statement — or silence from Riyadh and Abu Dhabi — would indicate the pause is eroding.

Iran’s own calculus on the Strait of Hormuz adds a structural dimension: Tehran now has a formal authority governing the strait, giving it a legal and institutional lever to restrict traffic if negotiations collapse. Any move to activate that authority would be a significant escalation signal in its own right.